Local property taxes pay for about 44% of all K-12 public school funding in the United States. Between 1920 and 2021, the portion of K-12 funding provided by local governments decreased from 83% to 44%, while the portion paid by state governments rose from 17% to 46%, and the portion paid by the federal government rose from 0.3% to 11%. During this period, state governments paid a growing share of the education expenses of low-income school districts in order to equalize their funding with higher-income districts. As a result, school districts with higher portions of minority students have spent about the same average amount per student as school districts with smaller portions of minority students since the early 1970s.