School spending per student rose 12.5%; U.S. inflation-adjusted growth was 0.8%.
Washington school districts’ operating spending from state, federal and local dollars rose from $17,214 to $19,371 per student between 2021–22 and 2024–25. This spending is recorded in their General Fund. The increase was 12.5%, or 0.8% after U.S. consumer-price inflation.
Seattle-area prices put the change at −1.5%.
The choice of inflation measure changes the direction of the result. Spending grew slightly faster than national consumer prices and slightly slower than Seattle-area prices. Both comparisons place spending per student close to its level three years earlier.
The two indexes track the prices households pay for goods and services. They provide a familiar inflation comparison; measuring school purchasing power would require the costs of school labor, benefits and supplies.
Spending comes from OSPI’s General Fund records. “Per student” uses its financial-summary enrollment measure, a combination of full-time-equivalent enrollment and some special-education headcounts. Capital and debt-service funds are outside this comparison.
The increase, with and without inflation.
Federal relief programs contributed far more spending in 2021–22 than in 2024–25. Removing them lowers the earlier year’s total more, so the growth rate for the remaining programs is larger: 19.1% before inflation.
| Measure | Change | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| All district General Fund spendingDollars reported in each year | +12.5% | Dollars reported in each year |
| Excluding federal COVID reliefReported dollars, with six relief programs removed | +19.1% | Reported dollars, with six relief programs removed |
| Adjusted for U.S. consumer pricesAll district General Fund spending, adjusted for national CPI | +0.8% | All district General Fund spending, adjusted for national CPI |
| Adjusted for Seattle-area consumer pricesAll district General Fund spending, adjusted for Seattle-area CPI | −1.5% | All district General Fund spending, adjusted for Seattle-area CPI |
| Excluding federal COVID relief, adjusted for U.S. pricesSix relief programs removed, national consumer prices | +6.6% | Six relief programs removed, national consumer prices |
| Excluding federal COVID relief, adjusted for Seattle-area pricesSix relief programs removed, Seattle-area consumer prices | +4.2% | Six relief programs removed, Seattle-area consumer prices |
Spending outside federal COVID programs grew 19.1%.
Six federal relief programs accounted for about $1.02 billion of spending in 2021–22 and $3.49 million in 2024–25. Their decline reduced the growth in the statewide total.
Removing those programs from both years lowers the starting point much more than the ending point. Spending per student across the remaining programs rose 19.1%, before inflation. This measure groups spending by program code; changes in classification and funding restrictions would need to be examined to assess what districts could spend freely.
Excluding federal COVID programs, real growth was 6.6% or 4.2%.
From 2021–22 to 2024–25, spending per student outside the six specified federal relief programs rose 19.1% before inflation, 6.6% after U.S. consumer prices, and 4.2% after Seattle-area prices.
The starting year changes the comparison.
The initial question compared 2021–22 with 2024–25. Because 2021–22 included substantial federal relief spending, the table also shows two earlier starting years.
| Starting school year | Ending year | Nominal | U.S. prices | Seattle prices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-2019 | 2024-2025 | 36.0% | 8.3% | 4.5% |
| 2019-2020 | 2024-2025 | 32.1% | 6.7% | 3.3% |
| 2021-2022 | 2024-2025 | 12.5% | 0.8% | -1.5% |
Statewide totals and enrollment
| School year | District General Fund spending | Financial-summary enrollment | Spending per student |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-2019 | $15,910,940,924.66 | 1,117,394.73 | $14,239.32 |
| 2019-2020 | $16,529,878,455.73 | 1,127,526.90 | $14,660.30 |
| 2021-2022 | $18,468,601,374.12 | 1,072,894.77 | $17,213.81 |
| 2024-2025 | $21,081,063,857.94 | 1,088,261.99 | $19,371.31 |
Aggregate the original OSPI files · Download and verify source files · Definitions and calculation review
Basic education and special education had the largest increases.
Basic education added $978 per student to the statewide change, state special education added $809, and districtwide support added $397. Declining spending in temporary federal relief programs offset part of those increases.
Program contributions shown in the chart
| OSPI program code | Program | Change per student |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | ESSER III | $-314.27 |
| 12 | ESSER II | $-251.63 |
| 11 | SLFRF enrollment stab. | $-188.36 |
| 14 | ESSER III learning loss | $-109.09 |
| 19 | CARES other | $-52.10 |
| 23 | ARP-IDEA | $-28.10 |
| 55 | LAP (state) | $80.67 |
| 09 | Transition to K | $81.05 |
| 98 | Food services | $102.69 |
| 31 | CTE (state) | $114.72 |
| 99 | Transportation | $169.87 |
| 97 | Districtwide support | $397.47 |
| 21 | Special Ed (state) | $809.37 |
| 01 | Basic Education | $977.79 |
Data and calculations
Spending, enrollment and inflation
Each year’s statewide General Fund expenditure total is divided by enrollment from OSPI’s 2024–25 ten-year F-196 workbook. The percentage change compares those two statewide ratios. Inflation-adjusted change divides the spending ratio by the ratio of consumer-price averages.
The COVID-excluded measure removes programs 11, 12, 13, 14, 19 and 23 in both years. These cover SLFRF, ESSER II and III, other CARES Act spending, and ARP IDEA special education. OSPI groups program 23 under special education in its summary tables; this comparison includes it among the six relief programs.
OSPI’s enrollment measure includes regular K–12 full-time equivalents, skill-center summer programs, detention and other state institutions, and birth-to-five special-education headcounts. The workbook and PDF tables differ slightly; the workbook values are used consistently here. Definitions and calculation review
Consumer Price Index averages cover September through August, with 12 national observations and six Seattle-area observations in each school year.
Chart data and calculations
The download contains chart values, statewide totals, source links and file hashes. It includes code to recalculate the published percentages and a second script to rebuild totals and comparisons from the original OSPI files.
Download data (ZIP)CSV tables and Python. The calculation runs locally from the included data.
- Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. School Apportionment and Financial Services data files. General Fund expenditure extracts, accounting dictionaries and the ten-year F-196 workbook, retrieved September 11, 2026. Section One describes the enrollment measure. File URLs, retrieval dates and hashes.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Consumer Price Index databases. CPI-U all items, U.S. city average (
CUUR0000SA0) and Seattle area (CUURS49DSA0), retrieved September 11, 2026.
Source review and corrections
Updated September 11, 2026. Definitions and calculation review.
Corrections: josh@pennerstrategy.com.
OSPI is the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. F-196 is its school-district annual financial reporting form. This study uses the 2024–25 files retrieved September 11, 2026. Check OSPI for later releases.
Potholes & Pixels
Joshua Penner’s newsletter.
Sources and production
Silphium is Penner Strategy’s research system. These studies use AI-assisted analysis and code-generated calculations and charts. The linked review records describe the calculation checks and remaining limitations.