School Spending in North Carolina
Beginning in 2019-20, the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires all states to report school-level per pupil expenditures, by funding source. The availability of school-level data provides a new level of transparency for the public, educators, and policymakers and has the potential to uncover spending trends that have been masked by district-level data. BEST NC has created an interactive tool to help facilitate learning and exploration around these new school spending data.
Understanding and Using the School Spending Interactive Tool:
On the home screen above, you can choose to view a scatterplot that compares per pupil expenditures in a single year to student characteristics such as poverty, achievement and growth or to compare per pupil expenditures trends over several years. A visual explainer for navigating each tool can be found in the “How-To” documents beneath the tools and a glossary of terms used within the tools can be found below.
Note: A small subset of schools have been excluded from this data set as expenditure outliers. If you are looking for a specific school and cannot find it here, please visit the NC School Report Card page for more information. Email us at info@BESTNC.org if you have any questions.
Breaking Down the Data:
Using school–level expenditure data, we are able to provide more detailed analysis of North Carolina’s per pupil expenditures by school types.








Sources: NC DPI Educational Directory and Demographical Information Exchange (EDDIE); NC DPI School Report Card Data Set; NC DPI Statistical Profile, Table 10.1; NC DPI School Performance Grades; NC DPI COVID Expenditure and Allotment Data
Additional Resources:
- BEST NC’s School Spending Data Explorer Blog
- Download Your Free Copy Now: BEST NC’s Facts & Figures
- School and District Breakdowns: NC School Report Cards
- NC DPI Student and School Accountability Data Sets
- NC DPI School Demographic Information: EDDIE Database
- NC DPI COVID Allotment and Expenditure Dashboard