Equitable Funding – Broader BOLDER Approach to Education

Rich Hill: The Gap between Student Needs and School Capacity

Elaine Weiss — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 20:11:05 +0000

This 2014 white paper jointly produced by AASA: the School Superintendents Association and BBA as a companion to the documentary Rich Hill illustrates the unique challenges many rural schools face in meeting their students’ needs. Inequitable funding schemes that put high-poverty schools and districts at a disadvantage are compounded in rural contexts by the difficulty of attracting strong teachers and staff to remote settings and by the isolation that makes accessing supportive services a challenge.

BBA blogs on equitable funding issues

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 18:56:23 +0000

These blogs for BBA offer perspectives on how funding affects teaching, learning, and achievement and what policymakers can do about it:

In “Fiscal Crisis” or Physical Crisis? Former urban teaching fellow Elizabeth Hoyson shines a spotlight on how teachers in resource-starved districts like Philadelphia are blamed for the consequences of the inadequate education they provide.
In Deconstructing PISA, former Boston Public Schools superintendent Thomas Payzant notes fairly equitable school funding in Massachusetts versus starkly inevitable (and low levels) in Florida as one factor driving the stark difference in scores between the two states on the international assessment.

BBA case studies of communities affected by state funding practices

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 18:54:44 +0000

BBA Case Studies of communities highlight how state funding practices affect the ability of these initiatives to grow and the contrast, for example, between one of the more equitable funding schemes in Massachusetts and resulting benefits for City Connects versus Washington state, where inadequate and less equitable systems challenge Vancouver’s efforts.

Inequities by student poverty and race in quality teachers

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 18:50:09 +0000

One of the many casualties of this resource inequity is low-income districts’ challenges to attract and retain strong teachers. This report documents inequities by student poverty and race in quality teachers – those who are fully credentialed and experienced –across New York and California school districts: SCOPE teacher salary brief.

The 2013 report by The Equity and Excellence Commission

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 18:47:44 +0000

The 2013 report by The Equity and Excellence Commission, convened by the U.S. Department of Education, For Each and Every Child: A Strategy for Equity and Excellence, reflects the recognition that funding inequities drive achievement gaps and urges policy attention to the wide range of resulting race- and income-based disparities in opportunity.

State litigation for equitable funding

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 18:46:18 +0000

With no federal right to equitable funding, state lawsuits are a common tool for districts seeking to even the playing field. The Campaign for Educational Equity and Education Law Center offer a range of information and resources on suits, state court decisions, and ongoing implementation battles.

Is School Funding Fair? A National Report Card

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 18:44:51 +0000

ESSA does not address the issue of inequitable funding of schools, though there is much that states and districts can do to improve on this front. The Education Law Center’s Is School Funding Fair? A National Report Card, lets you see how your state stacks up against others across the country on four key measures of funding equity.

Promising new direction with Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)?

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 18:43:22 +0000

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has now replaced No Child Left Behind as the current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), our flagship federal education legislation, opening the door for states and districts to do better, but we still have a long way to go. As BBA’s 2015 statement on ESEA reauthorization and this open letter from BBA and key allies assert, a comprehensive, supports-based approach to education is critical to enabling our education system to help counter the impacts of widespread societal inequities.

Equitable funding comparison of New York and New Jersey

Don Long — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 18:52:49 +0000

This report comparing New York and New Jersey – whose education systems serve similarly diverse student bodies and are both among the highest-spending in the country – demonstrates how one of the country’s most equitable funding systems far outperforms a highly inequitable one.