English learners (ELs) are one of the fastest-growing student groups in the U.S. K-12 system, making up about one in 10 students enrolled in public schools nationwide. Despite research showing that EL students need more resources and supports to be successful in school, funding at the federal, state, and local levels to provide those additional…

This Policy Snapshot provides examples of legislation in 13 states that have proposed or enacted legislation addressing the following principles of K-12 funding models: attendance and enrollment, revenue, and equity-based initiatives. All 50 states allocate K-12 funding in different ways. Refer to this two-page reference guide, which defines and…

Hold-harmless provisions in state aid formulas are meant to restrict declines in revenues for school districts. They may take several forms, including limits on the changes in state aid from year to year, supplemental funding for districts with declining enrollment, alternatives for calculating the state aid amount, or use of past enrollments in…

The growing numbers of English language learners across the country provide an opportunity for state policymakers and education leaders to invest in and reap the benefits of a well-educated, culturally competent workforce. In this article, the authors review state-level ELL funding for the ten states experiencing the highest ELL population growth…

This brief provides district and other educational leaders with research-based information on aligning professional development policies with teacher evaluations to drive more comprehensive human capital management. First, this brief describes an aligned evaluation and professional development system. Next, it discusses existing models and…

Public higher education has relied on a variety of funding structures since the 1950s. Layzell (2007) describes five general approaches in contemporary use in the United States. "Incremental (baseline) budgeting" uses the current year budget as the base and then makes adjustments to account for expected changes in activities, revenues,…

This study calls attention to the consistent manner in which State legal documents classify public education as a function of the State government and to the inconsistency between such legal classifications and the many cases of neglect on the part of States to provide adequately for public-school support. The data show that for the country as a…