A Review of Expenditures of Mississippi’s Public School Districts, FY 2005 through FY 2014
Executive Summary
Introduction
Mississippi, like other states, annually makes a substantial investment in education efforts. Typically, the Legislature dedicates more than half of available general fund revenue to the funding of all educational activities. Federal and local financial resources supplement the amounts provided to school districts annually by the Legislature.
Given Mississippi’s philosophy of local control of school districts, local school boards must consider the needs and priorities of their students and make decisions as to how financial resources will be expended within their districts.
The PEER Committee conducted this review to determine how Mississippi public school districts expended state, local, and federal funds during the ten-year period of FY 2005 through FY 2014.* PEER also sought to determine trends associated with expenditures and changes in expenditures for staffing, salaries, and areas of school operations that led to the trends during the ten-year period.
For purposes of this review, PEER reviewed school districts’ expenditures in these seven major budget categories:
As discussed on page 17 of this report, when considering expenditures over an extended period, the effects of inflation must be considered for a true comparison of financial effort. Therefore, the conclusions in this executive summary refer only to inflation-adjusted dollars.
Conclusions
Overall, Mississippi’s public school districts increased spending in all major budget categories over the ten-year period except for the Instructional category.
From FY 2005 through FY 2014, Mississippi’s public school districts spent approximately $42.8 billion in the seven major budget categories. Districts’ FY 2014 total expenditures were approximately $152 million more than in FY 2005.
With the exception of the Instructional category, the major budget categories all experienced spending increases from FY 2005 through FY 2014, from approximately 4% in Food Services to approximately 24% in Plant Operations. Total expenditures in the Instructional category decreased by approximately 3.2% during this period, as shown in Exhibit A below.
Noteworthy changes from FY 2005 to FY 2014 within each of the seven major budget categories were as follows:
Overall, school districts increased total expenditures per student in all major budget categories over the ten-year period except for the Instructional category.
At the level of expenditures per student, total expenditures per student increased from $8,714 in FY 2005 to $9,196 in FY 2014. With the exception of the Instructional category, expenditures per student increased in all categories from FY 2005 to FY 2014. In the Instructional category, expenditures per student decreased from $4,969 in FY 2005 to $4,890 in FY 2014.
Overall, school districts’ spending in the Instructional category declined by approximately 3.2% over the ten-year period. Spending in the Administration category increased by approximately 13% during the same period.
From FY 2005 through FY 2014, total expenditures in the Instructional category declined by approximately $75 million, or approximately 3.2%. During the same period, total expenditures in the Administration category increased by approximately $57 million, or approximately 13%, as shown in Exhibit B below.
During the ten-year period, school districts’ spending for salaries of teachers and other professional personnel in the Instructional category declined by approximately 8.6%, while spending for salaries in the Administration category increased by approximately 8.1%.
From FY 2005 through FY 2014, expenditures for salaries of teachers and other professional personnel in the Instructional category declined by approximately $130 million, or approximately 8.6%. During the same period, expenditures for salaries in the Administration category increased by approximately $15 million, or approximately 8.1%, as shown in Exhibit C below.
School districts’ spending for employee benefits and for the purchase of professional and technical services increased in all major budget categories over the ten-year period.
Expenditures for employee benefits increased in all seven major budget categories over the ten-year period by a total of approximately $119 million due to reasons that included the following:
Expenditures for the purchase of professional and technical services increased in all seven major budget categories by approximately $41 million over the ten-year period, including spending for:
From FY 2009 to FY 2014, total expenditures declined by approximately $295 million.
From FY 2009 to FY 2014, total expenditures by public school districts declined by approximately $295 million. Changes during this time in the seven major budget categories were:
* Mississippi’s public school districts operate on a fiscal year from July 1 through June 30. For example, FY 2005 refers to expenditures from July 1, 2004, through June 30, 2005, even though the school year is on a slightly different calendar.
^ PEER notes that although expenditure data used for this review did not include teachers’ salary increases in FY 2015 and FY 2016 because FY 2015 data was not finalized at the time of PEER’s analysis, the Instructional category would still likely have experienced a decline in salary expenditures if these increases had been included in the analysis.