50-State Comparison: K-12 School Construction Funding

This website provides detailed tables of information on state-by-state K-12 school construction funding policy. The page provides links to individual state profile pages as well as tables showing all states’ information in four categories: financial assistance and revenue; appropriations; financing; and oversight and prioritization. The findings include the following:

Financial Assistance
90% of states (45 states and the District of Columbia) offer financial assistance to school districts for school construction costs. 28 states provide both appropriations and financing options, while 10 states solely offer appropriations, and 7 states along with the District of Columbia provide financing options.

Revenue
At least 19 states have established dedicated revenue sources for school construction funding. This includes sales and use taxes, excise taxes, lottery revenue, and proceeds from the sale and use of state lands.

Appropriations
38 states provide aid to school districts for upfront planning or construction costs through appropriations. Five states have programs established in law that are not currently active. 28 states incorporate an equity component within their appropriation policy. This means they prioritize or provide more funding for projects for school districts with lower levels of property wealth. Payments take the form of direct grant aid to defray the costs incurred by projects or to reimburse locally issued debt, without requiring school districts to repay the state.

Financing
35 states and the District of Columbia employ various financing mechanisms, such as bond issuance, to fund school construction costs. One state has a program established in law that is not currently active.
This support includes state issued bonds, support for locally issued bonds and state funded loan programs, allowing schools to obtain loans for their construction needs.

Oversight and Prioritization
School districts seeking state appropriations or financing support typically require approval from the state or designated authority. The resource highlights the entity overseeing school construction funding requests in each state. In many cases, voter approval is necessary at the state and/or local level to issue debt for financing school construction projects. The research shows that 35 states require some level of voter approval for such debt issuance.

This state information is useful in tracking and comparing across states on these policies.