Property taxes are the most common mechanism to generate local revenue for public school systems but are also a long-standing source of inequity. Policymakers and advocates should be aware of the challenges created by local funding mechanisms in their states and consider potential policy solutions to produce more equitable education funding. This…

During the Great Recession and in the years that immediately followed, previous research has well-documented that U.S. public school districts receiving larger shares of their funding from state governments experienced larger declines in expenditures per student, as the GR impacted state tax bases more than it impacted local tax bases. Using…

At their best, K-12 public school systems can be engines of social and economic mobility. Unfortunately, schools in lower-income districts -- whose students have the greatest academic needs -- often receive less funding than their counterparts in more affluent districts. Discussions about closing these funding gaps usually zoom all the way out to…

Understanding how the District of Columbia (DC) funds District of Columbia Public School (DCPS) students and DC public charter school students is essential to ensuring all students receive the support they need as COVID-19 pandemic-era federal funds expire. The recent rise in the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula (UPSFF) and the boost in the…

This document contains the technical appendix for the report, "Understanding the Effects of School Funding." Contents include supplementary tables and figures. [Research support for this report was provided by Joseph Herrera. For the full report, see ED623529. For the Policy Brief, see ED623531.]

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…

Governments and development partners encourage public school authorities to mobilize private funds from diverse non-state stakeholders as a means to expand funding sources to provide quality education for all. While financing public schools with private funds is expected to promote the efficient use of resources due to increased accountability, it…

"Making the Grade" provides an annual overview of the condition of school finance in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The data in this edition gives a picture of states' investment in their public school systems in the 2019-20 school year, the historic moment when public education, and society at large, experienced the massive…

Opponents of public charter schools frequently contend that they drain resources from traditional public schools--a potentially serious charge. But of course, it makes sense that traditional school districts get less money when they enroll fewer students. So from a policymaking perspective, the real question is whether districts' financial…

This brief presents the results of a fiscal analysis of the New Hampshire Education Freedom Account Program. The Education Freedom Account Program enables students from low- and middle-income households to access education savings accounts (ESAs) designated for various educational purposes such as private school tuition, tutoring, textbooks,…

The purpose of this was to examine the relationship between Mississippi public school district per pupil funding disaggregated by funding source (total, federal, state, and local) and student academic achievement gaps within districts based on poverty and race. Pearson's correlational coefficient was used to assess the relationship across 139…

The U.S. Department of Education has projected enrollment declines over the next decade, leading to budget cuts for school districts, which will be particularly impactful in urban and rural areas serving vulnerable students. As federal COVID-19 funds expire, districts will face challenges in cutting costs, potentially leading to layoffs or school…

How much does spending vary across US public schools? And how much do the schools that low-income students attend spend compared to schools attended by their more advantaged peers? Students are educated in schools, which are frequently segregated by race and socioeconomic status, and spending can vary across schools within the same district. But…

The data presented in this report provide facts about the extent to which local, state, and national governments commit resources to public education. The level of commitment to education varies on a state-by-state basis. National Education Association (NEA) Research offers this report to its state and local affiliates as well as to researchers,…

We study the progressivity of state funding of school districts under Tennessee's weighted student funding formula. We propose a simple definition of progressivity based on the difference in exposure to district per-pupil funding between poor and non-poor students. The realized progressivity of district funding in Tennessee is much smaller--only…