Local funding for public schools in Oklahoma significantly trails both the regional average (by nearly 6 percentage points) and the national average (by nearly 7 percentage points). This disparity is significant. Holding all other funding constant, if local areas in Oklahoma increased the amount of local funding to public schools by 7 percent, it would mean an additional $438 million ($495 million when adjusted for cost of living) for public schools.

Data below are from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Revenue sources as a share of total revenue

	State	Local	Federal
New Mexico	70.04%	16.23%	13.73%
Kansas	63.15%	28.42%	8.43%
Arkansas	51.09%	37.31%	11.60%
Oklahoma	48.33%	40.17%	11.50%
U.S. Average	44.79%	46.96%	8.25%
Regional Average	43.81%	46.09%	10.10%
Colorado	43.72%	49.22%	7.06%
Texas	40.89%	48.56%	10.56%
Missouri	32.98%	58.40%	8.63%

One factor behind Oklahoma’s wild swings in tax revenues and low rate of local contributions is our relatively low property taxes. Local revenues tend to come from property taxes and be much more stable and reliable than state taxes that swing back and forth with economic conditions. Oklahoma has the lowest property taxes in our region, on a per person basis.

Regional property tax per capita

Texas	$1,908.49	1st
Kansas	$1,592.92	2nd
Colorado	$1,353.57	3rd
Missouri	$1,090.31	4th
New Mexico	$804.60	5th
Arkansas	$789.83	6th
Oklahoma	$765.24	7th

All data have been adjusted for cost-of-living differences using the Cost of Living Data Series by the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC).