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ERIC Number: EJ1466744
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-May
Pages: 30
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0895-9048
EISSN: EISSN-1552-3896
Available Date: 0000-00-00
The Politics of School Funding: How State Political Ideology Is Associated with the Allocation of Revenue to School Districts
Nathan Favero1; Ali Kagalwala2
Educational Policy, v39 n3 p693-722 2025
States diverge widely when it comes to education funding choices, leading to substantial differences in how much states spend on schooling, the role of local versus state revenue sources, and relative differences among districts in funding levels. Prior studies have documented that Democratic party control of state governments appears to be associated with higher levels of spending on K-12 education, but beyond that we know little about how political ideology is related to patterns of education funding allocation by states. This study examines this question using a nationwide dataset of school district expenditures from 1999 to 2015. The results indicate that states that are more politically liberal tend to provide more funds (per pupil) to local districts. More liberal states also provide relatively more favorable distributions to districts that are more urban and have larger Black student populations, in addition to perhaps rewarding districts with higher local property tax rates.
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1American University, Washington, DC, USA; 2Texas A&M University, College Station, USA