School Appropriation Linear Growth Evidence

The School Appropriation: Exponential and Linear Growth

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Simulated Exponential and Linear Growth for School Appropriation

The graph on the left shows two curves that pass through both the 1998 and 2025 school appropriation values.
For the exponential growth curve:
- The percentage increase for successive years is constant.
- The dollar amount change for successive years is continually increasing.
For the linear growth curve:
- The percentage increase for successive years is continually decreasing.
- The dollar amount change for successive years is constant.

The Percentage Increase in the School Appropriation for Successive Years

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Year to Year Percentage Increases are Getting Smaller

Over time, the percentage increase gets smaller in successive years.
This is consistent with linear growth.
This is not consistent with exponential growth.

The Dollar Increase in the School Appropriation for Successive Years

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Year to Year Dollar Increments are Nearly Constant

Over time, the year-to-year dollar increment has no strong trend up or down (a slight downward trend).
This is consistent with linear growth.
This is not consistent with exponential growth, for which we expect the increments to be increasing.
We conclude that the school appropriation exhibits linear growth.