Lawmakers Grapple With Nuts and Bolts of School Financing

Denver

The session was titled “School Finance 101,” and for many of those attending, it could hardly have been more timely.

With education groups and advocacy organizations suing states over K-12 funding formulas, the state lawmakers, researchers, lawyers, and education officials who packed the National Conference of State Legislatures’ school funding summit Feb. 16-18 are among those scrambling to understand the complexities of local school financing.

So those who opted for a primer on school finance here paid close attention as consultants John Augenblick and John Myers outlined the 10 characteristics of a “good” school finance system—and said that following those steps might help...