12 for 2012 - 12 for 2012 is an ECS “read of the field,” built on our scrutiny of new reports and research, and our analysis of emerging drivers of change. The 12 policy areas do not represent an exhaustive list of the critical issues for the coming year, nor is this report intended to dictate your education policy priorities for 2012. Rather, 12 for 2012 is intended to stimulate thinking around how best to craft the “2.0” of powerful policy across the states. (ECS, 2012)...

Education Finance Adequacy PDF - This Powerpoint presentation provides an overview of education finance adequacy and highlights states that have conducted adequacy studies. (Mike Griffith, Education Commission of the States, April 2003) ...

Constructing New Finance Models that Balance Equity, Adequacy and Efficiency with Responsiveness MS Word - An ECS classic. This paper is third of three in the series: Education Finance in the States: Its Past, Present and Future. As America enters what technically will be the first school year of the new millennium, a policy issue looms that is almost as fundamental as that resulting from Brown v. Board of Education. Dramatic enrollment growth, ensuring financial “adequacy,” maintaining gains in distributional equality, coping with intensified needs for classroom teachers, incorporating electronic technology into instruction, satisfying public preferences for greater diversity in schools and programs, devising performance incentives and “accountability” procedures – these are all likely to pose major challenges for policymakers wrestling with education finance. (James W. Guthrie, Education Commission of the States, July 2001) ...

The Worst of Times: Extreme Poverty in the United States, 2009 - The Foundation is recommending that the national Equity and Excellence Commission being established by the White House and the U.S Department of Education examine how the federal government can increase educational opportunity by improving school funding equity. (Southern Education Foundation, December 2010)...

Close the Hidden Funding Gaps in Our Schools - Federal law permits hidden funding gaps to persist between high-poverty schools and more affluent counterparts within the same district. These gaps occur partly because teachers in wealthier schools tend to earn more than their peers in high-poverty schools and because of pressure to "equalize" other resources across schools. By closing loopholes in the comparability provisions of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Congress could promote funding equity within school district budgets. (Daria Hall and Natasha Ushomirsky, The Education Trust, March 2010)...

Redesigning School Finance Systems: Lessons from CPRE - The Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) and particularly the CPRE group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have been working on school finance redesign since 1990. This summary of CPRE school finance research and its policy conclusions addresses the following topics: (1) How education dollars are spent, (2) Tracking education resources at the school level and by educational strategy, (3) Education resource reallocation, (4) Toward school finance adequacy, (5) Using resources to double student achievement, (6) Use of dollars after a school finance reform, (7) Pricing adequacy recommendations and enhancing teacher compensation and (8) Policy and practice implications. (Allan Odden, CPRE, February 2007)...

Fund the Child: Tackling Inequity and Antiquity in School Finance - This report argues that to ensure America’s economic competitiveness, boost student achievement, fulfill the promise of equal opportunity and renew the education delivery system, the United States must transform its archaic approach to financing public education. The report details a proposal calling on policymakers to transform the school funding system in service of meeting high ambitions for student learning. Envisioned is a transparent system in which: (1) funding from all levels follows every student to whatever public school he or she attends; (2) the amount varies according to the student's needs; and (3) funding arrives at schools as real dollars that can be spent flexibly, with accountability gauged by results rather than inputs, programs, or activities. (The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, 2006) ...

Funding Gaps 2006 - America’s school finance policies and systems create inequities that shortchange low-income and minority students and the schools and districts that serve them, according to this report. The authors offer analysis on three levels. Federal education funds for low-income students are distributed among states that benefit rich states over poor states. Spending differences among school districts within states shortchange their highest poverty and highest minority school districts. And finally, school districts spend less money spent in schools serving the most disadvantaged students. (Education Trust, 2006)...