School & District Management Report Roundup

School Finance

By Sarah D. Sparks — March 17, 2015 1 min read
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A loophole in federal education law leads more than 12,000 high-poverty schools to receive on average $1,200 less per student in funding than lower-poverty schools, finds a new report by the Center for American Progress.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act requires districts to provide “comparable” education services for students in high- and low-poverty schools, but districts can calculate teacher pay by average, rather than individual salaries.

Using 2010-11 school finance data, researchers found that across 50 states and the District of Columbia, differences in total teacher salaries between schools of different poverty levels created a funding gap of about $8.5 billion.

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A version of this article appeared in the March 18, 2015 edition of Education Week as School Finance

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