Fiscal Problems and Education Finance

Relative to previous recessions, the 2001 recession was short and not very deep. Even so, it had a significant effect on the fiscal condition of state and local governments. This report examined how the recession affected state and local government spending on K-12 education in the three years since the recession. We track the historic pattern at the national level of state and local spending on K-12 education and then turn to a state-level analysis of how K-12 education was affected by the recession, including correlations between local education spending patterns and state patterns.