NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The state of New Jersey and its local towns lavish more money on public school systems than anywhere else in the United States. In 2004, $12,981 was spent per pupil there, according to the latest Census Bureau report on public school education funding.

The total price tag for public school spending in the entire United States came to $472.3 billion in 2004, up 4.1 percent from 2003.

Big spenders The five states with the highest spending per pupil State  Average spent per pupil  New Jersey  $12,981  New York  $12,930  District of Columbia  $12,801  Vermont  $11,128  Connecticut  $10,788   Source:  Census Bureau

Cheapstates The five states with the lowest per-pupil spending on education Heading  Heading  Utah  $5,008  Idaho  $6,028  Arizona  $6,036  Oklahoma  $6,126  Mississippi  $6,237   Source:  Census Bureau

The biggest single part of local school budgets, nationally, is provided by the states; they pay for nearly half of all funding, 47.1 percent. Local governments provide 43.9 percent and the Federal government kicks in 8.9 percent.

But the contributions of local governments in New Jersey ($11 billion) exceed what the state gives to local schools ($8.8 billion) and provides more than half of all school spending in the state.

That holds true for many of the heaviest spending states, many of which are clustered in the Northeast. New York State is second to New Jersey, spending $12,930 for the average student, with $19.9 billion generated by local taxes and $17.7 billion from the state. Connecticut districts get $2.5 billion from the state and $4.3 billion from local sources; and Massachusetts gets $4.7 billion from the state and $6.3 locally.

The states with the lowest per-pupil expenditures generally receive more of their revenue from the state than from local sources.

Utah has the lowest per-pupil expenses of any other state, just $5,008, and more than half comes from the state. Other low expenditure states include Idaho ($6,028), Arizona ($6,036) and Oklahoma ($6,176).

For many towns, schools are the biggest part of their budgets and local taxes dedicated to funding school districts make up a large share of local property taxes. School spending has contributed much to many of these states having the highest local taxes in the nation.

• Real Estate: The JetBlue effect
• Extreme Savers: Meet the Parkers