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OVERVIEW:

U.S. K-12 Public Education Technology Spending

March 2021

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Thanks to the following organizations who reviewed these findings and provided feedback throughout the research process.

Contact

info@edtechevidence.org

@edtech_evidence

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Situation�ANALYSIS

When it comes to edtech spending, we’re in the Wild West.

Nobody knows for sure how much the United States is spending on education technology. It is not tracked or reported in any centralized way.

There’s no clear answer.

Even within specific categories (e.g., instructional materials), estimates vary widely. Most sources draw their conclusions based on estimates from publicly available budget data or a sampling of schools and districts.

But we know it’s a lot.

Even the most conservative estimates stretch well into the billions.

That’s where this document comes in.

This deck provides insight into estimates of pre-pandemic K-12 education technology spending. The data, and therefore the estimates, are imperfect. Our goal was not to attempt to provide specific answers, but rather to highlight the magnitude of the spending, spark conversations, and surface critical issues within a shifting landscape.

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K-12

Education Technology

SPENDING

ESTIMATES

What’s Included:

For purposes of this overview, we grouped spending and associated estimates into four categories:

Digital Instructional Materials: Digital textbooks, workbooks, manipulatives, and program subscriptions.
Networks & Devices: Infrastructure, bandwidth, and hardware devices used for computing; including the staff necessary to maintain equipment and networks.
Formative and Summative Assessments: Classroom assessments and state-level exams.
Professional Development: Formal training and informal training for educators that either relies on technology, or is focused on the use of technology.

What’s Not Included:

Our spending assumptions do not include:

Safety and security technology
Transportation-related technology

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TOTAL EDTECH SPENDING

Estimates suggest U.S. K-12 schools spent between $26 billion and $41 billion annually on education technology during the year before the pandemic.

Given the impact of the pandemic, it is possible that the 2020-21 spending could exceed $50 billion.

$26B

$41B

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Spending on

DIGITAL INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

Sources: CENSUS (2018), NCES (2019), SIMBA Information (2019), MDR (2018).

SIMBA Information estimates the 2019 total K-12 instructional materials spend was roughly $9 billion, and that 60% of it was spent on digital instructional materials. That works out to an estimate of $5.4 billion.

MDR estimates the 2018 total K-12 instructional materials spend was roughly $263 per student, which extrapolates to a total instructional materials spend of roughly $13 billion. Using SIMBA’s estimate that 60% of all materials spending is for digital materials yields an estimate of $8.1 billion.

$8.1B

$5.4B

Publishing for the PreK-12 Market 2019-2020 (SIMBA: 2019). SIMBA Information estimates the total instructional material spend at $9 billion in 2019. SIMBA Information also estimates that digital materials represent 60% of the spend on instructional materials, such that the 2019 spend was approximately $5.4 billion (Blog on Publishing for the PreK-12 Market 2019-2020), up from $4.89 billion in 2017, $5.09 billion for about 4% growth each year.

The K-12 Education Landscape (MDR: 2018). LINK. See also “MDR’s School Spending Update 2015-2016,” (MDR: 2017), LINK. MDR estimates about $263 per student on instructional materials per year. That totals to $13.3 billion total for instructional materials in fall 2020 when enrollment was approximately 50,654,000 K-12 public school students (NCES, 2020). If digital is 60% of at 12.7, that's about $8.1 billion.

The Digest of Education Statistics 2019 (NCES: 2020), enrollment estimated for 2020: 50,654,000 https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d19/tables/dt19_203.10.asp

Annual Survey of School System Finances (Census: 2020). LINK. Instruction Expenditure. Relates to the instruction function (Function 1000) defined in “Financial Accounting for Local and State School Systems,” National Center for Education Statistics, 2014. Instruction presented under the current operation or current spending headings includes payments from all funds for salaries, employee benefits (paid by school system only if under “current operation” or paid by both school and state if under “current spending”), supplies, materials, and contractual services. It excludes capital outlay, debt service, and interfund transfers. Instruction covers regular, special, and vocational programs offered in both the regular school year and summer school. It excludes instructional, student, and other support activities, as well as adult education, community services, and student enterprise activities. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/school-finances/technical-documentation/complete/2018.html

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Spending on

NETWORKS & DEVICES

Sources: Council of Great City Schools (2019), NCES (2019).

The Council of Great CIty Schools estimates that the median quartile of schools spent $306 per student on networks & devices, including systems staffing, in 2018. Extrapolating to 50,654,000 K-12 public school students works out to $15.5 billion.

$15.5 billion

$306/

student

50,654,000

K-12 students

Managing for Results in America’s Great City Schools 2019, Results from Fiscal Year 2017-2018 (Council of Great City Schools: 2019). See Information Technology at page 167 and 174, "IT Spending per Student," Total IT staffing costs plus total IT hardware, systems and services costs, divided by total student enrollment. The upper quartile spend for 17-18 is $324. The lower quartile spend for 2017-2018 is $196 per pupil. The median is $267 per student.https://www.cgcs.org/cms/lib/DC00001581/Centricity/Domain/4/Managing%20for%20Results2019.pdf

�Jefferson County Public Schools FY 2020-21 Working Budget September 2020 (The Jefferson County Board of Education: 2020), LINK. The Jefferson County Board of Education (JCBE). This per-pupil estimate is near the cost that Jefferson County Public Schools (KY) incurred for technology for school year 2021, about $504 per student, $269 more than the prior year ($234 per student). Against 50,654,000 students, that’s up to 25.3 billion.

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Spending on

ASSESSMENTS

SIMBA Information estimates that $1.6 billion is spent each year on classroom assessments, and $1.1 billion is spent each year on state level exams, for a total of $2.7 billion.

Sources: SIMBA Information (2019)

$2.7 billion

Managing for Results in America’s Great City Schools 2019, Results from Fiscal Year 2017-2018 (Council of Great City Schools: 2019). See Information Technology at page 167 and 174, "IT Spending per Student," Total IT staffing costs plus total IT hardware, systems and services costs, divided by total student enrollment. The upper quartile spend for 17-18 is $324. The lower quartile spend for 2017-2018 is $196 per pupil. The median is $267 per student.https://www.cgcs.org/cms/lib/DC00001581/Centricity/Domain/4/Managing%20for%20Results2019.pdf

Managing for Results in America’s Great City Schools 2020, Results from Fiscal Year 2018-2019 (Council of Great City Schools: 2020). See Information Technology at page 174 and 182. https://www.cgcs.org/cms/lib/DC00001581/Centricity/Domain/4/Managing%20for%20Results%20in%20Americas%20Great%20City%20Schools%202020.pdf

�Jefferson County Public Schools FY 2020-21 Working Budget September 2020 (The Jefferson County Board of Education: 2020), LINK. The Jefferson County Board of Education (JCBE). This per-pupil estimate is near the cost that Jefferson County Public Schools (KY) incurred for technology for school year 2021, about $504 per student, $269 more than the prior year ($234 per student). Against 50,654,000 students, that’s up to 25.3 billion.

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Sources: Miles et al. (2004); Census (2020); SIMBA (2019), Whiteboard Advisors (2021)

Spending on

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

We were unable to identify any reliable estimates of annual spending on PD that is either delivered via technology; or is substantively focused on teaching educators how to use technology (including particular edtech tools) to support instructional practices.

We estimate total U.S. annual PD spend to be roughly $26 billion, based on research suggesting that districts spend an average of 3.6% of their annual budgets on PD, and using total annual spending data reported by the U.S. Census.

From there, we have no reliable estimate of what percentage of that ~$26 billion is spent on PD that is either technology-dependent or technology-focused.

If we use SIMBA Information’s estimate that 60% of instructional materials are digital, that would extrapolate to annual digital PD spending of $15 billion. Arbitrarily estimating a much lower estimate of 10% would extrapolate to $2.6 billion.

$15B

$2.6B

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Discussion Considerations

Regardless of which spending estimates are most accurate, we are investing a huge (and growing) amount into technologies that we expect to perform as advertised.

What are the legal & regulatory requirements for edtech products to prove their efficacy?
Who currently performs efficacy research on these products? Why?
Should we expect individual districts to do so? If not, who should?
Why do these technologies perform so well in some schools and so poorly in others?
What are the factors that explain the variation in performance?
What information do our 13,000+ districts need in order to make effective decisions about which edtech to choose and how to best implement it?
Who should keep track of what is being spent and used?
How can educators nationwide learn from each other’s experiences?
Whose responsibility is it to answer these questions?