Local revenue choices can change how much money schools can raise, which communities can raise it most easily, and how reliably funds arrive. But the tax that collects the money, the government that collects it, and the formula that distributes it are separate parts of the system.
Where does school funding come from?
Public-school revenue comes from federal, state, and local sources. In school year 2022–23, those sources accounted for 12.9%, 45.1%, and 42.0% of national public-school revenue, respectively, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Digest table. These are national shares for 2022–23, not figures for a later school year.
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“Local” revenue is broader than property taxes. NCES includes nonproperty taxes, investment income, fees and receipts from student activities and food service, and revenue from intermediate sources in its local-revenue categories. The mix differs among states and districts.
As a general pattern, local governments rely more heavily on property taxes, while state revenues commonly combine income and sales taxes. That is not a universal rule: tax authority, revenue dedication, and school-aid systems differ by jurisdiction. As the Albert Shanker Institute’s 2023 report The Source Code: Revenue Composition and the Adequacy, Equity, and Stability of K-12 School Spending puts it, “Most local revenue for schools comes in the form of property taxes, whereas state revenue is largely a combination of sales and income taxes.”
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How much of school funding comes from property taxes?
For the national 2022–23 picture, local property taxes made up 33.2% of all public-school revenue, according to NCES. That figure is a share of total revenue, not just local revenue.
In a different school year, 2019–20, property taxes supplied $318 billion, or 81% of local public-school revenue nationally, NCES reported in 2023. That report also found wide state variation; Hawaii’s single school district received no property-tax funding. The 81% figure describes the national local-revenue mix in 2019–20 and should not be substituted for the 2022–23 share of total revenue.
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NCES published a First Look page in April 2026 covering 2023–24 revenue and expenditure data by source and per pupil. The national percentages above come from the 2022–23 Digest table and should not be relabeled as 2023–24 results.
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A revenue option has effects beyond its name. To understand what it means for school funding, separate four questions:
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- What raises the money? It could be a property tax, sales tax, fee, or another source.
- Which government collects it? A tax’s type does not by itself tell you whether it is collected locally or statewide.
- Is the revenue dedicated or pooled? Dedicated receipts are reserved for a purpose; pooled revenue may compete with other priorities in a general fund.
- How is it distributed? A state aid formula or local allocation rule determines how much reaches each district.
A state can collect revenue centrally and distribute it through an aid formula. A local-option tax, by contrast, may leave more of the proceeds tied to the jurisdiction where they are raised. The distributional result therefore depends not only on the tax base, but also on the rules that direct the money.
How do local options affect equity and property-tax burdens?
Property-tax capacity depends in part on the taxable value of property in a community. Student needs and local costs also vary. A district with a smaller tax base or higher costs may have less ability to raise comparable resources at the same tax rate. Comparing tax rates alone misses both the capacity to raise revenue and the cost of meeting students’ needs.
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Pooling more money at the state level can change how funding is distributed among districts, depending on the aid formula. But neither a state tax nor a local tax automatically produces an equitable result: the formula, the size of the revenue pool, and district needs all matter. A local-option sales tax can also preserve differences in revenue-raising capacity among jurisdictions if the proceeds remain locally linked.
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A school property-tax figure does not, by itself, determine a household’s full property-tax bill or a school’s quality. Assessment rules, tax rates, state aid, local spending decisions, and other taxing authorities can all affect the outcome. The rules that apply to a particular taxpayer or district depend on state and local law.
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How do revenue choices affect funding stability?
Revenue sources can respond differently to economic change. The Albert Shanker Institute’s 2023 analysis of aggregate tax revenues through 2020 found income-tax revenue was the most volatile of the three major tax types, property-tax revenue the least volatile, and sales-tax revenue between them. That is a historical aggregate pattern, not a guarantee about every jurisdiction or future downturn.
Changing the revenue mix can therefore involve a trade-off: a state may pool funds differently or reduce reliance on one source, but it still needs enough dependable revenue to meet school costs. The report’s account of Michigan illustrates the risk without predicting what would happen elsewhere: in 1993, the state tried to replace education property taxes with a sales-tax increase, but the increase proved insufficient, and a significant portion of property taxes was restored.
What to check before comparing a local revenue proposal
For a proposed tax or funding change, examine the details that determine who pays and where school dollars go:
- Revenue capacity: How much could the option raise at the proposed rate, given the local or statewide tax base?
- Who bears the cost: Which households, property owners, consumers, or other groups would pay, and what relief rules apply?
- Geographic distribution: Do receipts stay where collected, or does an aid formula redistribute them?
- Stability: How might collections change during an economic downturn?
- Use of proceeds: Are funds dedicated to schools or placed in a broader pool?
- Legal authority: What levy limits, voter-approval requirements, assessment rules, or other state and local provisions apply?
National statistics explain broad revenue patterns, but they cannot establish what a particular district may levy, whether voters must approve it, or the effect on an individual tax bill. Those answers require current law and school-funding rules for the named state and locality.
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