A New National Report Highlights the Unfair Distribution of School Aid in Many States

Bruce Baker, David Sciarra, Danielle Farrie

Are school finance systems in the 50 states fair? Simply comparing overall funding levels won't answer that question, according to a groundbreaking report released today.

"Is School Funding Fair? A National Report Card" posits that fairness depends not only on a sufficient level of funding for all students, but also the provision of additional resources to districts where there are more students with greater needs.

The National Report Card rates the 50 states on the basis of four separate, but interrelated, "fairness indicators" - funding level, funding distribution, state fiscal effort, and public school coverage. Using a more thorough statistical analysis, the report provides the most in-depth analysis to date of state education finance systems and school funding fairness across the nation.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at October 14, 2010 3:03 AM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas