Even with the economy in the toilet, ed spending grew in 2009, albeit at a slower rate than usual:

The nation's overall education spending grew at a slower pace in 2009 than at any other time in more than a decade, amid deepening state fiscal woes and flatter tax revenues, according to new census figures released Wednesday.

Public school districts spent an average of $10,499 per student on elementary and secondary education in the 2009 fiscal year, up 2.3 percent from 2008. In contrast, spending rose by 6.1 percent and 5.8 percent in the two years before that.

"I think they are responding to economic and political realities," said Robert N. Lowry Jr., deputy director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents. "There's been this recognition that times are different."

Total revenues devoted to education — which include money from federal, state and local sources — rose to $590.9 billion in 2009, or 1.5 percent more than the year before. Of that amount, state revenues accounted for $276.2 billion (46.7 percent); local revenues, $258.9 billion (43.8 percent), and federal revenues, $55.9 billion (9.5 percent).  

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Growth in Education Spending Slowed in 2009

By WINNIE HU and ROBERT GEBELOFF

Published: May 25, 2011

www.nytimes.com/2011/05/26/education/26spending.html