The purpose of this paper is to examine the intersection of social class inequality and education policy through the lens of an analysis of the experiences and effects of state, local, and federal policy meant to engage communities around the use of federal funds to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students. The author intends to…

The reinstatement of Pell grant eligibility for incarcerated individuals marks a pivotal moment in the landscape of higher education in prison (HEP) programming in the United States. However, despite this promising development, financial barriers persist, hindering the growth and sustainability of HEP initiatives. This qualitative study delves…

In early 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic closed schools for the rest of the 2019-20 school year (fiscal year 2020 or FY20). The United States Congress deployed funds to help K-12 schools adjust and plan for reopening via the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, including the initial $13.2 billion installment through the…

School finance debates frequently turn on two crucial questions: (1) How much do state and local governments spend on K-12 education?; and (2) How are education dollars distributed across jurisdictions? This focus makes sense because the answers to these questions determine how well states are able to provide an adequate, equal education for all…

I compare arguments mobilized for and against a policy to publicly fund private schools, including religious private schools, in Alberta and Ontario, Canada, and highlight how the arguments reflect each province's historical, ideological, and social contexts. Grounded in Maarten Hajer's argumentative discourse theory and based on findings from…

Many of the Bureau of Indian Education's (BIE) 183 schools are located in remote tribal lands that faced extraordinary challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to experience ongoing effects. Congress appropriated about $1.5 billion to help BIE and its schools respond to the pandemic. The US Government Accountability Office (GAO)…

Israelis consistently secure European Research Council (ERC) grant funding at higher success rates compared to peers from most participating countries. Israeli scores in the ERC metric within the Adjusted Research Excellence Index (AREI) have been significantly above average and double those of the next highest (Switzerland) -- yet on other AREI…

The resources that federal financial aid, state financial aid, and federal public benefits programs provide, when they operate effectively, are critical to older students and students with children. This report seeks to shed light on how these programs are functioning by analyzing data and policies across four states--Colorado, Missouri, North…

This study applies resource dependence theory to address the question of how the critical resource dependence relationship emerges in the context of a university's performance agreement. This study focuses on two Nordic universities that have adopted performance agreements while simultaneously using strong performance-based state funding. Resource…

Background: The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA; 2015) constituted a reauthorization of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and replaced the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. ESSA, although still recognizing the need of standardized testing, diverged from NCLB by transferring a significant amount of power over…

This study examines charter school funding equity in 18 cities using 2019-20 data, the most recent available. The study uses official school district and state budget documents to capture every dollar flowing to schools, including in-kind services. The study answers the following questions: (1) What is the difference in per-pupil revenue between…

This article combines theories of racialized organizations with insights on institutionalization to empirically analyze the role of grantmakers in unsettling postsecondary racial inequity. Using longitudinal data on federal grantmaking to institutions of higher education, we examine whether and how grantmaking policies (re)produce or diminish…

House Report 116-450 includes a provision for the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report on Charter Schools Program (CSP) grants, with a particular focus on charter schools that eventually closed or never opened. This report examines the extent to which CSP-recipient schools stayed open or closed compared to non-recipient charter…

Education plays an essential role in improving the welfare of society. Governments, therefore, invest huge sums of money in education. However, there is a lack of conclusive evidence regarding the impact of public education funding on educational outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, this study analyses the short-run and long-run effects of…

Troubled by the inequities in competitive grantmaking, we use critical quantitative methods to analyze the FY2023 federal academic earmarks as a potential mechanism for racialized change work. Specifically, we ask: To what extent does Congress distribute academic earmarks in ways that reinforce or weaken the racialized stratification of resources…