{"id":2157,"date":"2019-04-17T21:21:20","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T21:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/?p=2157"},"modified":"2024-10-15T22:02:15","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T22:02:15","slug":"antiquated-funding-creates-disparity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/2019\/04\/17\/antiquated-funding-creates-disparity\/","title":{"rendered":"Antiquated Funding Creates Disparity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As reported<\/a> in Education Week<\/em>, two states recognized as targets for educational transformation by Discovery Institute\u2019s American Center for Transforming Education (ACTE) are in it for the long haul. Idaho and Texas recently battled to revamp their K-12 funding formulas during their respective legislative sessions. The changes are promising, even if some questions remain about the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discussions over funding formulas are greatly needed. As\nthe article points out, \u201cVirtually every legislator gets involved with school\nfunding formula debates since they each have vocal constituents at risk of\ngaining or losing state aid. And anti-tax advocates, parents, and\nteachers\u2014groups with get-out-the-vote prowess\u2014are among those at the forefront.\u201d\nThe bottom line is that how the schools will be funded impacts everyone within\nthese two states.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Idaho\u2019s case, the state is currently resting on a\n25-year-old funding formula, so the mere fact that there are talks to adjust the\nfunding formula is a positive. The concern, however, is that the efforts could\nnot get enough air under them to take flight. As the article states \u201cInstead,\nlawmakers this year are expected to pass a watered-down bill that will require\nthe state to start collecting more-accurate enrollment data.\u201d The old formula\nis based solely on the schools average daily attendance and does not take into\naccount the actual enrollment of students or \u201cweights\u201d applied to students who\nrequire more funding. While they continue to sit on the highly antiquated\nformula, the students of Idaho will be the losers in this situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for Texas, House Bill 3 (I previously\nwrote<\/a> about a different section of the bill), is intended to \u201cupend Texas\u2019\ndecades-old \u2018Robin Hood\u2019 funding formula, which takes money from property-rich\ndistricts and distributes it to property-poor districts. The bill would\nincrease per-pupil spending to $6,030 from $5,140 and increase school spending\nby $9 billion over the next two years.\u201d However, there is concern over whether\nthe bill will be able to cross the finish line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don Nielsen, Program Director at the ACTE, proposes a different type of funding formula in his book, Every School <\/em>(see also here<\/a> regarding Idaho\u2019s obsolete funding formula). Nielsen suggests that we create a funding formula where \u201cthe money follows the child, and also takes into account both the cost of living where the child lives and the cost to educate the child.\u201d He pulls from his experience on the Seattle School Board where he and the rest of the members successfully \u201cput in a weighted voucher system when [they] installed what [they] called the weighted student formula.<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The funding formula recognized\nthe differing costs to educate different children: \u201cthose schools with the most\nill-prepared students received the most money. With the extra money, these\nschools were able to fund all-day kindergarten (at the elementary level) and\nreduce class sizes at all levels. Both outcomes increased the attractiveness of\nthese schools to the parents they served. Smaller classes allowed for more\nindividualized instruction, which enhanced academic achievement.\u201d Another\nsimilar system to Nielsen\u2019s proposal would be a \u201cweighted\u201d Education Savings\nAccount (ESA), which would provide districts and schools greater flexibility in\nhow money is spent. ESAs are much like vouchers in that the state in which\nparents reside provides a fixed amount of money to them. Parental choice and\nschool funding flexibility are both preferred over current funding formulas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is imperative to continue to thrust for a structure that provides children with what they need. The most difficult to educate children require the most funding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Thomas Jefferson said, \u201cNothing is more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As reported in Education Week, two states recognized as targets for educational transformation by Discovery Institute\u2019s American Center for Transforming Education (ACTE) are in it for the long haul. Idaho and Texas recently battled to revamp their K-12 funding formulas during their respective legislative sessions. The changes are promising, even if some questions remain about the future. The discussions over funding formulas are greatly needed. As the article points out, \u201cVirtually every legislator gets involved with school funding formula debates since they each have vocal constituents at risk of gaining or losing state aid. And anti-tax advocates, parents, and teachers\u2014groups with get-out-the-vote prowess\u2014are among those at the forefront.\u201d The bottom line is that how the schools will be funded impacts Read More ›<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":343,"featured_media":2159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[48,47],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1062],"class_list":["post-2157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-policy","category-school-choice"],"acf":[],"author_names":["Bailey Takacs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/343"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2157"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2157"}],"wp:action-assign-author":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post\/2157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}