Public School Budgets

This article has been updated to reflect 2026 data and recent developments.

With tighter budgets and fewer resources to draw from, many school districts have been forced to find more ways to trim the fat. One expense that has made its way to the chopping block in more than one district is transportation. While school buses have always been a given where students live too far to walk to school, that commodity is no longer a freebie for all school districts. In an effort to balance the books, some schools have decided to charge students for the privilege of riding a bus to and from school. However, the decision is accompanied by complaints and irate parents in many districts when the fees are announced. We’ll take a look at both sides of the pay-to-ride issue.

The issue remains relevant in 2026. The most recent expenditure data from the National Center for Education Statistics show that public elementary and secondary schools spent an average of $608 per pupil on student transportation in the 2022-23 school year. Transportation policies and fees continue to vary considerably by state and district.

Public School Review's How Public Schools Coordinate Transportation Systems provides additional 2026 context on how districts balance routing, safety, technology, staffing, and transportation funding.

Franklin Township Now Outsourcing Transportation Needs

Franklin Township school system was hit hard in the pocketbook with an $8 million budget shortfall for the upcoming school year. Instead of firing teachers and

Many educators and parents are fed up with the current state of public education and have decided to take matters into their own hands. To make their voices heard in state legislatures and Washington, they have invited all disgruntled with the school system to meet together this summer in Washington, D.C. The Save Our Schools March has been gaining steam since its inception a year ago, and now many local marches are planned across the country. We'll look at the purpose of the Save Our Schools March and why so many nationwide have become frustrated enough with public education to take a public stand.

What is the Save Our Schools March?

This movement has cumulated into the Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action, which began approximately one year ago. Many parents, students, educators, and community members have become increasingly frustrated with the No Child Left Behind Act, which went into effect ten years ago, and the more recent Race to the Top initiative by the Obama Administration. According to the organization's website, this group has seen the educational system transform into one that is primarily governed by test scores rather than real instruction.

Many in this movement have taken their concerns to state politicians, and some have even gone to Capitol Hill with their issues. However, they do not feel that anyone in a position to make the necessary changes has listened to their pleas. That is when the Save Our Schools March and

Many agree that one of the most effective ways to reduce the disparities between the rich and the poor is to provide high-quality public education to all. However, a recent report on the state of schools in California suggests that some school districts might be going in the wrong direction. Instead of broadening the educational opportunities for less fortunate students, the lines seem to be widening between the "have's" and "have not's." We will take a closer look at this report to determine what it means for public schools across the state of California.

UCLA IDEA

For a number of years, UCLA IDEA has produced annual reports on the learning environments and outcomes of California schools. IDEA, short for UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access, was founded in 2000 by Jeannie Oakes and John Rogers. According to the organization's website, the original goal of IDEA was to utilize the research capacity of UCLA to identify and confront some of the most pressing issues facing the world of education today. The faculty of IDEA consists of scholars, staff and graduate students of UCLA, who partner with parents, teachers, and others in the community to conduct research on current educational trends in the hope of inspiring and promoting positive change.

This year's report, titled, "Free Fall," shows that the "Great Recession" of this decade has not improved the situation in California schools yet. The report draws on information from 277 high school principals around the state

Budgets remain tight in school districts across America, and in 2024–2026, financial pressure has intensified due to inflation, staffing shortages, and shifting federal funding priorities. For some schools, the cuts may come in the athletics departments, with some districts threatening to significantly decrease the athletic programs available to students or do away with sports altogether. While this is not a choice most schools want to make, districts are increasingly exploring alternative funding models, partnerships, and participation fees to sustain programs. We'll take a look at a number of states across the nation that are facing these questions and how they are handling the challenge of keeping sports and other extracurricular activities in schools, despite their inability to pay for them.

This video reports on cuts to New York City sports budgets.

Cost-Cutting Measures to Begin in Pennsylvania

In recent years, states including Pennsylvania have faced recurring education funding gaps, with districts continuing to navigate reduced real-dollar funding when adjusted for inflation. According to the data, per-pupil spending trends vary widely by state. The cuts were proposed in response to necessary cost-cutting measures that must be taken due to less money coming into the state. A significant portion of funding reductions historically targeted public schools, particularly discretionary and supplemental programs, with a focus on special grants that support a variety of educational programs. The other $625 million would be cut from the budgets of state

One of the primary factors used to assess the quality of public education in our country is the amount of money that is pumped into the educational system by individual states. In light of President Obama's nationwide contest for funding, dubbed "Race to the Top," funding of public schools has become of even greater interest.

A recent study of school funding found that while a handful of states do reasonably well in getting funding to the districts that need it most, others are sorely lacking, putting low-income students at an even bigger disadvantage when it comes to their education and future.

This TEDTalk looks at the dilemma of public school funding.

About the Study

The recent study "Is School Funding Fair? A National Report Card," was authored by David Sciarra, executive director, and Daniel Farrie, research director, of the Education Law Center in New Jersey, and Bruce Baker of Rutgers University Graduate School of Education.

The report looked at all 50 states and rates school funding fairness on the following factors:

• Funding level
• Funding distribution
• State fiscal effort
• Public school coverage

The report uses a detailed analysis of these factors to determine which states exercised equality in their funding efforts, assuring that the school districts that needed the funding most were the top priority for their states.

According to a report in Daily Finance, the study looked specifically at the amount of funding per