Education Law Center
making grade 2020

States with the greatest funding effort for K-12 education, 2018

Feb. 8, 2021
A report from the Education Law Center measures which states allocate the highest percentage of their wealth to supporting K-12 schools.

Vermont provided the greatest funding effort to K-12 education of any state in 2018, according to the Education Law Center.

In a report, “Making the Grade 2020: How Fair is School Funding in Your State?” the center analyzed the combined state and local revenue provided through each state’s school finance formula in 2017-18, adjusted to account for regional variations in labor market costs.

The report defines funding effort as the percentage of state wealth or gross domestic product allocated to support the K-12 school system.

Funding effort in 2017-18 ranged from 5.99% in Vermont to 0.98% in the District of Columbia. The national average for K-12 funding effort is 3.39%, the report says.

Here are the 10 states with the highest K-12 funding effort:


Vermont             5.99%
New Jersey        4.86%
Wyoming            4.36%
Maine                  4.29%
New York            4.20%
Illinois                  4.10%
Connecticut        4.06%
Pennsylvania      4.04%
West Virginia      3.99%
South Carolina    3.95%

About the Author

Mike Kennedy | Senior Editor

Mike Kennedy, senior editor, has written for AS&U on a wide range of educational issues since 1999.

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