The 2024 State of Education report covers a vast array of statistics gathered from publicly available data sources and responses from a survey sent to all school districts. It delves into various topic areas, including student achievement, school finances, student mental health and school staffing.

Some key findings from this year’s report include:

• Two-thirds (66%) of school districts reported student mental health needs as one of their challenges, making it the biggest challenge again this year.
• On average, nearly half of students (46.4%) were estimated to have some mental health need according to school leaders.
• Mandatory charter school tuition payments were the top source of budget pressure for the fifth consecutive year.
• Nearly 90% of school districts reported experiencing a shortage of substitute teachers while a significant percentage of districts also reported shortages in instructional aides, special education staff and drivers.