Seattle schools spending per student, before and after inflation

What this chart asks

How much did Seattle Public Schools' spending per student grow, and how much of that growth was inflation?

Why it is shown this way

• A line shows the year-to-year path; two series side by side show how much of the growth is inflation.
• The y axis starts at zero so the size of the increase is not exaggerated.

Chart annotations

These markers provide relevant context for interpreting the chart. Their timing or position does not, by itself, establish causation.

State funding step-up (McCleary)

2018-19

The 2018-19 school year was the first with the Legislature's full McCleary funding and new local levy limits.

Data and accessibility

Download chart data · Open accessible table · Download PNG · Download SVG

Dataset seattle-schools-spending-enrollment, analysis per-student-trend

Sources

This chart draws on the sources of the dataset versions it visualizes.

Seattle Public Schools spending and enrollment, 2013-14 to 2024-25

1. Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Annual school district financial statements (F-196): general fund expenditures by program and object, revenues by source, and the enrollment OSPI uses for per-pupil figures. 10-year workbook (https://ospi.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/2025-12/10_year_f-196_data_2024-25.xlsx) for 2014-15 to 2024-25; 2013-14 and detail rows from the SAFS F-196 data files (https://ospi.k12.wa.us/safs-data-files).

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Washington State public record. Public government data; derived tables redistributed with attribution.

   Reliability: Government. OSPI compiles the year-end financial statements every Washington school district must file (form F-196). Figures are as reported by the district; OSPI publishes them without audit adjustment.

2. OSPI Financial Reporting Summary, Section One Statewide general fund expenditures and per-pupil spending by year, 2014-15 to 2024-25 (2013-14 from the 2022-23 edition: https://ospi.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/2023-12/2022-23_section_one_statewideaveragefinancialtablesandcharts.pdf).

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Washington State public record. Public government document.

   Reliability: Government. OSPI summary of all districts' F-196 reports; used here for the statewide comparison. Its per-pupil enrollment counts K-12 FTE plus some special-education and institutional students.

3. OSPI Report Card enrollment (data.wa.gov) October headcount by grade for Seattle School District No. 1, 2014-15 to 2024-25; 2025-26 from https://data.wa.gov/d/wvqy-yp3m.

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Washington State open data. Public open data.

   Reliability: Government. Headcount of students enrolled on the October count date, as districts report it to OSPI. Earliest year in this series is 2014-15.

4. Seattle Public Schools 2026-27 Budget Book 2024-25 actual and 2025-26 and 2026-27 budgeted general fund totals; K-12 AAFTE 2022-23 to 2026-27; fund balance outlook.

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public record. Public document; figures quoted with attribution.

   Reliability: Party to the dispute. The district's own adopted budget. SPS argues the state underfunds it, but these figures are its audited actuals and adopted budgets, which match OSPI's records.

5. Seattle Public Schools Adopted Budget 2015-2016 (copy) 2013-14 actual general fund summary (F-195 format) and 2013-14 actual K-12 AAFTE.

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public record. Public document; figures quoted with attribution.

   Reliability: Party to the dispute. SPS no longer posts this book on its site; this copy is kept by a parent-run data project. Its 2013-14 totals match OSPI's F-196 records to the dollar.

6. Seattle Public Schools Adopted Budget 2016-2017 (copy) K-12 AAFTE 2012-13 to 2014-15 with kindergarten shown at half-day and state-funded full-day kindergarten separately.

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public record. Public document; figures quoted with attribution.

   Reliability: Party to the dispute. District budget book copy kept by a parent-run data project; AAFTE figures are from OSPI report 1251.

7. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue CPI-U (CUURS49DSA0, bimonthly) and U.S. city average CPI-U (CUUR0000SA0), averaged over each September-August school year.

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Public domain.

   Reliability: Government. Official consumer price index. The Seattle index is published for even months only.

8. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis via FRED Implicit price deflator for state and local government consumption and investment (quarterly), averaged Q3 to Q2 for each school year; used as a sensitivity check.

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Public domain.

   Reliability: Government. National index of the prices state and local governments pay, dominated by employee compensation; not specific to Washington or schools.

9. @PNWConservative on X The post rated in the companion fact check.

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Quoted for commentary. Quotation only.

   Reliability: Advocacy group. Has a stake in this finding. Anonymous political account; the post argues for Initiative 645.

Limitations

• Per-student figures use the enrollment OSPI uses for per-pupil spending, which includes some special-education preschoolers.
• Inflation adjustment uses the Seattle-area consumer price index; school costs may have risen at a different rate. A government price index gives a larger real increase (about 42%).
• General fund only.