Track Every Dollar
Massachusetts: every school dollar
Where Massachusetts's public school money comes from, where it goes, what Washington sends, and how the state spends its lottery money. Select any line for more.
- Public school money, 2023-24$23.3 billion
- Spent per student, day to day$24,429U.S.: $17,619
- Students862,765319 school systems
- Lottery money to educationLottery money goes to other purposes
Where the money comes from
$23.3 billion in the 2023-24 school year. Select federal, state or local to see every line.
Federal $1.9 billion8.2%
Inside the federal total: $829 million of pandemic relief (ESSER and related funds), which ended in 2024.
State $10.2 billion43.6%
Local $11.2 billion48.1%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Survey of School System Finances, Public Elementary-Secondary Education Finances: Fiscal Year 2024. School year 2023-24. census.gov the data file
Where it goes
$24.6 billion spent. Select support services for every line.
Inside these totals: $12.5 billion in salaries and wages, $3.1 billion in employee benefits. Long-term debt at year end: $514 million.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Survey of School System Finances, Public Elementary-Secondary Education Finances: Fiscal Year 2024. School year 2023-24. census.gov the data file
Spending per student over time
Not adjusted for inflation. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Survey of School System Finances, Table 20. summary tables
What Washington committed
Department of Education money committed for use in Massachusetts in fiscal year 2025: $1.6 billion. The programs below include money from Agriculture (school meals) and Health and Human Services (Head Start), and college aid (Pell).
Why this differs from the federal line above: that line is what Massachusetts's schools received in the 2023-24 school year (Census). This one is what Washington committed in a later federal year, including college aid, which schools never receive.
| Program | What it is | Massachusetts | Share of the national total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pell Grants | College grants to students with financial need | $644 million | 1.6% |
| School lunch | National School Lunch Program (Department of Agriculture) | $597 million | 2.2% |
| Special education (IDEA) | Grants to states for students with disabilities, ages 3 to 21 | $339 million | 2.4% |
| Title I | Grants to schools with many students from low-income families | $292 million | 1.6% |
| Head Start | Early childhood programs (Department of Health and Human Services) | $188 million | 1.6% |
| Federal Work-Study | Part-time jobs for college students with need | $46.6 million | 4.1% |
| Title II, teachers | Supporting effective instruction: teacher and principal training | $30.5 million | 1.4% |
| College opportunity grants (SEOG) | Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants | $28.6 million | 3.2% |
| Career and technical education | Perkins basic grants to states | $23.4 million | 1.7% |
| Title IV-A | Student support and academic enrichment grants | $21.4 million | 1.6% |
| English learners (Title III) | English language acquisition grants | $21.0 million | 2.4% |
| After school (21st Century) | 21st Century Community Learning Centers | $20.1 million | 1.5% |
| Special education, preschool | Preschool grants for children with disabilities, ages 3 to 5 | $10.6 million | 2.7% |
| Impact Aid | Payments to districts with federal land or military families | $493,252 | under 0.1% |
Source: USAspending.gov, U.S. Department of the Treasury. Federal fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025), money committed (obligated) by state where it is used. usaspending.gov
How is Massachusetts spending the education lottery money?
State law limits lottery revenue to prizes, the commission's expenses and budgeted aid to cities and towns, 'to provide local property tax relief and continue services at the local level'; no share is set for education.
What the law says
"In order to provide local property tax relief and continue services at the local level, revenues of the lottery commission from whatever source shall be expended only for the following purposes"
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 10, sec. 35 malegislature.gov
What it paid for, FY2025
Payments made during the year. They include money earned in earlier years, so they do not add up to the year's total sent to education.
- Mandated transfers to the General Fund to reimburse it for administrative expense appropriations and other spending$1.2 billion p. 28
Still being verified: retailers, running the lottery, to education.
Every school system in Massachusetts
319 school systems reported to the Census Bureau for 2023-24. See each one's money in and money out.
The record
- School money: Public Elementary-Secondary Education Finances: Fiscal Year 2024, U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Survey of School System Finances. The district totals for Massachusetts were added up and checked against the Census state table on seven totals. census.gov
- Federal money: Federal education spending, fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025). Money committed, by the state where it is used. usaspending.gov
- Lottery: Commonwealth of Massachusetts Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2025, Office of the Comptroller of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. macomptroller.org
- Lottery: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 10, sec. 35, State lottery and gaming fund; expenditures, The General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. malegislature.gov
- Checked November 2, 2026. How we track it · Report an error
Take it with you
Track Every Dollar
Every school dollar in Massachusetts
- Public school money, 2023-24$23.3 billion
- Spent per student$24,429
- Lottery money to education, FY2025Lottery money goes to other purposes
democratic-republican-party.com/track-every-dollar/massachusetts/