Education Funding

Chart of Education Spending

December 11, 1996 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Public expenditure on education as a percentage of total public expenditure.

1985 1990 1993

North America
Canada 13.7 13.6 13.4
Mexico 12.8 15.7 22.3
United States 13.1 14.3 14.2


Pacific Area

Australia 15.5 12.2 14.3
Japan m 11.3 10.5
Korea 20.3 22.3 18.0


European Union

Austria 11.0 10.6 10.2
Belgium 10.3 9.5 10.0
Denmark 11.6 10.6 13.0
Finland 12.9 12.9 12.8
France m 10.3 10.4
Germany 9.6 m 9.5
Ireland m 12.2 13.1
Italy 9.1 9.6 8.9
Netherlands 10.2 9.9 9.2
Portugal m m m
Spain 8.6 10.1 11.6
Sweden m 9.3 10.6
United Kingdom 11.1 11.9 11.5


Other OECD countries

Norway 13.2 m 15.0
Switzerland 15.0 15.4 16.1

Copies of the 1996 edition of “Education at a Glance—OECD Indicators’’ are $50 each; copies of “Education at a Glance—Analysis’’ are $10. The cost for both is $55. They are available from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2001 L Street N.W., Suite 650, Washington, D.C. 20036; (800) 456-6323; or by fax, (202) 785-0350. They can also be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.oecdwash.org.

m = missing data.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the December 11, 1996 edition of Education Week as Chart of Education Spending

Events

Jobs Regional K-12 Virtual Career Fair: DMV
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Teaching Profession Webinar Effective Strategies to Lift and Sustain Teacher Morale: Lessons from Texas
Learn about the state of teacher morale in Texas and strategies that could lift educators' satisfaction there and around the country.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Special Education Webinar
Hidden Costs of Special Ed Vacancies: Solutions for Your District
When provider vacancies hit, students feel it first. Hear what district leaders are doing to keep IEP-related services on track.
Content provided by Huddle Up

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Funding A School Wants a Tornado Shelter. A Federal Grant Keeps Getting in the Way
The district still can't spend a FEMA grant it was originally awarded in 2022.
9 min read
FemaGrant Maiorella 02
A new gym under construction in Wisconsin's Cuba City school district, pictured April 16, 2026, would have also served as a tornado shelter, thanks to an $8.8 million FEMA grant. But nearly four years after it was awarded the grant, the district still doesn't have the money.
Arthur Maiorella for Education Week
Education Funding Trump Sidestepped Congress on More Than $1 Billion in Ed. Spending Last Year
Newly published documents show how the Ed. Dept. departed from Congress' plans.
13 min read
The likeness of George Washington is seen on a U.S. one dollar bill, March 13, 2023, in Marple Township, Pa. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says it expects the federal government will be awash in debt over the next 30 years.
Newly published budget documents show the U.S. Department of Education, in the first year of President Donald Trump's second term, took roughly $1 billion Congress appropriated for specific education programs and spent it differently than how lawmakers intended—or didn't spend it all.
Matt Slocum/AP
Education Funding Federal Funds for Schools Will Still Flow Through Ed. Dept. System—For Now
The Trump administration has been touting its transfer of K-12 programs to the Labor Department.
5 min read
Remaining letters on the Department of Education on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Washington.
Remaining letters on the U.S. Department of Education building in Washington on Wednesday, March 18, 2026. Despite the agency's efforts to shift management of many of its programs to the U.S. Department of Labor, key K-12 funds will continue to flow through the Education Department's grants system this summer.
Allison Robbert/AP
Education Funding Trump's Budget Proposes Billions in K-12 Cuts. Will They Happen?
Trump is proposing level funding for Title I, a modest boost for special education, and major cuts elsewhere.
6 min read
A third-grade teacher at the Mountain View Elementary School's Global Immersion Academy in Morganton, N.C. works with her students in the Spanish portion of the program. With the inaugural class of the Global Immersion Academy (GIA) at at the school entering fourth grade this year, Burke County Public Schools is seeing more signs of success for its dual language program.
A teacher in a North Carolina dual-language program works with her students. In his latest budget proposal, President Donald Trump once again proposes to eliminate the $890 million fund that pays for supplemental services for English learners. Schools can use Title III funds for costs tied to dual-language programs that educate English learners.
Jason Koon/The News-Herald via AP