American K-12 public schools crossed a new milestone in 2024: total spending hit $1 trillion for the first time in the nation’s history. Test scores fell.
A new report found that while spending climbed 56% since 2013, scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as “the nation’s report card,” declined over the same period. The findings were shared by Manhattan Institute fellow Danyela Souza Egorov in a piece for The Daily Wire.
National student enrollment is projected to fall by 5.5% over the next decade, a loss of roughly 2.7 million students. Meanwhile, K-12 staff grew from 5.9 million in 2014 to 6.6 million in 2024, a period during which schools served about 1 million fewer students.
That disconnect between payroll and enrollment has produced situations documented in the report: a Chicago school employing 28 staff for 27 students; a Memphis charter school renewed despite enrolling 14 students, whose principal is married to the superintendent responsible for approving charter renewals; and 112 New York City schools projected to enroll fewer than 150 students, pushing per-pupil spending to approximately $42,000 per child.
Some states have posted gains. Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and West Virginia have seen recent score improvements on the national assessment, with Mississippi leading on reading, according to Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab. Those states have also been among the most aggressive in expanding school choice.
The four largest states, which collectively educate 34% of American students, have taken sharply different paths. Florida and Texas have leaned into choice. Florida directs nearly 12% of its education budget toward school choice programs, more than any other state. As of this year, 53% of Florida students attend a school they selected rather than one assigned by residential address. Texas allocated $1 billion to its Texas Education Freedom Accounts program last year, the largest education savings account program in the country, drawing more than 274,000 applicants in its first year.
California and New York have moved to restrict choice. A 2019 California law gave local school boards authority to reject charter applications; new charter openings fell from roughly 80 annually in 2014 to 12 in 2023. New York City’s charter sector, which enrolls 16% of the city’s students, is capped by state law.
On Tax Day, all four senators from California and New York joined 30 other Democrats to introduce legislation to repeal the program.
