Carnegie Corporation Supported Report Finds America's $23 Billion School Funding Gap
It was nearly three decades ago when the New Jersey Supreme Court found the state’s school funding formula shortchanged its poorest students, and lawmakers directed more money to districts serving large shares of low-income children.
Now, a new report released on Tuesday suggests the state didn’t go far enough. Despite the landmark decision, the state has one of the nation’s largest funding gaps between districts predominantly serving students of color and those where most children are white. When researchers focused on schools serving large shares of low-income children, they found the funding gap between predominantly white and nonwhite schools was starker.
In fact, despite pivotal finance rulings, school funding in New Jersey, California, and New York remains among the most inequitable in the nation according to the new report by EdBuild, a nonprofit think tank that focuses on education spending. Nationally, EdBuild researchers found that school districts that mostly serve nonwhite students get $23 billion less in state and local spending each year than those with predominantly white student populations — even though they educate roughly the same number of children...