Hidden Education Funding Cuts from 2001 to 2018, Ranked by Size of Increase Over Time

Pennsylvania spent just 2% of its state education funds on pension costs in 2001, but by 2018 pension costs were 34% of the state education budget. This 32 percentage point increase was the largest over the last 18-years of any state in the country. Here are the trends of the rest of the states.

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

20%

22%

24%

26%

28%

30%

32%

34%

36%

38%

40%

Pennsylvania

2%

34%

Illinois

12%

34%

Connecticut

9%

26%

New Hampshire

4%

21%

Louisiana

17%

31%

Oklahoma

13%

27%

Michigan

6%

18%

Kentucky

9%

21%

New Jersey

0%

11%

South Carolina

11%

21%

Kansas

8%

18%

Virginia

6%

15%

California

7%

16%

Rhode Island

10%

19%

Alabama

9%

17%

West Virginia

16%

24%

National

8%

15%

Mississippi

9%

16%

North Carolina

3%

10%

Arizona

1%

8%

Nebraska

11%

18%

Hawaii

0%

6%

District of Columbia

1%

6%

Alaska

6%

11%

Massachusetts

12%

17%

Arkansas

9%

14%

Ohio

11%

16%

Montana

10%

14%

New York

1%

5%

Missouri

8%

13%

Maryland

12%

16%

New Mexico

9%

13%

Texas

10%

13%

Utah

16%

20%

Georgia

13%

17%

Iowa

8%

11%

Nevada

33%

36%

Washington

1%

4%

Vermont

3%

5%

Wyoming

6%

8%

Tennessee

5%

7%

Delaware

1%

2%

Wisconsin

3%

5%

Colorado

9%

11%

South Dakota

5%

6%

Florida

10%

11%

Oregon

11%

12%

Minnesota

4%

4%

Idaho

9%

9%

North Dakota

8%

8%

Indiana

19%

18%

Maine

14%

13%

2001|

2018|