States provide the lion's share.

• Position: STATESTATS

Public schools receive funding from federal, state and local sources, with state governments providing the largest share--46.7 percent nationwide in fiscal year 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The state share, however, varies greatly among states. The state government, for example, provides 89 percent of all Vermont's public school funding, 51 percent of Oregon's school funding and 30 percent of Illinois'.

Most states have had to cut back on funding or funding increases to K-12 schools in the past few years. Across the nation, state lawmakers have made difficult decisions to eliminate funding for professional development programs for educators, adult literacy classes and after-school programs. They have had to cut kindergarten to half days, lower the total number of school days and eliminate some bus service. They've also trimmed social workers and nurses and assistance for gifted and special-needs students. Class-size limits have been raised, and office workers have been laid off.

LARGEST SLICE STILL COMES FROM STATES

Public school systems received $590.9 billion in funding for 2008-09, up 1.5 percent from the previous year.

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LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

billion (43.8 percent)

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STATE GOVERNMENTS

$276.2 billion (46.7 percent)

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FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

$55.9 billion (9.5 percent).

Source: The U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2009," May 2011.

STATE RANKINGS OF SCHOOL REVENUE BY SOURCE, FY 2009 States and Washington, D.C., are ranked from top to bottom in how much per-pupil revenue their schools receive from each source- federal, state and local. Alaskan schools, for example, received the most federal revenue per pupil, while schools in Hawaii received the least amount of money from local sources. FEDERAL AK $2,401 HI 2,189 LA 1,868 DC 1,711 ND 1,693 SD 1,594 NM 1,582 IL 1,581 CA 1,581 RI...