Funding for California schools has improved rapidly in recent years but remains insufficient to meet educational goals and address the needs of students, particularly given California's high cost of living. Now, school districts face flat or declining revenues and rapidly growing student academic and social-emotional needs due to COVID-19.…

At $14 billion, the investment in operating support for higher education institutions from the coronavirus relief bill, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, is the largest one-year federal infusion of funds going straight to colleges since the Great Recession. Yet it's nowhere close to enough. Many states have already…

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the global and U.S. economy more profoundly than any other event since World War II. Just as the subprime mortgage crisis ushered in an 18-month economic decline and an ensuing state budget crisis, the current economic slide threatens to leave us in an even larger fiscal hole. Since COVID-19 hit, millions of…

The objective of this policy brief is to explain the purpose of adjustment aid in New Jersey's school funding formula and to correct several misconceptions about the level of aid and how it is distributed. The main conclusions include: (1) The amount of adjustment aid in the funding formula is currently overstated in the "informational"…

The Mississippi Public Universities Research Catalog is mandated by the State through the University Research Center Act of 1988 (§ 37-141-17). The publication lists the funding amounts by the sources of funding and by the university disciplines receiving the funding. It is designed for use by state policy makers, the educational community,…

In most states and in the nation as a whole, the combination of constrained resources and rapid enrollment growth during the Great Recession left a legacy of significantly diminished per-student funding for higher education. Adequate funding is a necessary component of supporting college access and success and meeting state goals for educational…

Through case studies of five states with varying facilities policies, the study presented in "What about the Schools? Factors Contributing to Expanded State Investment in School Facilities" examines the factors contributing to expanded state investment in equitable public school facilities and how those factors can be leveraged to…

For the past 30 years, America's K-12 education system has experienced an era of expanding educational choice. Although students who participate in private school choice programs and are enrolled in charter schools comprise a small portion of the K-12 population relative to students in district schools, choice is becoming a larger part of the K-12…

In recent decades, states and districts have moved toward making education more equitable. A key component of equity in education is providing additional funds for economically disadvantaged students, commonly referred to as "at-risk students." At-risk students are most often defined as students who qualify for free or reduced priced…

Nearly 30 states have adopted or are transitioning to performance-based funding programs for community colleges that allocate funding based on institutional performance according to defined metrics. While embraced by state lawmakers and promoted by outside advocacy groups as a method to improve student outcomes, enhance accountability and ensure…

The Mississippi Public Universities Research Catalog is mandated by the State through the University Research Center Act of 1988 (§ 37-141-17). The publication lists the funding amounts by the sources of funding and by the university disciplines receiving the funding. It is designed for use by state policy makers, the educational community,…

The link between education funding levels and student outcomes is a matter of continuing debate, including in New York State. State education aid in New York follows a progressive formula that targets more aid to lower-income, higher-need school districts, yet these districts continue to dominate lists of the state's lowest performing schools. The…

This publication provides governmental and higher education decision-makers a statewide perspective of Arkansas public higher education finance for the 2021-23 biennium, as well as trends for the past several years. It also contains a detailed financial profile of each institution and presents a basis for comparative assessments of revenue sources…

Ongoing federal efforts support equalizing access to experienced educators for low-income students and students of color, thereby narrowing the "teacher experience gap." I show that while high-poverty and high-minority schools have larger class sizes and receive less funding nationally, school districts allocate resource equitably, on…

This issue brief demonstrates the racial consequences of inequitable state higher education funding, and recommends steps state and federal policymakers should take to remedy inequities in college funding.