Alabama topped all other states for its dollar decline in education spending since 2008, cutting funds by $1, 318 per student, according to a study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
While Alabama ranked second by percentage cut, losing 21.7 percent compared to Arizona’s 21.8 percent, its dollar cuts outstripped the next-highest-cutting state, California, by more than $200.
The dollar drop was more than twice as high as Mississippi, four times as high as Florida and light years different than 13 states where funding increased.
The Center, which prepared the study, describes itself as a “non-partisan research and policy institute” particularly concerned with issues “that affect low- and moderate-income families and individuals.”
Recognizing that education funding has been affected by steep declines in state revenue, the center comments: “States’ large cuts in spending on education have serious consequences for the economy, in both the short and long term. Not only do they directly impact jobs, but they also counteract and sometimes undermine important state education reform initiatives, and put upward pressure on local property taxes.”
By Nedra Bloom
