New research finds that increased spending on public education improves student achievement, thereby debunking the notion that "money doesn't matter" and making the case for greater investment in preschool-12 public education. How money is spent matters, but funding must also be adequate, equitable, and stable from year to year so that…

The State Indicators Database (SID), which is the School Finance Indicators Database's (SFID) primary product, includes approximately 125 variables, but this report focuses on three key school finance measures: fiscal effort, adequacy, and progressivity. This report discusses how states' systems tend to mediate the impact of economic downturns and…

"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 critical analysis delves into the allocation and utilization of public expenditure in education across all levels in Bhutan, including primary, secondary, and higher education. The study aims to provide valuable insights into how public funds are distributed and used within Bhutan's education system. By conducting this analysis, we seek to…

Within special education, funding is traditionally input-based, providing equitable resources to meet perceived student needs. However, as state and federal governments place an increasing emphasis on academic outcomes, I examine how special education funding has responded. Applying the values in tension model, I address a fundamental problem in…

According to the theory of Effectively Maintained Inequality (EMI), economically advantaged individuals not only enter each level of education at higher rates than do their less advantaged peers, but also enjoy qualitative advantages at each level that position them more favorably to continue to the next level. Governments may play a role in…

This article examines how the existence of unpredictability should influence the quest to promote distributive justice in education. First, the article briefly discusses resource allocation in education finance policy and its relationships with existing philosophical theories of distributive justice. It then explains why unpredictability comes…

Public Higher Education (PHE) reflects a drastic reduction in funding to subsidize its day-to-day functioning, increasing dependence on tuition fees to be operational, the existence of outdated government funding policies, and the lack of a sustainable funding mechanism. Notwithstanding, the plethora of research attempting to understand different…

Purpose: This article maps the rise of venture philanthropy in public education in Australia, exploring how policy networks mobilize high-level systemic reform and governance technologies. This is "philanthrocapitalism," a fundamental shift for policy mobility and modes of redistribution. Design/Approach/Methods: Drawing upon network…

Do perceptions about how the government spends tax dollars affect the willingness to pay taxes? We designed a field experiment to test this hypothesis in a natural, high-stakes context and via revealed preferences. We measure perceptions about the share of property tax revenues that fund public schools and the share of property taxes that are…

This Policy Snapshot provides examples of legislation in 13 states that have proposed or enacted legislation addressing the following principles of K-12 funding models: attendance and enrollment, revenue, and equity-based initiatives. All 50 states allocate K-12 funding in different ways. Refer to this two-page reference guide, which defines and…

The purpose of this quantitative study is to investigate the funding equitably across community college districts in Michigan. Pursuant to this investigation, the disproportionate effect that community college funding has on underserved populations was examined. This research utilized a quantitative approach, including descriptive statistics,…

The economic downturn has led to a variety of challenges for higher education institutions, including budget cuts and a heightened focus on efficiency and effectiveness. Performance-based budgeting is gaining traction as a means of more efficiently allocating resources, and Chinese public universities are not an exemption. The main purpose of this…

Schools across the U.S. are facing substantial challenges filling positions (Bleiberg & Kraft, 2022) and are considering solutions to address potential teacher shortages. As of 2022, almost half of the States in the U.S. create or support teacher residency programs (TRPs) through statute or regulation (Education Commission of the States,…