A look at local funding for public schools
February 7, 2019
Staff
Local funding for public schools in Oklahoma significantly trails both the regional average (by nearly 6 percentage points) and the national average (by nearly 7 percentage points). This disparity is significant. Holding all other funding constant, if local areas in Oklahoma increased the amount of local funding to public schools by 7 percent, it would mean an additional $438 million ($495 million when adjusted for cost of living) for public schools.
Data below are from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Revenue sources as a share of total revenue
| State | Local | Federal | |
| New Mexico | 70.04% | 16.23% | 13.73% |
| Kansas | 63.15% | 28.42% | 8.43% |
| Arkansas | 51.09% | 37.31% | 11.60% |
| Oklahoma | 48.33% | 40.17% | 11.50% |
| U.S. Average | 44.79% | 46.96% | 8.25% |
| Regional Average | 43.81% | 46.09% | 10.10% |
| Colorado | 43.72% | 49.22% | 7.06% |
| Texas | 40.89% | 48.56% | 10.56% |
| Missouri | 32.98% | 58.40% | 8.63% |
One factor behind Oklahoma’s wild swings in tax revenues and low rate of local contributions is our relatively low property taxes. Local revenues tend to come from property taxes and be much more stable and reliable than state taxes that swing back and forth with economic conditions. Oklahoma has the lowest property taxes in our region, on a per person basis.
Regional property tax per capita
| Texas | $1,908.49 | 1st |
| Kansas | $1,592.92 | 2nd |
| Colorado | $1,353.57 | 3rd |
| Missouri | $1,090.31 | 4th |
| New Mexico | $804.60 | 5th |
| Arkansas | $789.83 | 6th |
| Oklahoma | $765.24 | 7th |
All data have been adjusted for cost-of-living differences using the Cost of Living Data Series by the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC).