How Much Do School Districts Spend per Student? | Eastern NC Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the John Locke Foundation. The author of this post is Dr. Robert Luebke.

    The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction has released data on public school finances for 2021-22.

    In Fiscal Year 2021-22, the average public school in North Carolina spent about $12,345 per student. That's up from $10,753 in 2021, an increase of almost 15 percent.

    What accounts for the increase? The Federal Government. According to NC DPI data, the state received about $3.34 in federal funds. Other records show about $2 billion was spent on covid relief. What does that mean for the average student? Federal spending per student increased almost 90 percent in the past year. Increasing from $1,298 in 2021 to $2,460 in 2022

    The highest spending school districts in North Carlina by per pupil spending include:


    Source: See Table 24, North Carolina Statistical Profile

    The average private school tuition in North Carolina for 2022-23 is $9.652.