Education Trust Fund Budget
The Education Trust Fund (ETF) budget funds all state education activities, including K-12 programs and higher education. The primary revenue streams for the ETF budget are income and sales taxes In recent years, including FY2025, individual income taxes, corporate income taxes, and general sales taxes accounted for over 92% of ETF revenues.
For FY2027, the ETF budget enacted through HB238 totals approximately $10.5 billion, reflecting continued reliance on these revenue sources.
From fiscal year 2016-2025 nominal ETF spending grew by 56.34%, totaling over $11 billion in FY2025 including supplemental appropriations. In 2016 total ETF spending was less than $6 billion annually. Over the same period of time, revenues to the ETF grew by 79.8%.
This trend continued into FY2027, with the enacted ETF budget increasing to approximately $10.5 billion in recurring appropriations, plus additional one-time spending through supplemental appropriations and reserve transfers.
Over the past five years, ETF spending grew by 31.2%, while revenues grew by more than 46.7%. Total nominal ETF spending was $2.1 billion higher in FY2025 than it was in 2021. Between FY2026 and FY2027 alone, ETF spending is set to increase by nearly $570 million, representing year-over-year growth of 5.75%.
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This graph shows a comparison of the annual percentage growth of total state K-12 spending versus the annual growth of the State Department of Education Administrative Services Program. The Administrative Services Program provides support to educational functions including departmental operation and maintenance, operation and maintenance expenses for reading initiatives, and support for teacher and student testing, distance learning, and the math, science, and technology function, among others. Recent budget growth reflected in FY2027 appropriations continues to raise questions about how increases in administrative and support spending compare to direct classroom investment.
