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…

Sixty-seven school finance reforms (SFRs) in 26 states have taken place since 1990; however, there is little empirical evidence on the heterogeneity of SFR effects. We provide a comprehensive description of how individual reforms affected resource allocation to low- and high-income districts within states, including both financial and…

North Carolina special education funding utilizes a dollar allotment per identified student, applying a funding cap based on a percentage of district average daily membership. While representing an attempt to reduce over-identification of students with special needs the funding cap has led to large systematic disparities in district fiscal…

The 2019 Local School Finance Study examines data from the 2016-17 school year. The purpose of this annual study is to isolate local spending from state and federal spending to examine the capacity and actual effort of counties to support public schools. The Local School Finance Study focuses not only on the amount that counties spend on schools,…

In the education world, the existence of funding inequities has long been a known fact, but the sources of these inequities have not always been obvious. Typically, local property tax variation has been blamed as the sole, or at least primary, cause of inequalities and called for greater state funding as the solution. In practice, however, it is…

This budget summary document provides detailed listings of the allocation of funds for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction for 1992-1993. The first sections include the state superintendent's budget recommendations, a description of the fiscal year in review, a mission statement, organizational goals, and legislative initiatives…

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…

Provides an exploratory assessment of financial support levels in districts with different proportions of Black children in seven southern states. The range of support varied considerably among the states. (IRT)