Hold-harmless provisions in state aid formulas are meant to restrict declines in revenues for school districts. They may take several forms, including limits on the changes in state aid from year to year, supplemental funding for districts with declining enrollment, alternatives for calculating the state aid amount, or use of past enrollments in…

A.C.A. §6-61-234 (Act 148 of 2017) directs the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board (AHECB) to adopt polices developed by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE) necessary to implement a productivity-based funding model for state-supported institutions of higher education. At its October 27, 2017 meeting, the AHECB approved the…

One of a state's primary responsibilities is to divvy up the public funds for K-12 schooling. In each state, a set of finance policies determines how the state and local funds are apportioned so that districts and other providers can then apply them to schools and classrooms. Different states use a host of variables and formulas to determine how…

Michigan's K-12 education system has arguably never truly supported all students to reach their full potential and prepare them for post-secondary opportunities and success. Instead, Michigan's education system has served as an engine of inequality when it should be providing opportunities for all kids to learn. Now is a critical time to address…

Across all 50 states, there are different ways in which states allocate K-12 funding to districts. This document provides information on the minimum guaranteed dollar amount that each state district receives per student, if available in statute. The dollar figures are the most recent year available in statute, as of July 2019. [View the full…

Each year, school systems and lead agencies plan for how to improve student learning in the coming year. This process involves reviewing student achievement and progress data, establishing priorities, aligning budgets to these priorities, and using all available funding sources. Ensuring children receive the supports they deserve will require…

In an era of globalized education policy, the problems of equitably funding public schools have universal relevance. Critical Resource Theory (CReT), a conceptual extension of Critical Theory (CT), uses data generated from quantitative analyses of public funding to inform policy and produce more equitable resources and outcomes for low-wealth…

This document to State Title I Directors answers common questions about how the Title I carryover waiver of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) is applied to local educational agencies (LEAs). Questions include: (1) What does a waiver related to the carryover limitation in section 1127(b) of the ESEA allow?; (2) When the…

This special report discusses the revenue streams available for funding quality pre-K programs, and includes an overview of funding types and variations.

With declines in enrollment and attendance, increases in student poverty, and potential reductions in state revenue, policymakers are facing a perfect storm of uncertainty in apportioning K-12 education funding. State policymakers typically use prior-year enrollment numbers or average daily attendance to allocate funding proportional to the number…

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…

We study the progressivity of state funding of school districts under Tennessee's weighted student funding formula. We propose a simple definition of progressivity based on the difference in exposure to district per-pupil funding between poor and non-poor students. The realized progressivity of district funding in Tennessee is much smaller--only…

Across all 50 states, there are different ways in which states allocate K-12 funding to districts. This document provides information on what type of funding mechanism is used by state. To classify funding mechanisms that appear in state statute or in regulations, Education Commission of the States created definitions for the terms used on this…

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…