How is the U.S. Public School System Funded?

How Do We Fund Our Schools?

September 5, 2008

PBS - It’s a little known fact that when it comes to the funding of our schools, the U.S. Government contributes about 10 cents to every dollar spent on K-12 education – less than the majority of countries in the world. And it wasn’t until 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as part of his War on Poverty, that the federal government created a lasting program to fund K-12 education.

So where does the bulk of the money for our 14,000 public elementary and secondary school districts schools come from? State and local governments. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, state and local funding accounts for approximately 93 percent of education expenditures.

What’s the source of these funds? In most states, it’s sales and income taxes (both corporate and personal). But on a local level, these funds usually come from property taxes, which are set by the school board, local officials or citizens. It’s this system that causes the most dramatic differences between states, and even within districts.

Depending on the property wealth of a community, its schools might boast gleaming buildings and equipment, or they might be dilapidated – struggling with the burden of outdated equipment and unpaid bills...



Teaching Salary for the State of New Jersey:
Salary range: $44,450 - $93,412
Average teacher salary: $56,682
Average beginning teacher salary: $37,061
Median household income: $89,372
Median house price: $342,000
Per-Pupil Spending: $11,436
Cents spent on benefits for every dollar paid as salary: 28.1¢

Federal Pay Gap With Private Sector Growing:
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (an organization within the Department of Commerce), the average federal employee now makes $79,197, not including benefits. And, when benefits are added in, the average federal employee compensation averaged $119,982 based on 2008 figures. The average private sector employee salary is $49,935. And, when including benefits, the average private sector employee averaged $59,909 in total compensation. Stated differently, the benefit cost for the average federal employee back in 2008 was $40,785; the average benefit cost for private sector employees for the same year was $9,974.

See: My Big Fat Government Paycheck