The Evidence-Based Funding Implementation Study, provides a look into the factors impacting public school funding after the adoption of the Evidence-Based Funding legislation and examines the challenges and opportunities legislators and education leaders must take to ensure the Evidence-Based Funding Formula is fully funded overtime and the…

In the United States, researchers have documented persistent racial disparities in school funding for decades. Drawing on evidence from a recent policy change in Pennsylvania, this article contributes to research on the role of state governments in limiting or expanding racial disparities in K-12 education funding by examining differences in the…

For 25 years, starting in the early 1990s, Pennsylvania had no fair funding formula for distributing state school funding based on the number of students in each district and other factors that research shows impact the cost of delivering a quality education that meets state standards. Basic education funding in Pennsylvania remains both…

This article examines how three relatively recent decisions enacted and upheld by Pennsylvania lawmakers have increased racial disparities in education funding and are helping to explode what Ladson-Billings has termed the educational debt. We find that districts with the highest concentrations of Black and Latinx students are profoundly…

Americans are dissatisfied with the public school system--and student academic outcomes have fallen to historic lows. Increasingly, state lawmakers are responding by giving parents more options for their children's education. Some of these new opportunities, such as in Arkansas and Iowa, allow every child in the state to apply. Policymakers also…

Jobs for the Future (JFF) is developing this state policy framework to outline the steps states can take toward fully adopting each of the Big Blur's four key components and creating a more effective system for grades 11-14. The Big Blur argues for the need to erase the arbitrary boundaries between high school, college, and careers and create one…

For more than a quarter century, Michigan public schools have been financed under a structure commonly known as Proposal A. This funding system's greater dependence on using state revenue to finance an enrollment-based funding formula has led to greater parity among districts over time and fueled more publicly supported schooling options for…

This report presents the findings from a rapid review of the evidence on how recent changes (2010 onwards) to the level of school funding in England have impacted on school spending and attainment. To do this the report appraises literature published from 2010 onwards that focuses on the following key questions: (1) What impact has school funding…

This article discusses the State of New Mexico's school finance reforms during the 2019 legislative session and the relationship of those reforms to "The Essential Building Blocks for State School Finance." "The Essential Building Blocks" is a 2018 report written by the author for the Learning Policy Institute that provides…

Few things can impact the success of students at community colleges more than budget and planning. Faculty must therefore have a basic comprehension of budget processes and of faculty roles in them. This paper aims to serve various purposes. It provides a primer on how the system-wide budgeting process works prior to colleges receiving monies from…

Creating world-class universities (WCUs) has recently become a significant policy and practice in higher education in China under the Double World-Class Project. However, some negative effects have encouraged decoupling from the policy goals. To identify the reasons, we conducted policy document analysis and purposive interviews at three elite…

The focus of this paper is upon an examination of the 'direction of travel' in European countries from special needs education to inclusive education -- a development influenced by the Salamanca Statement. The 1994 Salamanca Statement argued that inclusive schools provide 'an effective education for the majority of children and improve the…

As state leaders consider needed updates to the Commonwealth's school funding formula, they should remember just how well the approach taken by Tom Birmingham, former Massachusetts state Senate president, and co-author of the 1993 Education Reform Act worked. Beginning in 1993, Massachusetts' SAT scores rose for 13 consecutive years. The state's…

This single case study examined the perceptions of William L. "Bill" Phillis, the Executive Director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, concerning an unconstitutional funding model, subsequent sociopolitical barriers, and their impact on students and school districts from underprivileged socioeconomic…

With a new Governor, State Superintendent, and Legislators in Sacramento and a diminished federal role in education, there is an opportunity for California's leaders to take stock of recent educational reforms and make necessary improvements. Several high-profile reforms over the past few years, including the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF)…