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Objective:The purpose of this file is to provide access to the data that were compiled for the March 2023 update to the Equable Hidden Funding Cuts Report.
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Organization:The data in this file are organized using separate tabs for each of the figures presented in the report. Each tab is labeled by page number with a short abbreviation or description of the graphic.
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Note that none of the graphics are contained in this file, as they have been removed to keep the size of this file small for any interested parties.
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Note that page numbers listed with the data sources are references to the main Hidden Funding Cuts report.
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Data Sources:The data for the Hidden Funding Cuts Report were drawn from the following sources:
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1)Retirement Cost Data: All data pertaining to retirement plan costs (actuarially determined employer contributions or contributions paid), assets, liabilities, or other elements of the public retirement systems examined in the report were compiled using plan-specific reports. This means data were extracted primarily from plan valuation reports and comprehensive annual financial reports (ACFRs), but other supplemental data were also collected from state ACFRs, investment reports, and other publicly available sources.
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2)State & Local K-12 Spending Data: All data pertaining to state & local K-12 spending were drawn from the Census Bureau's Survey of State and Local Government Finances. Totals reflect the total spending on education which includes state and local sources, capital outlays, and even higher education in many cases. It is intended to serve as a conservative estimate of the total amount spent on K-12 education.
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Census SLGF data can be accessed at the following:
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https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/gov-finances.html
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Note these data are presented in annual tables that were compiled by the Equable research team.
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3)State Own-Source K-12 Spending Data: All data pertaining to state own-source K-12 spending were drawn from the National Association of State Budget Officers' annual expenditure reports. Note totals are taken from Table 7 (Elementary and Secondary Education Expenditures - Capital Inclusive) from each report.
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NASBO expenditure reports can be accessed at the following:
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https://www.nasbo.org/reports-data/state-expenditure-report
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Note these data are presented in annual tables that were compiled by the Equable research team.
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4)Teacher Salaries and Benefits Data: All data pertaining to spending on teacher salaries and teacher benefits are drawn from the Census Bureau's Public Elementary-Secondary Education Finance Data.
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Census Salaries and Benefits data can be accessed at the following:
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https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2020/econ/school-finances/secondary-education-finance.html
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Note these data are presented in annual tables that were compiled by the Equable research team.
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5)Student Enrollment Data: All data pertaining to K-12 student enrollment were drawn from the National Center for Education Statistics.
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Student enrollment data can be accessed at the following:
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https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_203.20.asp
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Note these data are presented in annual tables that were compiled by the Equable research team.
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6)Inflation Deflator / Adjustment Data: All data used to adjust dollar totals to current 2021 dollars were drawn from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Specifically we utilized the national Consumer Price Index to adjust our totals.
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CPI data can be accessed at the following (note that the deflator can be dowloaded directly or you can use the inflation calculator to produce the deflator values as well):
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https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm
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7)Estimated Value of Teacher Retirement Benefits: All data for the estimated value of teacher retirement benefits were calculated by the Equable research team as part of our Retirement Security Report. These data were publicly released as part of the Teacher Edition of our Retirement Security Report (specifically Special Report #1).
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The paper addressing estimated teacher retirement benefit values over time can be accessed at the following:
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https://equable.org/rsrteacheredition/
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Note that benefit value estimates can be provided upon request.
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Notes:Please note that as of this publication, while all plans have finished their fiscal year for 2022, the most current education spending data are limited to 2021 (for NASBO) or 2020 (for Census). As such, our analyses that include or otherwise use measures of education spending are limited to those years accordingly. Also note that while data exist from the Census Survey of State and Local Government Finances from 2001, there are issues with the values reported that led the Equable team to exclude those from our analyses. As such, NASBO-based analyses will span from 2001-2021 and Census-based analyses are almost all limited to 2002-2020.
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Questions:For any questions related to the data in this file, please contact jon@equable.org
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Additional Data:For additional data (or to access the raw data used to compile the figures reported in this file), please send an inquiry to either anthony@equable.org or jon@equable.org
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Last Updated:February 28, 2023
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