Report: States Struggle With ‘Unfair’ School Funding – By Elliott Davis (US News) / Oct 28 2021
Per-pupil funding is especially lacking in Southern and Western states, according to the nonprofit Education Law Center.
More than half of states have per-pupil funding levels below the national average – part of an overall bleak picture of U.S. public education painted by a report released Thursday.
The findings from the Education Law Center, a nonprofit focused on education equity, point to the “persistence of unfair school funding across the country,” according to a news release. States in the South and West are struggling the most to provide adequate funding for public school students, and a majority of states fail to provide higher dollar amounts to the high-poverty schools and districts that are the most in need, the annual “Making the Grade” report found.
“This year’s report makes clear that, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the condition of school funding in many states was bleak,” Danielle Farrie, the Education Law Center’s research director and report co-author, said in a statement. “While the obligation to fully invest in public education rests primarily with the states, it is time for the federal government to use the tools in its toolbox to incentivize fair and equitable school funding across the country.”
