When the pandemic began, many schools were blindsided. Daily operations like student transportation were put on pause while schools undertook new responsibilities like delivering meals and launching remote learning options.
A few months into the health crisis, schools were making historic efforts to connect with students, and some even attempted reopening despite financial constraints and supply chain delays on necessary purchases like masks and other personal protective equipment.
New data analysis from the U.S. Department of Education shows how prepared some states were during these months. The analysis takes into account roughly the first three months of COVID-19 closures, as many states' fiscal years ended by June 30. It doesn't, however, incorporate the federal dollars afforded to states through the three pots of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief aid.
The result is a snapshot of the "limbo" many states and districts found themselves in by mid-2020, just prior to receiving federal aid and while still having to make difficult and costly decisions.
Here are five charts that illustrate the financial situation for areas from teacher compensation to per- pupil spending as states entered the unprecedented days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Instruction and instruction-related wages and benefits increase
As teachers nationwide invested long hours into reaching students and transitioning to online learning platforms, compensation looked vastly different nationwide. Yet in the majority of states, instruction and instruction-related wages and benefits increased.
Those increases varied widely, as well — from as little as a 0.3% increase in Alaska to as high as 10% in New Mexico.
However, in four states, the total spending on instruction and instruction-related wages and benefits decreased. Those states were: Arkansas, California, Delaware and Connecticut
Change in per-pupil spending between FY 19 and FY 20
A different story unraveled in per-pupil spending, which increased much more sporadically across the nation than teacher wages and benefits when adjusted for inflation. In 20 states, per-pupil spending fell, with half of those decreasing by less than 1%.
Changes in New York, North Dakota and Minnesota rounded to 0.
The biggest decline was noted in Delaware at 12.8%, which is attributed to a decrease the state is currently reviewing in the amount reported for employee benefits paid by the state on behalf of districts
FY19 to FY20 Title I per-pupil spending changes
Title I per-pupil spending saw more drastic changes, with larger increases and decreases than those seen in per-pupil spending overall. Oklahoma had the steepest decline, falling 34% from $481,000 to $314,000 between fiscal years 2019 and 2020. Other states with double-digit percent decreases include Vermont, Connecticut and Arizona.
On the other hand, Massachusetts and Louisiana were the only states to see double-digit percent increases.
During the pandemic, districts dipped into their Title I funds for a wide range of uses, including online connectivity and devices, teacher and staff training, and family engagement.
Expenditures outpaced revenues in a majority of states
On the other hand, despite alarm bells being sounded by finance experts and district leaders about declines, revenues for public education overall increased compared to fiscal year 2019 — albeit slightly, at 1.5% nationally.
Revenues overall remained "relatively leveled," according to Stephen Cornman, director of school finance surveys at the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.
However, states showed differences, with over half spending more than their revenues. California, for example, overspent by nearly $1 billion, while Texas did so by $2 billion. The remaining 23 states fell more in line with later trends, seeing budget surpluses and replenishing their reserves by the end of 2020 or after.
″We definitely see expenditures dropping across the board as schools closed and went remote … and in some states, lower expenditures means lower revenues (when revenues are tied to reimbursements),” said Marguerite Roza, education finance policy expert and director of Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab, in an email.
Federal revenues dipped while local and state revenues increased
Overall, while districts entered the pandemic seeing a "sizable increase" in state and local revenues, according to Cornman, federal revenues had dipped by March 2020.
State revenues overall grew 2.3%, from $368.8 to $377.3 billion, while local revenues increased 1.1%, from $352.9 to $356.8 billion. Meanwhile, federal revenues decreased 1.5%.
Many superintendents have called for increased and sustained federal funding, which lawmakers had shied away from promising unless district leaders can show return on federal aid investment through improvements in benchmarks like test scores and attendance levels.