Report: NC is 5th-lowest in spending per student

But that’s based largely on how it compares to other states, versus a uniform standard for funding for all states. It’s based on 2018-19 data.

The Education Law Center, a New Jersey-based group that has worked with people suing states over alleged inadequate school funding, published the annual school funding report Thursday.

In it, the group says North Carolina, while having lower capacity to spend than most states, also spends a much lower percentage of its annual gross domestic product on education (2.3%, compared to 3.4% nationally). That figure isn’t adjusted for local variations in wages and salaries of non-teachers that affect the cost of staffing schools.

North Carolina 47th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia in spending per student.

Per student, North Carolina’s state and local funding provided $10,595 during the 2018-19, according to the report, which is based on U.S. Census Bureau survey data. That’s adjusted for local variations in wages.

The Education Law Center report considers state and local funding. Both have been increasing each year in North Carolina since the Great Recession.

The report’s findings “should be used to compare the relative funding levels of states and not to assess whether any state is meeting its obligation to adequately fund its schools,” the report’s technical appendix reads. That’s because no national benchmark to define an adequate level of school funding, according to the report.

North Carolina and other states, prompted by lawsuits, have been wrestling with how to fund schools for years. Courts have ruled North Carolina’s school funding inadequate as a part of the 27-year-old so-called “Leandro” lawsuit from five low-wealth school districts. Recently, it’s resulted in an ongoing standoff between state superior court at state lawmakers over what to do about it.