The funding policies of education have been challenged in the courts, and often resulted in extensive changes to education funding. Early court cases focused on issues of equity, and over time moved to determining levels of adequate funding. The purpose of this analytical study was to determine the impact of district-level instructional expenditures (independent variable) on student achievement scores (dependent variable ). The independent variable was defined as district-level per-pupil total instructional spending for regular education as reported by the State of Tennessee. The dependent variable was defined as student achievement as measured by Tennessee ACT scores as published by the State of Tennessee. The population of this study was all 136 public K-12 school districts in Tennessee. The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression analysis were the mathematical tools used for this study. The findings of this study determined that by examining per-pupil district level instructional expenditures in all 136 Tennessee districts over a five-year period the impact of local spending on the ACT can be determined. The intent of this study was to provide stakeholders, such as the Tennessee State Board of Education, Tennessee school districts, Tennessee School Board Association, and the Tennessee Education Association, with objective information about school district spending that may allow better informed decisions concerning the impact of expenditures on student achievement.