$600 Billion Lost: State Disinvestment in Education Following the Great Recession

In the decade following the Great Recession, students across the U.S. lost nearly $600 billion from the states' disinvestment in their public schools. Data from 2008-2018 show that, if states had simply maintained their fiscal effort in PK-12 education at pre-Recession levels, public schools would have had over half a trillion dollars more in state and local revenue to provide teachers, support staff and other resources essential for student achievement. Further, that lost revenue could have significantly improved opportunity and outcomes for students, especially in the nation's poorest districts.The states dramatically reduced their investment in public education in response to the 2007 Great Recession. Yet as economies rebounded, states failed to restore those investments. As our analysis shows, while states' economic activity — measured as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — recovered, state and local revenues for public schools lagged far behind in many states.This "lost decade" of state disinvestment has put public schools in an extremely vulnerable position as the nation confronts the coronavirus pandemic. Once again, state budgets are strained by declining revenues. And once again, school districts across the country are bracing for state aid cuts and the potential for reduced local support.This report builds on our Making the Grade analysis of the condition of public school funding in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Instead of a one-year snapshot, this report provides a longitudinal analysis of the effort made by states from 2008 to 2018 to fund their public education systems. We measure that effort using an index that calculates elementary and secondary education revenue as a percentage of each state's economic activity or GDP.A key goal of this report is to give advocates data and information to use in their efforts to press governors and state legislatures not to make another round of devastating "pandemic cuts" to already underfunded public schools

Making the Grade 2021: How Fair is School Funding in Your State?

Making the Grade analyzes the condition of public school funding in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Using the most recently available data from the 2018-19 school year, the report ranks and grades each state on three measures to answer the key question: How fair is school funding in your state

Making the Grade 2022: How Fair Is School Funding in Your State?

Making the Grade provides an annual overview of the condition of school finance in the states. The data in this edition gives a picture of states' investment in their public school systems in the 2019-20 school year, the historic moment when public education, and society at large, experienced the massive disruption brought on by a worldwide public health crisis

Making the Grade 2020

As the coronavirus pandemic rages across the United States, the nation's public schools are confronting the budgetary impacts of a second major economic crisis in just over a decade. Like the Great Recession of 2008, declining revenues and diminishing rainy day funds are pressuring states to reduce support for their PK-12 public school systems. Some states, such as New York, Georgia, and Texas, have already enacted sizeable "pandemic cuts" in their state budgets.[1] These cuts fall hardest on the poorest school districts with the greatest need and, as in the Great Recession, create a structural deficit that will impact state and district budgets in future years. While the cuts may be offset by one-time federal COVID-19 relief, the federal funds are largely intended to supplement existing state and district budgets to cover the additional costs related to the pandemic, not to fill gaps resulting from reduced state support.The pandemic is also a public health crisis. As such, it requires increased technology to allow students to engage in remote learning and creates a plethora of new expenses connected to safe school reopening. According to one estimate, the average district needs an additional $1.8 million to cover the cost of cleaning, additional staff, personal protective equipment (PPE), transportation and child care.[2] That does not include the as yet unknown costs of remediation and academic support for students whose schooling has been disrupted, along with the cost of social and mental health supports for students dealing with economic hardship, family loss and the psychological stress of COVID-19.This edition of Making the Grade draws upon data from 2018, the most recent year available. The report evaluates the condition of public school funding in the states preceding the onset of the pandemic in early 2020. This analysis demonstrates the alarming condition of school funding in most states, leaving school districts, especially those segregated by poverty, ill-equipped to weather the coronavirus crisis. What the pandemic has made strikingly evident is the glaring funding disparities that have persisted for years, if not decades. Poor households have disproportionately suffered the devastating health and economic impacts of COVID-19. As this report shows, children from these households are more likely to attend schools that are under-resourced and unprepared for transitioning to the new realities of virtual instruction, school health and safety protocols and unprecedented remediation for lost learning time.The devastating effects of COVID-19 follow on the heels of a slow and uneven recovery from the 2008 Recession. In 2020, some states had yet to climb out of the funding hole left by the Recession, only to face the next fiscal crisis, one likely to extend for several years. As Making the Grade 2020 makes clear, most states face the challenges of COVID-19 with outmoded, unresponsive school funding systems that fail to meet the needs of their most vulnerable students

Prestação de Contas dos Recursos: Fazer Cumprir as Responsabilidades do Estado de Fornecer Recursos Adequados e Equitativos para ser Efetivamente Usados para Brindar a Todos os Alunos uma Educação de Qualidade

Darling-Hammond, Wilhoit, and Pittenger (2014) addressed the need for states to align their accountability systems with new college- and career-ready learning standards. The authors recommended a new accountability paradigm that focuses on 1) meaningful learning, enabled by 2) professionally skilled and committed educators, and supported by 3) adequate and appropriate resources. This paper explicates the provision of adequate and appropriate resources, the third of these three pillars of a comprehensive approach to accountability. Adequate resources, effectively used, are prerequisites to building the capacity of schools to deliver the two other pillars, professionally skilled and committed educators and meaningful learning. Also, the effective use of public school funding is an oft-ignored but crucial step toward ensuring equal educational opportunity for all students.En el número del el 18 de agosto 2014  esta publicación, los autores Linda Darling-Hammond, Gene Wilhoit, y Linda Pittenger abordaron la necesidad de que los estados alineen sus sistemas de responsabilidad educativa con un nuevo paradigma que prepare a los estudiantes para que sean exitosos en la universidad y carreras profesionaes. Los autores recomendaron un nuevo paradigma de la rendición de cuentas que se centrase en 1) el aprendizaje significativo, habilitado por 2) educadores profesionalmente cualificados y comprometidos, y con el apoyo de 3) los recursos adecuados y apropiados (Darling-Hammond, Wilhoit, y Pittenger, 2014). En este trabajo se explicita la provisión de los recursos adecuados y apropiados, el tercero de estos tres pilares de un enfoque integral para la rendición de cuentas. Recursos suficientes que se usen con eficacia, son requisitos previos para viabilizar la capacidad de las escuelas para sustentar los otros dos pilares, educadores profesionalmente cualificados y comprometidos y lso aprendizajes significativos. Además, la financiación efectiva de la de escuelas públicas es un paso a menudo ignorado, pero crucial para garantizar la igualdad de oportunidades educativas para todos los estudiantes.No número de 18 agosto de 2014 desta publicação, os autores Linda Darling-Hammond, Gene Wilhoit, e Linda Pittenger abordaram a necessidade de que os Estados alinhem seus sistemas de ensino com um novo paradigma de responsabilidade educacional que prepare os alunos para ser bem sucedidos nos estudos universitários e as carreiras profesionais. Os autores recomendam um novo paradigma de responsabilidade educativa baseados em 1) a aprendizagem significativa, ativado por 2) educadores profissionalmente qualificados e comprometidos, e com o apoio de 3) recursos adequados e apropriados (Darling-Hammond, Wilhoit, e Pittenger, 2014). Neste trabalho, o fornecimento de recursos adequados e apropriados são explícitas, o terceiro dos três pilares de uma abordagem abrangente para a prestação de contas. Recursos suficientes utilizados de forma eficaz, são pré-requisitos para viabilizar a capacidade das escolas para sustentar os outros dois pilares, educadores profissionalmente qualificados e comprometidos e aprendizagem significativa. Além disso, o financiamento eficaz das escolas públicas é um passo muitas vezes esquecido, mas crucial para garantir a igualdade de oportunidades educacionais para todos os alunos

Making the Grade 2019: How Fair is School Funding in Your State?

In this report, we present our analysis of the condition of public school funding in Arizona and 48 other states. Using the most recently available data from the 2016-17 school year, we rank and grade each state on three core measures to answer the question: How fair is school funding in your state

Enhancing court capacity to enforce education rights: judicial tools used in Abbott v. Burke

This policy brief examines a critical aspect of quality education litigation: the tools available to courts to fashion and ensure implementation of a constitutional method of funding public education to improve schools. As a case study, the brief analyzes the techniques employed by the New Jersey Supreme Court in providing a remedy to disadvantaged urban school children in the long-running Abbott v. Burke case. The Abbott litigation offers important lessons on how courts can improve their competency to fashion and direct implementation of a remedy to vindicate constitutionally guaranteed socio-economic rights, particularly when they implicate politically vulnerable or disenfranchised groups or classes of citizens.</p

Making the grade 2019: How fair is school funding in your state?: A guide for advocates and policymakers

In this report, we present our analysis of the condition of public school funding in Arizona and 48 other states.4 Using the most recently available data from the 2016-17 school year, we rank and grade each state on three core measures to answer the question: How fair is school funding in your state? The measures are: • Funding Level —the cost-adjusted, per‐pupil revenue from state and local sources • Funding Distribution —the extent to which additional funds are distributed to school districts with high levels of student poverty • Funding Effort —the level of investment in K-12 public education as a percentage of state wealth (GDP) allocated to maintain and support the state school system We present each state’s rankings and grades on these school funding measures as a tool to inform policymakers, business and community leaders, teachers, parents and students about the condition of public school funding in their state. The report is also designed to assist advocates in their efforts to improve the level and distribution of school funding for students in state public school systems