U.S. education spending is inadequate: Per-pupil spending compared with estimated spending required to achieve national average test scores, by poverty quintile of school district, 2017
| Required spending | Actual spending | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest-poverty (poorest) | $18,231 | $13,096 |
| High-poverty | $13,928 | $10,850 |
| Medium-poverty | $11,199 | $10,499 |
| Low-poverty | $9,917 | $10,532 |
| Lowest-poverty (affluent) | $8,313 | $10,239 |
Notes: District poverty is measured as the percentage of children (ages 5–17) living in the school district with family incomes below the federal poverty line, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The figure shows how much is spent in each of the five types of districts and how much they would need to spend for students to achieve national average test scores.
Source: Adapted from The Adequacy and Fairness of State School Finance Systems, Second Edition (Baker, Di Carlo, and Weber 2020).