This Fordham Institute study argues that advanced education in the U.S. has broad public support but receives only a tiny share of education dollars: at best, less than half a penny of every K–12 dollar at the state level is directed to advanced learning. It says this includes gifted education, AP, and IB, and that federal support is similarly limited, with the Javits Act as the only dedicated federal funding stream and AP-related funding often hard to track because it gets folded into block grants.
The authors say they estimated funding over the past decade using public data and state outreach, and they conclude that investments in advanced education have grown far more slowly than overall K–12 spending. They also note big differences by state: North Carolina, Alabama, and Washington show some stronger support, while states like California and New York provide no explicit gifted-education funding to districts.
Their main takeaway is that policymakers and advocates treat advanced learning as important in rhetoric, but not in budgets. They recommend three things: better public awareness of how popular these programs are, funding that at least keeps pace with overall education spending, and clearer tracking of block-grant dollars so states can tell whether advanced education is actually being funded.