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 dissertation comprises an examination of how school districts have allocated the resources they received as a result of the Illinois Evidenced-Based Funding (EBF) for Student Success law. The law was passed in 2017 with the rationale of providing additional resources to school districts based on evidenced-based approaches, with the vast…

Congress passed three coronavirus relief acts within a 1-year period that provided more than $275 billion for an Education Stabilization Fund to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus, which the President declared as a national emergency in March 2020. This included $189.5 billion for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief…

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)…

The objective of the report was to determine whether the University of Cincinnati used the Student Aid (Assistance Listing Number (ALN) 84.425E) and Institutional (ALN 84.425F) portions of its Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) funds for allowable and intended purposes. It also reviews the University's cash management practices and the…

Public Act 100-0465 or the Evidence-Based Funding for Student Success Act was signed by Illinois Governor, Bruce Rauner, on August 31, 2017. According to the Illinois State Board of Education's Evidence-Based Funding webpage, "This law enacts evidence-based funding (EBF) and comprehensively changes the way that school districts receive the…

Policy and funding influence equitable education for students who are gifted. The concept of equity is examined through variations in policy and in funding at the state, district, and local levels. Challenges and barriers to equity in policy and funding include policy structures, where policy provides guidance without accountability measures, or…

Part B, Section 619 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is intended to help ensure that all eligible preschool children with disabilities, aged 3-5 years, receive special education and related services. This growth/comparison chart shows the federal appropriations allocated for Part B Section 619, the number of children…

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) continually seeks opportunities to ease administrative burdens on State educational agencies (SEAs) while ensuring strong fiscal and programmatic accountability. This letter grants limited prior approval to SEAs to approve pre-award costs and participant support costs for subgrantees for programs in…

Kansas ranks in the top 10 states for graduation rates among students with disabilities. In fact, special education graduation rates in Kansas have improved more than overall graduation rates. And noted earlier in this report, test scores among special education students in Kansas declined just 1% during the pandemic, well below the test score…

Federal school finance policy over the past 30 years has focused on resource allocation within school districts. Regulations require equal staffing across schools, particularly Title I schools, which are designated based on the percent of low-income students enrolled. The requirement to equalize staffing levels creates a loophole where, even with…

Part B, Section 619 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is intended to help ensure that all eligible preschool children with disabilities, aged 3-5 years, receive special education and related services. This growth/comparison chart shows the federal appropriations allocated for Part B Section 619, the number of children…

Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is intended to help ensure that all eligible infants and toddlers with disabilities (aged birth-2) and their families receive early intervention services. This chart shows the federal appropriations allocated for the Part C program, the number of children served, and the federal…

Arizona has played a large part in the development and implementation of policy that directly inhibits equity of opportunity for the English learner (EL) population, the largest and most damaging of which came out of legislation passed due to the "Flores v. Arizona" case which concluded in 2015. This research article seeks to critically…

Since the initial passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), private school children and educators have been eligible to participate in certain ESEA programs. The reauthorization of the ESEA by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015 continues this requirement under Title VIII, Part F, Subpart 1 (Title VIII) of the…