NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
ERIC Number: ED613302
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Jan
Pages: 2
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
How Should Policymakers Apportion School Funding Postpandemic? Five Solutions for K-12 Funding Allocations in 2021-22
Blagg, Kristin; Gutierrez, Emily; Lee, Victoria
Urban Institute
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 of students a school serves. In most states, these funding formulas are designed to more equitably distribute money to schools serving low-income students. This year, however, substantial pandemic-induced changes in enrollment, as well as uncertainty in the measurement of student poverty, will complicate the assessment of which school districts need funding the most. To understand how states can most equitably allocate available funding, the Urban Institute modeled the following five policy approaches presented in this report, each with benefits and drawbacks: (1) Use pandemic measures; (2) Ignore pandemic measures and use prepandemic measures; (3) Average both 2019-20 and 2020-21 measures; (4) Average from both years, but weight toward prepandemic measures; and (5) Use progressive adjustments to benefit low-income districts. From the analysis, it is clear that policymakers cannot rely on the status quo to efficiently distribute resources to the districts most in need. [This fact sheet draws from the research report "How COVID-19-Induced Changes to K-12 Enrollment and Poverty Might Affect School Funding. Research Report" (ED613234).]
Urban Institute. 2100 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20037. Tel: 202-261-5687; Fax: 202-467-5775; Web site: http://www.urban.org
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Authoring Institution: Urban Institute
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A