More people are working in schools now than a year ago, for example, but there are still nearly 300,000 fewer than before the recession, said Michael Heenan, a spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers.

A recent report from the National Association of State Budget Officers found that general fund expenditures in state budgets enacted for 2015 increased collectively 3.1 percent from the same time frame a year ago. But that is less than the typical increases in the years leading up to the recession.

“There has been some belt-tightening that looks like it’s not going to be loosened again,” said Tara M. Sinclair, an associate economics professor at George Washington University and economist for the online job site Indeed. “People may be breathing a little easier. But there’s not tons of money sloshing around even for minor expenses.”

The recovery has been uneven for governments across the country. Some states are being left behind altogether. Alaska, for one, has been stung by the plummeting cost of oil after projecting that it would be much higher. Other oil-rich states, like Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota, are bracing for cutbacks.

By contrast, California has wound up with more revenue than expected, a turnaround from a few years ago, prompting talk of more financing for education, including community colleges.

Yet even in California, the celebrations of the end of hard times are restrained.

“I caution that we’ve been through a difficult downturn here,” said Michael Coleman, fiscal policy adviser to the League of California Cities. “Reserves have been spent down, so we’re skating on thin ice.”

Image Mayor John Sorey III of Naples. Credit... Melissa Lyttle for The New York Times

Florida’s governor, Rick Scott, signed a $77 billion budget this summer that offers tax cuts while providing more money for education, museums, sewer projects and a bicycle trail. In a statement after signing the budget, Governor Scott referred to the economic wringer the state went through after the housing bubble burst and Florida’s unemployment rate rose to more than 11 percent. The governor argued that the new budget “will keep the great Florida turnaround story going.”