When all was said and done and the legislature concluded its five-month run earlier this month, the 2014-15 school finance package — plus spending included in other bills — comes to just over $479 million for K-12 education. (Throw in the $100 million in higher education funding growth and you’re talking about real money.)
Next year’s funding will average $7,020 per pupil, up from $6,652, according to the Department of Education.
Basic school support will be $5.93 billion next year, up from $5.52 billion in 2013-14. (The state share is rising $365.2 million, while local district revenues will go up about $40 million.)
But the good feelings that come with greater funding may not last for long.
Even though legislative action trimmed the $1 billion-plus K-12 budget shortfall, that gap still stands at $894.3 million. Created by a legislative budget-cutting device called the “negative factor,” the shortfall is the difference between what schools actually receive for basic operating costs (known as Total Program Funding) and what they would have been allocated without the negative factor.
Use our interactive database to look at your district’s funding levels for next year, and how much those amounts will change from this year’s levels. And read more about where the state’s new K-12 spending will go, plus about how future discussions around the negative factor could shape up, in our story here.
Search tips and data notes
- Click on “details” in the first results page to see more information about total district funding, in addition to the per-pupil numbers.
- To compare districts, hit “Ctrl” (PC) or “Cmd” (Mac) and click on as many names as you’d like to see.
- “Total program funding” refers to the combination of state and local funds used to pay for basic school operations. Additional dollars such as federal funding, grants or local tax increases are not included in these numbers.
- Think your district’s data is in error? Email us.