Over the past several decades, school funding in New Jersey has been through multiple reforms in attempts to provide districts with enough funding to offer students a thorough and efficient education. The most recent funding formula adjustment has led, and may continue to lead, to significant funding decreases for the majority of Sussex County,…

Sixty-seven school finance reforms (SFRs), a combination of court-ordered and legislative reforms, have taken place since 1990; however, there is little empirical evidence on the heterogeneity of SFR effects. In this study, we estimate the effects of SFRs on revenues and expenditures between 1990 and 2014 for twenty-six states. We find that, on…

In 2013, the California legislature approved the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) as a new way to fund local school districts. The new formula aimed to increase educational equity for low-income, English learners, homeless and foster youth students. The policy established a way to increase funding for school districts with higher percentages…

Poverty shapes the experience of more than twelve million children in the United States. To further an understanding of the relationship between poverty and school performance in South Carolina public schools, we investigated the association of high and low poverty levels with a range of state report card variables for three school levels:…

Over the last 20 years an increasing number of districts have implemented weighted student funding (WSF) policies that distribute resources to schools in ways that more accurately reflect the level students may require and provide principals with expanded flexibility in the use of funds. This study uses an event study model to examine whether…

Scholars have not reached consensus on the best approach to measure state school finance equity. The regression-based approach estimates the relationship between district poverty rate and funding level, controlling for other district cost factors. A second commonly used approach involves estimating the weighted average funding level for low-income…

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…

A recent report commissioned by the Office of the District of Columbia Auditor examined the accuracy of enrollment projections by the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) and by charter local educational agencies (LEAs). While the report found that enrollment projections were fairly consistent with LEA level enrollment, based on a sum of…

This report is a longevity, simulational study that looks at how the ratio of state support to local support effects the number of school districts that breaks the common school's funding formula which in turns effects the equity of distribution to the common schools. After nearly two decades of adequately supporting the funding formula, Oklahoma…

The percentage of public school students qualifying for free or reduced price meals has increased from about 33 percent to nearly 50 percent over the past 15 years. Kansas uses the number of students eligible for free (but not reduced-price) lunch to determine the amount of funding school districts receive to provide for services to at-risk…

This study was mandated by SB537 (Simitian, Chapter 650, Stats. of 2007, codified at Ed. Code Section 47613), which requires the California Research Bureau (CRB) to prepare and submit to the Legislature a report on the key elements and actual costs of charter school oversight. Charter schools are public schools that are operated by entities other…

This research examined the level of equity of the public school funding system in Texas that in September of 2004 was held to be unconstitutional by a state district judge. The study also introduces a mechanism, referred to as the Revenue-to-Population Index or RTP Index, which compares funding equity within the unconstitutional system among 1031…