BEYOND THE NUMBERS
Which States Have Cut K-12 Funding the Most?
As our new report explains, at least 31 states provided less state K-12 funding per student in the 2014 school year than in the 2008 school year, before the recession took hold. This chart shows the states with the biggest cuts; the fact sheets at the bottom of this post provide the details behind those figures.
Data on total state funding aren’t yet available for the current (2016) school year in most states. But we do have the necessary data for 46 states to compare changes in general formula funding ― the primary state funding source for schools ― between 2008 and 2016.
States made widespread and deep cuts to education formula funding when the recession hit, and at least half of them still haven’t fully restored the cuts eight years later. Twenty-five of the 46 states are providing less general aid per student this year than in 2008. In seven of those 25 states, the cuts are at least 10 percent; in three states (Oklahoma, Alabama, and Arizona) they’re at least 15 percent.
Thirty-five states raised per-pupil general formula funding in the last year, but in most cases those increases weren’t enough to offset earlier cuts. And at least 12 states cut per-student funding this year.
