NC stays near bottom in latest U.S. school funding rankings

North Carolina remains near the bottom of national rankings for education funding. That’s according to the latest edition of the annual “Making the Grade" report by the nonprofit Education Law Center.

The state received an F for education funding, an F for the percentage of its gross domestic product it spends on education, and a B for directing extra funding to lower-income counties.

According to the center's analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data for the year 2022 (the most recent year for which data are available), North Carolina ranked 48th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia, spending $11,777 in state and local revenue per public school student in pre-k through 12th grade. That’s 30 percent below the national average expenditure of $16,131 per student.

North Carolina also ranked 48th in 2021. Even though state and local governments here increased per-pupil spending by $514 in 2022, other states had larger increases.

The total does not include capital expenditures (like school construction) or debt service.

The state fared even worse in the percentage of its gross domestic product it spends on education. North Carolina ranked 49th out of 50 states, the same ranking it had in the 2021 report.

Farrie said the problem isn't limited to the Tar Heel state.

“Overall, nationally, the effort towards education is declining,” Farrie said. “The economy is growing, but what we're not seeing is an equal investment in education.”

However, she said, North Carolina has been far behind other states for years and is not making any discernible effort to catch up.

“North Carolina is an outlier on the negative side,” said Danielle Farrie, the lead researcher on the report. “If it raised its effort up to the national average, it would be able to raise a significant amount of additional funding for pre-K to 12 public schools and still be in line with what other states are doing.”

However, Mitch Kokai with the John Locke Foundation, a conservative think-tank, said more money doesn’t necessarily lead to better student performance.

“This report really emphasizes inputs, how much money is going in, when what we really should be interested in is outputs,” Kokai said. “The money that we spend -- what are we getting out of it?”

Kokai noted that Florida is one of the lowest-ranked states for per-pupil spending, but said its test scores are good.

“If we could spend less than average, or even average and get really good results, I think everyone would be happy,” Kokai said.

Farrie disagreed, saying research clearly links funding to student performance.

"The states that have the lowest funding levels tend to have less well paid teachers, fewer resources, less support staff," Farrie told WRAL News. "Improvements in per-pupil funding have enormous benefits for students, particularly for low-income students."

Read the report here.