About Spending Spotlight

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Authors

Aaron Garth Smith

Director of Education Reform

Aaron Garth Smith is the director of education reform at Reason Foundation.

aaron.smith@reason.org

Jordan Campbell

Managing Director of Government Finance and Senior Quantitative Analyst

Jordan Campbell is managing director of government finance and senior quantitative analyst at Reason Foundation.

jordan.campbell@reason.org

Methodology

Data for this report are compiled from the United States Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of School Finance Systems (ASSF) annual “Summary Tables”, the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Digest of Education Statistics, and The Nation’s Report Card which presents the NCES administered National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

Annual Survey of School System Finances

Revenue and expenditure figures are sourced from the United States Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of School Finance Systems annual “Summary Tables” which include state and national level figures. All per student figures are derived from total figures divided by the enrollment figures in the same reports, with the exception of instructional spending. Per-student figures as reported in ASSF do not match a calculated per-student figure because: “Payments to other school systems are excluded from this table. Expenditures for adult education, community services, and other nonelementary-secondary programs are also excluded.”

Digest of Education Statistics

Enrollment, average teacher salary, public school staff, and total staff figures are pulled from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Digest of Education Statistics.

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)

NAEP proficiency data are pulled from The Nation’s Report Card. Proficiency levels for 4th and 8th grade reading and math are used, along with that same data for economically disadvantaged students.

Inflation Adjustment

Inflation-adjusted data use monthly CPI (FRED: CPIAUCSL) annualized to a fiscal year (July to June). All inflation-adjusted figures are rescaled to FY2023 dollars, including teacher salary data for which FY2023 data was not available.