Taking money off the books.

• Position: Statewide - Public school spendings - Statistical data

As the state's economy grew through the 1990s and early 2000s, more tax revenue was directed to North Carolina's public-education budget. Spending per K-12 student soared. But after the recession struck, lawmakers faced a multibillion-dollar shortfall. They took heavily from education--the cuts included teacher positions--to balance the budget.

Will that have a negative impact on performance? N.C. Department of Instruction Chief Financial Officer Philip Price says so, though the effects probably won't be seen until a new batch of students cycles through. But history suggests money going to public schools might not be directly correlated with student performance. After all, per-student spending nearly doubled between the 1991-92 and 2010-11 school years, but the state's mean SAT score rose just 4.2%.

Poor, rural counties have more cushion to soften the blow. They typically spend more per student because the state sends low-enrollment, high-poverty districts extra money, as does the federal government. In fact, stimulus money the feds disbursed across North Carolina helped offset state and local cuts in 2010-11.

PUBLIC-SCHOOL SPENDING Change per student 2007-08 to 2010-11 * Increased more * No change to * Decreased 0.1 * Decreased more than 10% increase of 10% to 10.1 than 10.1% 56 22 38 87 61 88 20 73 48 44 50 32 57 11 19 100 45 66 59 75 69 14 81 3 6 85 12 99 95 30 5 29 97 2 86 18 34 23 49 80 55 4 36 79 60 17 13 76 84 17 90 76 41 39 1 51 62 53 68 37 91 42 93 33 35 74 92 40 43 37 63 94 64 28 98 52 96 31 54 71 67 82 65 9 10 26 24 83 78 47 77 16 25 7 58 8 45 89 21 72 70 15 27 Per student 2010-11 Most Hyde $18,820.51 Tyrrell $515,504.29 Washington $11,649.22 Jones $11,647.76 Alleghany $10,746.70 Least...