Funding

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Funding

Funding is often a controversial subject.  Here you will find information on relating issues.  Posting here does not imply Georgia Partnership endorsement.  Entries go back to 2016.  Broken links should be reported here.

Additional Funding Resources
Georgia Budget and Policy InstituteGeorgia State Center for State and Local Finance (Education)New America

2018

Is School Funding Fair?
Southern Education Foundation

Understanding state school finance systems is crucial to the national effort to ensure access to high-quality education and to close opportunity and achievement gaps among subgroups of students, particularly those that are low-income. (May 12)

New state budget marks progress, leaves important work undone
Georgia Budget and Policy Institute

Georgia’s new annual budget signed into law by Gov. Nathan Deal marks a positive step forward on education and a few other crucial issues, yet also falls short of addressing some of the state’s most pressing needs. (May 8)

Shifting public funds to private schools:  High costs, poor track record
Georgia Budget and Policy Institute

Georgia lawmakers created multiple pathways to shift public funds to private schools in recent years. These schemes risk reducing money available to invest in public schools and critical state services.  (April 27)

2017

A Punishing Decade for School Funding
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Public investment in public K-12 schools – crucial for communities to thrive and the U.S. economy to offer broad opportunity – has declined dramatically in a number of states over the past decade. Related story. (November 30)

Where the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Will Spend Money Over the Next Five Years
Cleveland.com

Bill Gates in a speech to the Conference of Great City Schools said the foundation will spend more than $1.7 billion dollars in K-12 education over the next five years. (October 20)

Outcomes-Based Funding – What is the Issue and Why Does it Matter?
Education Commission of the States – Policy Snapshot

Outcome-based funding models are designed to encourage institutions not just to focus on student enrollment but also student success through retention and completion efforts. Introduction. (September 27)

A Lost Decade in Higher Education Funding State Cuts Have Driven Up Tuition and Reduced Quality
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

This report compares state spending on 2- and 4-year public colleges and universities over a decade, finding funding at the end of the 2017 academic year was nearly $9 billion below its 2008 level, after adjusting for inflation. Related story. (August 25)

Georgia’s Revenue Increase Trails Needs of Growing Population
Georgia Budget & Policy Institute

Georgia’s revenue growth has chugged along at a moderate rate the last few years.  The governor’s office says July net tax revenue collections were up 7.1 percent compared to the same period last year.  But further analysis is required. (August 11)

Proposed Medicaid Cuts Threaten Georgia’s Most Vulnerable Students
Georgia Budget & Policy Institute

More than 118,000 students in Georgia struggle with disabilities. These children need extra support to attend classes with their peers and fulfill their potential. This extra support includes money. (July 16)

Georgia Budget Primer 2018
Georgia Budget and Policy Institute

Check out this guide to what the state plans to spend for public services and other needs for the quality of life for citizens across the state. (July 12)

How Progressive is School Funding in the United States?
Brookings

Policy makers, advocates and the public have long been concerned with inequities of funding levels between schools attended by low-income students and  their more affluent peers. (June 19)

Need-Based State Financial Aid – What Is the Issue and Why Does It Matter?
Education Commission of the States

This Policy Snapshot explores need-based financial aid programs across the country and highlights state program examples, grant and scholarship expenditure amounts, and recent legislative activity. (May 25)

It’s Not Nothing; The Role of Money in Improving Education
Brookings

The roots of the long and contentious debate about whether we should spend more for K-12 education can be found in two sentences from the famous 1966 report led by James Coleman. (March 6)

Commentary: The ABCs of Funding Georgia Education
Georgia Trend

Education – including funding and reform – has been a hot political topic as long as there have been teachers and politicians. In Georgia, passage of the Quality Basic Education Act (QBE) in 1985 was one of the first significant reform and funding acts – and its funding formula is still used today – 32 years later. (February 21)

Filling the Gaping Hole in Public School Budgets
Georgia Budget and Policy Institute

State funding for Georgia’s public schools went up $1.5 billion from fiscal year 2014 to 2017 and is set to go up $515 million if the General Assembly approves Gov. Nathan Deal’s 2018 budget. (February 8)

2016

Proposed Education Funding Formula Will Short-Change Georgia Schools, Analyst Says
Athens Banner-Herald (article)

A proposed funding formula for Georgia’s public schools could short-change students in the long run, especially those in rural and high-poverty schools, according to a Georgia Budget and Policy Institute analyst. (December 26)

Study Examines the Power of Money in Schools
Tampa Bay Times (article)

Money really does matter in education, which could provide fresh momentum for more lawsuits and judgments such as a recent Connecticut decision. (December 13)

Past Is Prologue – State and Local Funding for Higher Education in the Next Recession
New America

If another recession hits, many public colleges and universities are likely to increase tuition to raise revenue as they are squeezed by drops in state and local funding.  Related story. (December 2)

Overview: 2017 Fiscal Year Budget for Lottery Funded Programs – Policy Report
Georgia Budget & Policy Institute

Gov. Nathan Deal’s proposed budget of nearly $1.05 billion for the state’s lottery-funded programs adds money for needed enhancements to the Pre-Kindergarten program and financial aid for technical college students but falls short of meeting many families’ needs. Related story. (September 8)

The States That Spend the Most (and Least) on Education
Governing

Public school spending varies dramatically from one part of the country to another. New York is the biggest spender, doling out more than $20,000 per student each year. (August 17)

Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship – A Victim of its Own Success?
Committee to Preserve HOPE Scholarships

Despite the abundance of cash from the Georgia Lottery, public demand threatens to overwhelm available funding. The Committee to Preserve HOPE Scholarships wanted to determine if that could actually happen. Related story. (August 11)

State and Local Expenditures on Corrections and Education
U.S. Department of Education

State and local spending on prisons and jails has grown three times as much over the past three decades as spending on public education for preschool through high school, according to this analysis. (July 15)

Public Education Finances: 2014
U.S. Census Bureau – Educational Finance Branch

This report contains financial statistics relating to public elementary-secondary prekindergarten through grade 12 education. It includes national and state financial aggregates and displays data for the 100 largest school systems by enrollment in the United States. Introduction. (June 15)

‘Billion Dollar Bets’ to Create Economic Opportunity for Every American
Bridgespan Group

Many people doubt there’s a better economic future for themselves and their children. But according to this research, reports of the American Dream’s (upward mobility) demise just might be premature. Executive Summary. Related story. (June 13)

Title 1:  Rich School Districts Get Millions Meant for Poor Kids
U. S. News & World Report

More money from a federal program created to address education inequalities is going to the nation’s wealthier school districts, according to an analysis released Wednesday. Related story. (June 2)

Mind the Gap – 20 Years of Progress and Retrenchment in School Funding and Achievement Gaps
ETS Research Report

Although there has been significant progress in the long term, achievement gaps among the nation’s students persist. Many factors have contributed to the disparities in outcomes, and societal changes can explain progress, or lack thereof, over the past few decades. Abstract.  Related story. (May 19)

The ‘Intolerable Fight’ Over School Money
NPR

“This is an intolerable situation,” Sen. Lamar Alexander said last week in a heated speech on the Senate floor. The Tennessee Republican is chairman of the Senate’s education committee, and he’s furious with the Education Department. (May 18)

Can More Money Fix America’s Schools?
NPR

“Money isn’t pixie dust,” declared the Texas assistant solicitor general, arguing his state’s side of a school funding lawsuit before the Texas Supreme Court. “Funding is no guarantee of better student outcomes.” (April 26)

Why America’s Schools Have a Money Problem
NPR

This was a first part in a series looking at the complexities of school funding issues. (April 18)