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%
