NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
ERIC Number: ED615038
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Feb
Pages: 23
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Reforming Connecticut's Education Aid Formula to Achieve Equity and Adequacy across School Districts. Research Report 21-1
Zhao, Bo
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Connecticut's public K-12 education system relies heavily on local funding, resulting in substantial disparities between affluent districts and low-income districts with a large proportion of socioeconomically disadvantaged students who are more costly to educate. Despite recent improvements, the existing state aid formula has been criticized for failing to provide sufficient funding to districts with the fewest resources and the highest education costs. To help improve state aid distribution, this report estimates a "cost-capacity gap," which measures the difference between a district's education cost and revenue capacity and uses it as an indicator of the district's need for state education aid. The analysis shows large disparities in the cost-capacity gap across the state. While districts with larger gaps, on average, receive more per-pupil state aid under the current formula compared with smaller-gap districts, the largest-gap districts still receive less aid than they need to close their cost-capacity gaps. As a result, inequity and inadequacy remain in the state's education finance system. To improve the state aid distribution, this report introduces five gap-based formulas. The policy simulations show that by using these gap-based formulas instead of the existing formula the state can target education aid more effectively to school districts with greater need for financial assistance.
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. P.O. Box 55882, Boston, MA 02205. Tel: 617-973-3000; Tel: 617-973-3397; e-mail: boston.library@bos.frb.org; Web site: http://www.bos.frb.org/
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, New England Public Policy Center
Identifiers - Location: Connecticut
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A