Private postsecondary education leaders are concerned with the value of education and the benefits students receive after graduation. Federal regulations dictate that private postsecondary education institutions will not qualify for Title IV funds if they do not meet minimum student outcome requirements, including cohort default rates and 90/10…

In response to comments on U.S. Department of Education (Department) guidance on how states and local education agencies (LEA) should determine equitable services for non-public schools under the CARES Act, the Department issued an interim final rule (IFR) on June 25, 2020. The IFR confirms the guidance, stating that LEAs should count all students…

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…

Every child deserves a supportive, well-resourced learning environment where they can thrive. In Ohio, access to high-quality education too often depends on where a child lives, their race, or how much money their family has in the bank. The Fair School Funding Plan (FSFP) was designed to fix that decades-old, unconstitutional disparity. This…

Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is the single largest federal investment in K-12 schools, making it a key tool for driving opportunity and closing the achievement gap. Title I provides financial assistance to schools based on the number of low-income students they enroll. Schools receiving the grants are required to…

The formula used to allocate federal funding for state and local special education programs is one of the Individual with Disabilities Act's most critical components. The formula not only serves as the primary mechanism for dividing available federal dollars among states, it also represents policymakers' intent to equalize educational…

Purpose: New policy proposals to increase funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)--including recent efforts by the Biden-Harris administration to "fully fund" IDEA--bring a new sense of urgency to understanding how federal special education dollars are distributed among states. In this study, we evaluate…

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.…

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…

The population of English learners (ELs) in K-12 schools continues to grow. Between the 2009-10 and 2014-15 school years, the percentage of English learners increased in over half of the states, and in 2017, English learners made up 10.1% of the total student population. Research suggests that in their transition to English, non-native speakers…

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…

North Carolina special education funding utilizes a dollar allotment per identified student, applying a funding cap based on a percentage of district average daily membership. While representing an attempt to reduce over-identification of students with special needs the funding cap has led to large systematic disparities in district fiscal…

On February 24, 2017, all of the authors of the state-of-the-state manuscripts published in the "Journal of Education Finance" met in Cincinnati, Ohio, to participate in a roundtable discussion focused on recent legislative actions in 38 states. A majority of those papers were revised to reflect a final report on legislative actions…

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…

Today's challenges for special education funding are rooted in a complex regulatory and policy environment that reflects little forethought about who can and will pay special education costs. Despite the fact that states and school districts are legally required to ensure a free and appropriate public education to students with disabilities, the…