Funding disparities between states and districts have been repeatedly documented, but scholars have put much less focus on resource inequities at the school level, a crucial gap in the research. In this study, I investigate school-level fiscal decision making in New York City public schools, a district that provides a unique look into expenditures…

"Making the Grade analyzes the condition of public school funding in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The current report presents a picture of school funding in 2020-2021, the first full school year of the COVID-19 pandemic and the most recent data available. The report ranks and grades each state on three measures to answer the…

In 2019, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 3 (HB 3) -- an $11.6 billion school finance reform law that dedicated over $6 billion toward investments in education and $5 billion toward replacing school property taxes with state aid. The property tax cut portion of HB 3 is set to expand each year, costing the state more money annually without…

In "Educational Inequality and School Finance," Bruce D. Baker offers a comprehensive examination of how US public schools receive and spend money. Drawing on extensive longitudinal data and numerous studies of states and districts, he provides a vivid and dismaying portrait of the stagnation of state investment in public education and…

U.S. charter schools are publicly funded through state school finance formulas that often mirror the traditional public school finance systems. While charter school advocates and critics disagree over whether charters receive an equitable share of funding, few discussions are based on rigorous analyses of funding and expenditures. Most prior…

The purpose of this study is to examine the propositions of "money matters/doesn't matter" in a zero-sum public school system. Specifically, this study seeks to assess the impact of Texas Wealth Equalization Program on the academic performance of contributing wealthy school districts and the receiving poor school districts. Although the…

Parent-generated revenue in public schools, in the form of fee-giving or fundraising, is fast developing as a robust source of financial revenue for public schools in OECD countries. In this paper we draw on a comprehensive empirical dataset of parent-generated financial revenue for public schools located in New South Wales, Australia. We draw on…

In an era of accountability, competition for student enrollment, and the necessity to balance district budgets, district leaders are seeking to thrive despite these legitimate stressors. Among the responsibilities of a superintendent, financial leadership balanced with instructional leadership is critical to the success of a school district and…

District expenditures and efficiency can be influenced by the entry of charter schools. Loss of economies due to reduced enrollments and a rising share of high-cost students are some of the key mechanisms that could potentially increase the costs of providing education in district schools. The competitive pressure from charter schools could also…

The purpose of this quantitative research study was to determine if there were differences in perception among Indiana public school principals on the federal requirements of ESSA in the three policy areas of accountability, school improvement, and fiscal reporting that differ from current state requirements. This study surveyed all traditional…

This study documents the collective capacity of the external support providers working to improve K-3 reading outcomes in New York City. Interviews and social network surveys with a sample of the 112 providers at work in this "reading improvement sector" showed that they serve as a conduit for sharing reading-related resources and…

According to Church statistics, 6.9 million children were enrolled in Catholic primary and secondary schools in Europe. Enrolment has remained relatively stable over the last 40 years in comparison to other regions of the world, contributing to education pluralism. This may be in part because in many countries, Catholic and private schools benefit…

Voucher policies represent a market mechanism to support school choice, with the expected effect of stimulating competition among schools and, in turn, positively benefiting the educational outcomes. As the only Italian region adopting this policy to free private/public school choice, Lombardy is the subject of this study. In particular, we aim at…

This paper is the first to estimate the cost function of Connecticut public K-12 education and to evaluate the state's school spending based on regression-estimated education costs. It finds large disparities across districts in education costs and cost-adjusted spending. A large percentage of the state's public school students are enrolled in…

State education finance sets the stage for what is possible in schools. Too many state education finance systems today are inequitable, outdated, and inadequate, and there are often significant political barriers to change. Advocates for educational equity can and should play an essential role in shaping the allocation and structure of state…