One of a state's primary responsibilities is to divvy up the public funds for K-12 schooling. In each state, a set of finance policies determines how the state and local funds are apportioned so that districts and other providers can then apply them to schools and classrooms. Different states use a host of variables and formulas to determine how…

Deciding how to spend the nation's education dollars is a tremendous responsibility. It's easy to forget that this responsibility falls primarily to district leaders (sometimes with input from principals). Sometimes those decisions go well and schools beat the odds on student outcomes. Other times, they do not, and student outcomes lag. Sometimes…

School districts increasingly rely on weighted student funding (WSF), yet there is little research on this allocation model. This study collects more than 70 measures on each of 19 districts using WSF in 2018 for a landscape analysis of formula features and implementation practices. While districts report common reasons for adopting WSF (equity,…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires that state education agencies (SEAs) conduct periodic resource allocation reviews (RARs) in districts that serve low-performing schools. The mandate represents a new opportunity for states and districts to examine the connection between resource allocation and academic outcomes, but the language of…

When school-level expenditure data are made public beginning with the 2018-19 school year, many in the system will be caught off guard. District and school leaders are largely unprepared to engage on the issues that the new data will raise, including equity, spending trade-offs, and the link between money and school outcomes. This article…

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires all states to collect and report school-level expenditure information, state education agencies (SEAs) are considering whether to set statewide rules for local education agencies (LEAs) around how to assign expenditures. Specifically, many states are wondering whether they need to standardize a practice…

In 2013, California moved to drive more resources for students with higher needs, create more spending flexibility and let districts decide how to spend substantial new dollars by adopting a new watershed state finance policy, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). As California's Weighted Student Funding (WSF) law enters Year 5 of…

In 2013, California implemented a watershed weighted student funding formula (WSF) that deployed substantial new funds to districts based on their counts of student types, while also stripping long-standing spending constraints on districts. The state finance formula (the Local Control Funding Formula or LCFF) specifically boosted allocations to…

In 2013 California adopted a new watershed state finance policy, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) to drive more resources to students with higher needs, create more spending flexibility, and let districts decide how to spend substantial new dollars. Our analysis examines financial data from nearly all California school systems to clarify…

Many state education leaders are taking a fresh look at their school finance formulas in hopes of finding ways to contain costs and get more for their dollar. That is an understandable response given that education is the largest item on most state budgets. This paper examines how current funding practices lead to inefficiencies, particularly…

One way districts can enable funding portability is with the use of student-based allocation formulas that allocate funds to districts and schools based on enrollment of students and student types. The student-based allocation model enables "pocketbook power," creating incentives for schools to attract students, keep full enrollment, and…

Many state education leaders are taking a fresh look at school finance in hopes of containing costs. Some are reworking transportation formulas, or zeroing in on special education eligibility, or merging districts. Others are investing more in digital learning, charter innovations, and information systems. But state leaders too often overlook a…

Over the past 30 years, states have assumed a greater role in financing education. The presumption of local control has been superseded by systems of state control. This shift in authority raises several critical questions. Chief among them is, "What effect has centralization of education financing had on the capacity of school districts to…

As the economic outlook continues to darken, school districts will be looking for ways to cut costs, and they will no doubt wrestle with some difficult issues. When does it make sense to keep classes small? When does it make sense to increase class sizes to cut costs? Such debates are often carried out in the absence of information about what…

The goal of this paper is to explore the effects of micro-budgeting decisions and show how they might support or hamper district reform strategies. The study draws on public and private sector resource allocation literature to identify key elements of resource allocation decisions. These elements are used to highlight different allocation…