A Think Twice Review of:
Review of Equal Is Not Good Enough: An Analysis of School Funding Equity Across the U.S. and Within Each State | Access Granted: School Funding Between Schools in Districts
Think Twice - Feb 14, 2023
Publisher/Think Tank - Education Trust | Bellwether
Author(s) - Ivy Morgan | Indira Dammu, Bonnie O'Keefe, and Jennifer O'Neal Schiess
The Education Trust report, Equal is Not Good Enough and an accompanying piece, Access Granted: School Funding Between Schools in Districts, evaluate district revenue and school spending per pupil with respect to poverty, race, and language status. They focus on the extent to which states and local districts target sufficient resources fairly to these subgroups of students. They clearly lay out consistent evaluation criteria and conceptual framing, apply appropriate empirical methods with that framing, and provide data visualizations for understanding whether and to what extent states and local districts provide equitable school funding.
Reviewer(s) - Bruce Baker, University of Miami
In his joint review, Baker explains how the Education Trust report is a valuable discussion of equitable school funding. But he describes the Bellwether report as lacking useful guidance, critiquing that report for providing no analyses of whether the policies mentioned in profiled states actually accomplish greater equity or stability of school revenues and spending.