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…

This brief looks at how Pennsylvania distributed $174 million to Pennsylvania's public school districts in K-12 funding from the CARES Act that the federal government left up to states to allocate. The legislature and the Wolf administration agreed to distribute a fixed amount per district plus distribution of the remaining funds based on…

The Commission to Study the Adequacy and Equity of Certain Cost Components of the School Funding Formula was created in legislation crafted by the Joint Standing Committee on Education of the 126th Legislature (the "Education Committee"). The legislation was enacted as Resolve 2014, chapter 114. Creation of the Commission is the latest…

Achieving the goals of federal education legislation depends on how federal funds are distributed and used. Since the enactment of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 1965, various federal programs have been created to support educational improvement and target additional resources to meet the educational needs of children who are…

Although 6 million adults in Britain are studying at any one time, survey findings confirm continuing underrepresentation of people in lower socioeconomic levels. This paper suggests that widened participation in education and training is necessary to improve competitiveness and economic success and to enable all to have an equal opportunity of…

This report analyzes options for modifying the current provisions for allocating Chapter 1 funds to better meet the program's goals. The report is organized in seven sections. Following an executive summary and introductory remarks in section 1, section 2 analyzes the existing Chapter 1 funds allocation formulas. Section 3 analyzes the targeting…

This final report describes a project to develop a funding process for the distribution of Federal Vocational Education dollars to eligible recipients as dictated by P. L. 94-482. An introductory section considers project background and rationale for a revised system. Section 2 discusses procedures used in the development of a funding process to…

A study assessed the formulas used to distribute funds to the states under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) 1998. It identified mismatches that might exist between the formulas and WIA's program goals and populations served and identified where the formulas are most vulnerable to wide fluctuations in funding levels from year to year. Issues…

The federal government's more than thirty-year attempt to solve the problems of poverty--in particular, the diminished life chances of children from low-income households--has been, according to these authors, largely unsuccessful. Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 is, and has been, the most heavily funded…