By case-studying a multi-route school-choice system like that of Hong Kong, this study attempts to investigate the role of district characteristics in student access to school choice under different admissions policies. A district's income, education, and immigrant level all had stronger negative impacts on school-choice assignments made by the…

Resource exposure is believed to be a key mechanism linking patterns of racial segregation and student outcomes during the Brown v. Board of Education era. Decades later, literature suggests that past progress on school desegregation may have stalled, raising concerns about resource equity and associated student outcomes. Are recent trends in…

The Great Recession caused states around the country to make substantial budget cuts to public education. As a result, districts that rely more heavily on state funding -- those with greater concentrations of students in poverty -- may be disproportionately impacted by the Great Recession funding cuts; however, little prior research examines this…

Research suggests students learn better in classrooms that are modern, comfortable, and safe, but the age and condition of school facilities varies widely across the state. According to a recent estimate, California school districts need to spend between $3.1 billion and $4.1 billion annually just to maintain their existing facilities. Further,…

This study examines how California's system of school facility finance, and the level and distribution of funding for K-12 school facilities, has changed over the decade since 2006. This report addresses five broad questions related to the way California finances its school facility needs: (1) How has California's system of school facility finance…

Like other states, Michigan has implemented a number of policies to change governance and administrative arrangements in local school districts deem to be in financial emergency. This paper examines two questions: (1) Which districts get into financial trouble and why?; and (2) Among fiscally distressed districts, are there significant differences…

California's school funding system has changed in several very significant ways since the original "District Dollars" report (Loeb, Grissom, and Strunk 2007), so the purpose of this report is to update that analysis and to track the evolution of district finances over the intervening 12 years, as well as to consider a few other issues…

We consider issues of equality and efficiency in two different school funding systems--a state-level system in Michigan and a foundation system in Ohio. Unlike Ohio, the Michigan system restricts districts from generating property or income tax revenue to fund operating expenditures. In both states, districts fund capital expenditures with local…

This "First Look" contains national and state totals of revenues and expenditures for public elementary and secondary education for school year 2013-14. This "First Look" includes revenues by source and expenditures by function and object, including current expenditures per pupil and instructional expenditures per pupil. This…

In Massachusetts, state aid to public schools fills the gap between a district's foundation budget and its required local contribution. Historic inequities in required local contributions and the resulting inequities in state aid across districts led to a call for education finance reform. Since 2007, the state has put in place a number of…

This research briefly summarizes a series of Ohio Supreme Court litigation known as "DeRolph v. State" and then measures the equality of expenditures among Ohio school districts. "DeRolph v. State" was a high-profile school finance adequacy case. Nevertheless, the high court continuously expressed concern for the financial…

California law severely limits local school districts' revenue-raising authority compared to most other states, which allow districts to raise local property taxes to support schools. School districts are primarily funded by revenues allocated by the state through complex formulas established decades ago. In California, school districts have…

Low-income children tend to be concentrated in low-income school districts, and these children often attend schools that receive far fewer resources per pupil despite their greater need. Since education is primarily a state responsibility, more than 90 percent of school funding comes from state and local sources, and the federal government…

Preserving existing revenues is an essential component of the work of school business officials. The broad ranges of activities that can affect school district revenues make identifying potential threats difficult. By understanding the issues that affect school district revenue, school business officials are better able to diminish its erosion--a…

This report uses data from the Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study (PEELS) to describe access for young children with disabilities in two specific domains: community activities, including extracurricular activities and family recreation, and kindergarten classroom experiences. While PEELS is a broad, descriptive study, the analyses…