NEWS RELEASE
Date: January 13, 2003
Media Contact: Gene Rose 303-856-1518 / Bill Wyatt 202-624-8667
Media Advisory
NCSL Education Finance Database
Provides State-by-State Funding Statistics
DENVER -- Sources of education funding will become important items of discussion as America's state legislatures craft a budget for next year and address a collective $17.5 billion budget shortfall in the current fiscal year.
To help reporters get a national perspective on education funding issues, the National Conference of State Legislatures provides an interactive database to obtain important data on the complex subject of education finance.
More than $350 billion is appropriated annually for K-12 education. The searchable web database, located at http://www.ncsl.org/programs/educ/ed_finance/intro.htm, allows users to obtain comprehensive information about a particular state's education finance system, or view information about specific programs across all states such as special education funding. Reporters can collect information on states in a region, states with similar populations or other criteria.
"Funding for K-12 education is generally the largest single budget item for many states," said NCSL Education Senior Policy Specialist Steve Smith. "With declining revenues and growing demand for services, education finance will be an important item of discussion as legislatures balance their budgets for the current fiscal year."
A November NCSL survey indicates that states face a collective $17.5 billion shortfall for the current fiscal year, which ends on June 30 for most states. This budget gap comes after states already addressed most of a $49 billion shortfall estimated back in July.
The web database can be viewed in a Web or Flash interface and is maintained and sponsored by NCSL's National Center on Education Finance. For more in-depth information on education finance issues including litigation, special education finance, adequacy and other issues, contact Steve Smith (Stephen.Smith@ncsl.org) at (303) 856-1531 or Josiah Pettersen (Josiah.Pettersen@ncsl.org) at (303) 856-1495.
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