Many of California's urban public schools, both traditional and charter, have seen dramatic changes in enrollment during the past two decades. These trends have contributed to fiscal and facilities issues for both types of schools, but they also represent an opportunity for better cross-sector collaboration. In our new report, "Changing…

This research applies critical race theory to investigate Michigan's system for funding public schools, focusing on structural racism and discrimination embedded in education finance laws, housing policies, and residential and educational segregation. We find that the average Black student receiving free or reduced-price lunch (FRL) receives $411…

This First Look report introduces new data for national and state-level public elementary and secondary revenues and expenditures for fiscal year (FY) 2022. Specifically, this report includes the following school finance data: (1) revenue and expenditure totals; (2) revenues by source; (3) expenditures by function, subfunction, and object; (4)…

As full-time virtual learning moved from the fringe to the mainstream in mid-March 2020, onlookers expressed concerns about access for learners and accountability for the learning itself. Concerns have not applied only to full-time virtual schools, however. Alternative schools that serve students who have dropped out or transferred from…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides an opening for states and local school districts to include racial and socioeconomic (SES) diversity as components of their improvement plans. While only one state (New York) took advantage of this opportunity in the initial round of state ESSA plans, there are several ways that school districts can…

This exploration of Phi Delta Kappan's archives shows how the magazine has covered questions related to the purposes, governance, and funding of the public schools. Articles have discussed the role of schools in a democratic society, how schools should relate to the public, whether public funds should be diverted to private and religious schools,…

In the Spring of 2017, the National Charter School Resource Center, (NCSRC), the Colorado League of Charter Schools (the League) and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (the Alliance) collaborated to collect data and information about charter school facilities and facilities expenditures in the state of Colorado. The data collection…

Charter schools that target underserved communities, including Latinxs, have proliferated in the U.S., claiming a unique, more autonomous and successful alternative to traditional public schools, often with a promise of increased postsecondary access and preparation. However, there is conflicting evidence regarding their effectiveness on academic…

While the charter sector has much to celebrate, the country can do more to put great schools--including excellent charters--within reach for our most vulnerable students. Students with disabilities represent one such group. The best solutions start by partnering with the parent groups that advocate for students with disabilities, and have been…

Following the June 2019 Democratic presidential debates, school integration has unexpectedly emerged as a serious issue in the campaign. Coincidentally, this debate comes at a time when the National Coalition on School Diversity (NCSD) and a growing school diversity movement both inside and outside government are pushing to remove these last…

The first set of Democratic presidential debates in June brought to the spotlight issues of school diversity and equity, as Senator Kamala Harris asserted the importance of school integration, based on her own experience growing up in Berkeley, California, and criticized Vice President Biden for his anti-busing positions (and collaborations) in…

Despite the myriad of challenges that families, students, teachers and policymakers faced in 2021, the momentum to transform education did not waver. New opportunities for students unfolded in more than a dozen states through expanded private and public school choice. An additional 1.7 million students gained eligibility for private choice alone,…

Despite ample evidence that Massachusetts's charter public schools are among the highest performing schools--charter or traditional--in the country, a 2016 ballot initiative to open more of them failed by a large margin. Rhetoric on both sides of the issue was driven by emotion rather than data, and charter school detractors successfully advanced…

This brief argues that charter school programs can have direct fiscal impacts on school districts for two reasons. First, operating two systems of public schools under separate governance arrangements can create excess costs. Second, charter school financing policies can distribute resources to or away from districts. Using the city school…

After a tumultuous reception, the Biden administration's regulations for the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP) were finalized in July. Although the Administration backpedaled partway on issues related to community demand and racial integration, its final rules cracked down on so-called "for-profit charters," in line with the…