ERIC Number: EJ1459235
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-0620
EISSN: EISSN-1478-7431
Available Date: N/A
Critical School Finance
David I. Backer; Esther Cyna
Journal of Educational Administration and History, v57 n1 p13-33 2025
In this paper, we put forth a framework called Critical School Finance, articulating the framework itself and then applying it to school facilities finance. First, we go back to first principles and discuss what 'critical' denotes, revisiting critical theorist Max Horkheimer's seminal essay 'Traditional vs. Critical Theory.' Second, we offer five central concepts with which a Critical School Finance framework might be composed: inequity/inequality, dispossession, kleptocracy, extraction/super-expropriation, and racial capitalism. Third, we present examples of Critical School Finance scholarship from the arena of school facilities. We conclude with the suggestion that school finance is not aloof from the warp and woof of injustice, struggle, and power, and that critical education researchers should not shy away from the examination thereof; recommending that scholars across disciplines engage with the typically technical details of school finance from a critical perspective.
Descriptors: Critical Race Theory, Critical Theory, Educational Finance, Equalization Aid, Financial Policy, School Funds, Resource Allocation, Educational Equity (Finance), Social Justice, Equal Education, Social Systems, Educational Policy, Educational Facilities Planning, Educational Facilities Improvement
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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