Education Finance 1985: A Rising Tide or Steady Fiscal State?

Abstract

Rising national demands to improve public K-12 education are expected to boost financial support for schools; state education reform programs (especially those funded by tax increases) are commonly perceived to increase education funding dramatically. Analysis of changes in education funding across all 50 states during the 1980s shows that education revenues per pupil are neither increasing nor decreasing overall, but are staying constant after adjusting for enrollment increases and inflation. While recent funding increases have halted the drop in the real level of resources per pupil that occurred in the early 1980s, only South Carolina and Tennessee have increased real revenues per child by close to 20%, the extra cost of most reform proposals. Demands for education improvement exceed the level of fiscal resources needed to make those improvements.