Funding Gaps 2015 : Too Many States Still Spend Less on Educating Students Who Need the Most / Natasha Ushomirsky and David Williams.
Although money isn't the only thing that matters for student success--districts with similar funding levels and similar demographics can produce vastly different results for their students--inequities in funding are foundational to all sorts of other inequities in the nation's school syste...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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2015.
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| Summary: | Although money isn't the only thing that matters for student success--districts with similar funding levels and similar demographics can produce vastly different results for their students--inequities in funding are foundational to all sorts of other inequities in the nation's school system. A district with more resources, for example, can pay teachers more, making it easier to attract the strongest educators. It can also offer students more support and enrichment, which are critical to the success of all children, but are especially important for those students who may not have access to these opportunities outside of school. In this study, the authors ask: (1) How do the revenues of districts serving the most students in poverty (the highest poverty districts) compare with those serving the fewest students in poverty (the lowest poverty districts) in each state and across the country? (2) How much funding does the state provide to districts, and how does it distribute those dollars? and (3) How do the revenues of districts serving the most students of color compare with those of districts serving the fewest students of color? They focus specifically on state and local revenues and exclude federal sources because federal dollars are intended--and targeted--to provide supplemental services to such specific groups of students as those in poverty, English learners, and students with disabilities. In this analysis, the authors focus on learning how states allocate the resources that they oversee. Their analysis finds that nationally, funding inequities are devastatingly large. The highest poverty districts in the country receive about $1,200 less per student than the lowest poverty districts. The differences are even larger--roughly $2,000 per student--between districts serving the most students of color and those serving the fewest. Funding gaps within each state show a great deal of variation. While some states provide substantially more funding to their highest poverty districts, others provide substantially less. Moreover, some states that fund their highest poverty districts equally, or even progressively (meaning, they allocate more funding to these districts), are still providing substantially fewer dollars to districts that serve the most students of color than to those that serve the fewest. |
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| Item Description: | Availability: Education Trust. 1250 H Street NW Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005. Tel: 202-293-1217; Fax: 202-293-2605; Web site: http://www2.edtrust.org. Abstractor: ERIC. |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (12 pages) |
| Type of Computer File or Data Note: | Text (Reports, Research) |
| Preferred Citation of Described Materials Note: | Education Trust. |