What can the federal government do to help ensure that the public schools attended by children living in poverty have enough resources to serve their students? In this brief, we describe existing federal efforts to support education spending in high-poverty districts, discuss their limitations, and suggest alternative approaches for federal…

Young people need clear pathways to navigate from K-12 education into careers that align with their interests, strengths, and life goals. But they often lack the information, support, and access to choose and complete postsecondary pathways that are right for them. The federal government can play an important role in bridging this gap, by…

America's labor market presents a paradox. Although the unemployment rate is just 3.9%, there are more jobs open than people who can fill them. Nationwide, there are roughly 68 workers for every 100 open jobs. Many factors contribute to this workforce shortage, but one of the most significant is a growing skills gap -- millions of workers across…

In 2009, the federal government passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to combat the effects of the Great Recession and state revenue shortfalls, directing over $97 billion to school districts. In this chapter, we draw lessons from this distribution of fiscal stimulus funding to inform future federal intervention in school…

Governor Whitmer's April 2020 decision to extend the shutdown of school buildings through the remainder of the academic year came with a guarantee to preserve districts' 2019-2020 funding levels, provided they met a few basic conditions. One condition was to continue paying all district employees, even if staff members needed to be redeployed to…

The United States and Pennsylvania economies remain deeply depressed compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. While the unemployment rate has come back down to around 7% (7.3% in Pennsylvania, 6.9% in the U.S.), Pennsylvania had 488,000 fewer jobs in October than February and the U.S., 10 million fewer. With COVID case rates higher than ever and…

Charter schools are public schools of choice, according to the Nation's Report Card (NAEP). The U.S. Department of Education uses the term "public charter school." A public charter school is a publicly funded school that is typically governed by a group or organization under a legislative contract--a charter-- with the state, district,…

We exploit differences in state special education funding systems based on special education enrollment ('bounty systems') or on total student enrollment ('census systems') to assess whether funding systems impact teacher turnover, teacher specialty, special education enrollment, state education spending, average class sizes, and teacher effort.…

In the wake of public-health stay-at-home orders prompted by the coronavirus, the United States faces a nearly inevitable economic recession in the coming months. With a slowing economy will come a contraction in state revenues, including funding for public education. States are beginning to make budget-cutting calculations and are bracing for the…

Congress enacted the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) 50 years ago as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's "War on Poverty." The most expansive federal education bill ever passed, it was developed as redress, establishing that poor children needed more educational services than wealthier children. Title I of the ESEA…

Since the enactment of P.L. 94-142, the predecessor legislation to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), in 1975, the federal government has played a prominent role in encouraging the principle of educational equality for children with disabilities through a permanent, broad-scale federal assistance program. The IDEA is a grants…

The rapid emergence and authorization of statewide, fully online, virtual charter schools has resulted in the need for states to identify potentially inequitable effects of disability service funding policies. This article describes state funding policies and the designation of responsibilities regarding the provision of special education services…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is the primary source of federal aid to elementary and secondary education. The ESEA was last reauthorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA; P.L. 114-95) in 2015. The Title I-A program has always been the largest grant program authorized under the ESEA. Title I-A grants provide supplementary…

About 13 percent of all public school students receive special educational services and state spending for these students is rising. In Michigan, for example, spending rose 60 percent from 2000 to 2010. While service costs have been increasing, the share of the costs covered by federal funding has been decreasing. Six years ago, the Individuals…

Competency-based education is increasingly popular because of the flexibility it provides for students seeking a postsecondary credential. Current federal student aid, however, is geared toward supporting students in traditional, time-based degree programs. This paper discusses why current approaches to federal student aid are not supportive of…