Guest Post: Five Things Superintendents Should Know About Education Finance Equity

This guest blog comes from Bellwether Education Partners’ Alex Spurrier, co-author of Splitting the Bill: Understanding Education Finance Equity — a nine-part series that gives advocates a crash course in the fundamentals of education finance in their states and communities.

Education leaders are likely familiar with school finance policy in their state and its impact on educational opportunities for students. As superintendents, you play an important role as advocates for more equitable state and local finance systems. However, effective school finance advocacy requires a deep understanding of the complicated mechanics of how dollars move from taxpayers to classrooms. And at a time when the capacity of school system leaders is stretched as thinly as ever, it can be difficult for even the most motivated leaders to know where to begin.

To help educators, advocates, and policymakers get up-to-speed on school finance policy, Bellwether Education Partners released Splitting the Bill, a series of nine at-a-glance briefs that serve as a crash course to demystify the complexities and inequities embedded in school finance systems.

Here are five key takeaways for education leaders from the series:

    1.  Most state school funding formulas connect directly with student enrollment and learning needs — but that connection is weaker in some states.

Thirty-six states, along with Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico have what's known as a student-based funding formula. These formulas direct funding to districts based on the number of students they enroll. The vast majority have "weights" to allocate additional funding to support students who have additional learning needs, such as lower-income students, English language learners, and special education students. This way, districts serving students in need of more educational resources should get a bigger share of state funding. 

Not every state follows this approach. In 17 states, funding for districts is based on the anticipated cost of serving their student population (mostly via staffing costs and ratios), while four states provide funding for the cost of specific programming (like transportation and special education).

Student-based formulas offer a better combination of transparency, flexibility, and equity. To learn more about different state funding formula structures, read the third brief in the Splitting the Bill series.

    2.  Many state school finance systems fail to fund schools equitably

State school funding policies typically attempt to account for the different wealth and student learning needs of school districts, but often fall short. These shortcomings can have many sources, from opaque formulas disconnected from student needs to inadequate “weights” to support students with particular learning needs (e.g., low-income students, ELLs, and special education students).

Learn more about some of the biggest equity problems in state education finance systems in the fourth brief in the Splitting the Bill series.

    3.  Property taxes aren't just a major source of funding for schools — they can also be a significant source of inequity

It's no secret that locally generated property taxes are an important source of funding for school systems. But the level of taxable property wealth per pupil can vary wildly from one district to the next — even among districts that share a direct border. And property wealth disparities across districts boundaries are closely related to economic and racial segregation. These disparities create significant challenges for funding equity that some state policies work hard to address, and others do very little about.

Check out how local taxes affect school finance equity in the sixth brief in the Splitting the Bill series.

    4. Districts' budgetary decisions are an important mechanism for equity

State policy plays a key role in determining the amount of funding that districts receive. At the same time, district leaders and school boards typically have freedom to determine how most dollars are allocated from the central office to schools. Since the vast majority of schools' budgets go to staff salaries and benefits, the way those positions are funded can have major equity implications within a school district.

Unpack different approaches to district budgeting and how they affect equity in the seventh brief in the Splitting the Bill series.

    5.  There's a good chance school funding policy in your state has been challenged in the courts

In many states, problems in state school finance systems have led to litigation that contest either adequacy (enough funding), equity (funding distributed to where it is most needed), or both.

School finance lawsuits can catalyze policy change, but they take time, money, and have no guarantee of improving policy. To learn more about whether school finance lawsuits are an effective tool for your state or community, read the eighth brief of the Splitting the Bill series.

Developing a command of the details within school funding systems can reveal both the benign and malign impacts of different policy choices. Spending on K-12 education makes up the largest share of general fund expenditures for state governments, but there are relatively few people in each state that truly understand how those dollars currently move and, more importantly, how they should move to better serve students.

It’s time for equity-minded education leaders to become more familiar with the wonky details of school finance policy so that they can advocate for funding that meets the needs of the students they serve.

Questions? Contact Partner, Jennifer O’Neal Schiess, jennifer.schiess@bellwethereducation.org, and Associate Partner, Alex Spurrier, alex.spurrier@bellwethereducation.org.