Calif. Lawmakers Find Ways To Beat Equity Mandates

By Lonnie Harp

After creating an equitable school-funding formula, California politicians have found a way to get around their own system.

Legislators have learned to use the education programs that fall outside the funding formula to steer more money to their constituents, a new report concludes.

The formula divides the bulk of the state's $14 billion in K-12 school funds with an eye toward increasing equity between wealthy and poor districts. So lawmakers interested in making sure that a larger share of the state's money winds up in their districts have found reason to assert themselves, argues Thomas B. Timar, an associate professor at the University...