New report ranks North Carolina 44th in spending per student
A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau ranks North Carolina 44th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia in spending per student.
According to the report, in fiscal year 2020, North Carolina provided $9,958 per student, compared to the national average of $13,494.
- When adjusted for inflation, The Pulse found that the 2020 figure represented the decline in per pupil spending once Republicans took over the majority of the NC General Assembly in 2010.
- According to The Pulse, “the per-pupil figure for North Carolina in 2010 was $8,409. At the time, this was $2,206 (or 20.7%) below the national average of $10,615. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator, $8409 in September of 2010 was worth $10,020 in September of 2020 — $62 more than what the state actually spent.”
- The report comes as state Republican leaders continue to woefully ignore funding education in accordance with the Leandro remedial plan, in favor of attacking sound and basic education by censoring how race, gender and systemic inequities are taught in schools.
The failure to adequately invest in our classrooms and educators couldn’t be any clearer. While communities, educators and state judges continue to underscore the longstanding unmet needs plaguing schools across the state, Republicans chose to push their own divisive policies at the expense of students and families.
With funding readily available to cover the first two years and set our state on the path to equitable education investments, we must ask why state Republican lawmakers are so willing to deprive our students and future generations of a quality education.
