The economy might be recovering, but school districts are still feeling the pinch, according to new federal data.
The latest school district spending data from the National Center for Education Statistics show that the median district got $11,745 per student in fiscal 2013 from all sources, after adjusting for inflation, 1.8 percent less than the prior year. Districts spent $10,047 per student during the same time, a .5 percent decrease from fiscal 2012, suggesting that administrators tried to buffer students from some of the budget cuts.
Part of districts’ squeeze came from a cut of more than 10 percent in federal support for K-12 schools, from $61.7 billion in fiscal 2012 to $55.1 billion in fiscal 2013. On average, 37 percent of district budgets came from local property taxes, but in five states, districts depended on such contributions for more than half of their budgets.
