Karen Tarver, who worked on the study, said the accountants assumed a growth in state funding of 3 percent to keep pace with inflation and to match rising costs.

Historically, the growth has been 2.6 percent, but not all of that has been a bonus for school districts.

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In the seven years since the state began its current method of funding schools, the Legislature has increased the per-student amount three times.

In one instance, the increase was achieved by folding in a grant program, resulting in no gain in districts' funding. This school year, the per-student amount jumped by about 10 percent, but part of that was swallowed up by large payments into retirement funds.

Those payments, intended to make up for retirement-fund losses in the stock market, may be needed for several years. Once districts' payments into those funds go back to normal, they will see the benefit of the increases to the per-student funding, said Eddy Jeans, schools finance director at the Department of Education.