National Report Card on School Funding

Posted by Leadership Conference on June 22, 2015

A new report from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights examines how lack of resources create vastly unequal educational opportunities, even within the same state. The report finds many students, especially in rural and urban areas, lack access to the academic courses, before- and after-school programs, extracurricular activities, facilities, well-qualified staff, and transportation options enjoyed by peers in better-funded systems. In Philadelphia, for example, students lack adequate special education services, career and technology courses, access to arts and technology, and additional support systems in low-wealth neighborhoods. Mississippi’s failure to follow its own required funding levels has resulted in schools unable to afford Advanced Placement, to repair dilapidated buildings, or to install adequate technology. These are two of many examples. The report recommends that states at a minimum comply with court funding rulings, report data on per-pupil expenditures, and fund districts and schools through weighted formulas that send additional funding to areas of concentrated poverty or with a larger share of English Learners. Federal policymakers should require transparent reporting of, and plans to address disparities in, real school and district per-pupil expenditures, as well as student access to other critical educational resources. The Department of Education should use its authority under the Civil Rights Act to intervene where schools and districts unfairly deny students access to critical educational resources.

http://www.civilrights.org/archives/2015/1528-cheating-our-future.html