Survey Finds People Greatly Underestimate Public School Spending
When asked to estimate how much their state spends per public school student, parents and other adults guessed $5,000 and $6,000, respectively, both significantly under the average across all states ($15,591 using FY 2022 data) and even well below the lowest spending state, Utah, at $9,496 per student.
A national July survey by Morning Consult on behalf of EdChoice polled 2,250 adults and 1,300 school parents on a variety of education-related questions, including public school funding. Non-parent respondents estimated public school spending was around $10,000 per student, a guess that landed within actual spending ranges.
Source: EdChoice
Respondents were also asked whether they thought public school funding in their state was too low, too high, or about right. Without any information on how much their state spent per public school student each year, 54 percent of the general public said funding was “too low.” With information on how much their state spent, the percent of Americans saying funding was “too low” dropped to 37 percent — a decrease of 17 percentage points — and the percent to say funding was “too high” increased 10 percentage points.
Source: EdChoice
According to the Minnesota Department of Education’s latest numbers, Minnesota’s spending per student as measured by average daily membership (ADM) was $16,650 for FY 2024. (This varies by district.) Beginning with FY 2026, the basic formula allowance, which is the basic general education revenue component for school districts, will increase automatically each year at the rate of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) within a band not less than a two percent increase over the previous year or greater than a three percent increase over the previous year.
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