RALEIGH, NC (February 27, 2024) – The Public School Forum of North Carolina’s 2024 Local School Finance Study is now available. Through this study The Forum has highlighted variations and trends in local spending for public education across our state’s 100 counties for over 30 years.
The purpose of this annual study is to isolate local spending from state and federal spending to examine the capacity and actual effort of counties to support public schools. The Local School Finance Study focuses not only on the amount that counties spend on schools, but also on each county’s investment in relation to their taxable resources. The data presented in the most recent study are from the 2021-22 school year.
“Our 2024 study once again found growing funding disparities between our poorest and wealthiest counties. This is despite the fact that the ten poorest counties tax themselves at 1.7 times the rate as the state’s ten wealthiest counties,” said Public School Forum Policy & Research Manager Elizabeth Paul. “North Carolinians living in lower wealth districts continue to face an impossible financial burden to support public education.”
In 2021-22, the ten highest-spending counties spent more than four times more per child than the ten lowest-spending counties. Orange County, at the top of the list, spends more than 10 times more per student than Swain County at the bottom. The bottom seven counties combined spend $376 less than Orange County spends on its own.
In the same year, the ten poorest counties taxed themselves at a much higher rate than the ten wealthiest counties — $0.75 compared to $0.45, a 30-cent difference. Because of the disparities in real estate wealth, however, the revenue that the poorest counties could generate — even at their higher tax rates — was substantially lower than what the wealthier counties could generate.
Under the state constitution and the post-Depression School Machinery Acts, among other laws, it is the state’s responsibility to adequately fund public schools. It is this unique North Carolina history and law that allow school finance reform at the state level to have a major impact on each school child’s opportunities, regardless of zip code.
View the full study including county profiles at ncforum.org/lsfs.
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About the Public School Forum of North Carolina
Since its founding in 1985 as a nonpartisan “think and do tank,” the Public School Forum of North Carolina has been a champion of better schools and one of the most trusted sources in the state for research and analysis on vital education issues. In order to provide meaningful action on the state’s most important public education issues, the Forum brings together leaders from business, education and government to study education issues, develop ideas, and ultimately inform and shape education policy. The Forum team conducts research and policy analysis, leads innovative programs, and advocates for high-quality, equitable educational opportunity for all children in North Carolina. Follow the Forum on social media at @theNCForum and visit our website at http://www.ncforum.org/
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