OK Top US In Per-Pupil Spending Cuts
Report: Oklahoma leads nation in cuts to per-pupil spending
BY ANDREA EGER World Staff Writer
Thursday, September 12, 2013
According to a new examination of education funding cuts since the recession began in 2008, Oklahoma leads the nation in largest percentage cuts to per-pupil spending at 22.8 percent.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ latest report, “Examining States’ Dramatic K-12 Education Cuts,” says that restoring school funding should be an “urgent priority” because of the serious consequences of steep state-level cuts on education reform initiatives and state and national economies.
“Local school districts typically have little ability to make up for lost state funding on their own,” analysts said. “As a result, deep state funding cuts lead to job losses, slowing the economy’s recovery from the recession. Such cuts also counteract and sometimes undermine important state education reform initiatives at a time when producing workers with high-level technical and analytical skills is increasingly important to a country’s prosperity.”
All the state-by-state comparisons were made using inflation-adjusted dollar amounts and primary form of state aid to local schools.