School Funding

Learn more about how K-12 schools and districts raise money, set budgets, and spend funds
Image of a leader replacing FA"KE" with FA"CT"
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Budget & Finance How This District Headed Off Misinformation About Its School Bond Campaign
School bonds are hot-button issues for districts—and ripe for misinformation campaigns.
Evie Blad, June 18, 2025
5 min read
Budget & Finance Quiz Quiz Yourself: How Much Do You Know About Education Finance?
Answer 7 questions about education finance.
June 9, 2025
Illustrated photo of a ship made out of money and carrying a large red question mark with a stormy seascape and sky all around.
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School & District Management How Schools Think Their Legal Expenses Will Change Under Trump
The first few months of the Trump administration have been like "drinking from a fire hose," an education attorney said.
Caitlynn Peetz, June 2, 2025
5 min read
Budget & Finance Webinar School Finance in an Uncertain Age
Navigating the new school finance reality? Get key insights from the 2025 Allovue Education Finance Survey in partnership.
May 5, 2025
A triptych photograph of a stack of papers against a blue background, a school bus against a blue sky, and an excavator on a pile of dirt. There is yellow tape covering the entire 3 photos with the word TARIFFS and the American flag repeated on the tape.
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Budget & Finance Trump's Tariffs Are Already Affecting Schools. Here's How
Higher prices due to tariffs are no longer theoretical for schools replacing technology—or even buying copy paper.
Caitlynn Peetz, April 30, 2025
2 min read
Teacher tutoring a young student while sitting in a classroom.
Yuri Arcurs/E+
Student Achievement Tutoring Programs Are in Limbo After the Expiration of COVID Relief Aid
Some districts have had to terminate tutoring programs or scramble to find alternate sources of funding.
Olina Banerji, April 25, 2025
9 min read
Benjamin Franklin face from USD dollar banknote behind of torn paper with wording tariffs revealed.
Education Week and iStock/Getty
Budget & Finance Schools Are Already Seeing Higher Prices Due to Trump's Tariffs
Supplies that schools rely on are already becoming more expensive in some cases as a result of tariffs. They also cause broader uncertainty.
Mark Lieberman & Caitlynn Peetz, April 11, 2025
7 min read
A front view of a teacher and some of her young pupils in the sunshine outside. They are pointing and interacting with the teacher as she reads and encourages them to join in.
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School & District Management What Superintendents Say About Summer School, in Charts
Districts have to find new ways to pay for summer programs they started or expanded with pandemic aid. Largely, they plan to do just that.
Caitlynn Peetz, March 25, 2025
4 min read
Photograph of the back of a father and son (wearing a bookbag) holding hands while walking down a brick-paved sidewalk.
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Budget & Finance What Trump's Mass Deportations Could Mean for School Budgets
Federal threats against immigrants could depress local and state funding for schools and cause a spike in chronic absenteeism.
Mark Lieberman, March 24, 2025
13 min read
Vector of a teacher hand holding puzzle piece bridging the gap in primary education for children
iStock/Getty Images
Special Education How Schools Make Up for the Feds' Unfulfilled Special Ed. Funding Commitment
Congress has never met a 50-year-old funding commitment it made for special education services.
Caitlynn Peetz, February 27, 2025
6 min read
Thermometer under a hot sun. Hot summer day. High Summer temperatures.
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School & District Management Opinion School Modernization Funds Are in Jeopardy. Here's What to Do
Upgrades to ground-source heat pumps keep students learning in hot weather and rack up energy savings, write two former school leaders.
Brenda Cassellius & Jonathan Klein, January 30, 2025
5 min read
President Donald Trump speaks in Emancipation Hall after the 60th Presidential Inauguration, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
President Donald Trump speaks in Emancipation Hall after the 60th Presidential Inauguration on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. His administration's order to pause potentially trillions of dollars in federal spending this week sent school districts scrambling to figure out which funds might be halted.
Al Drago/AP
Education Funding Trump Spending Freeze Hits Roadblocks: How Schools Are Coping With Chaos
The Trump administration appeared to halt the planned funding freeze, but district leaders remain cautious.
Mark Lieberman, January 29, 2025
6 min read
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, in Washington.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters at the White House, Jan. 28, 2025, in Washington. She spoke about a pause in federal funding the Trump administration ordered this week as it reviews grants and programs to determine whether they violate executive orders cracking down on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, as well as "gender ideology."
Alex Brandon/AP
Education Funding Trump’s Federal Funding Freeze Was Blocked. But Confusion Among Schools Remains
The order sent school districts and others scrambling to determine which federal funds for schools could be stopped.
Mark Lieberman, January 28, 2025
9 min read
Students wrap up their lunch break at Lowell Elementary School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Aug. 22, 2023.
Students wrap up their lunch break at Lowell Elementary School in Albuquerque, N.M., on Aug. 22, 2023. Rising costs and staff shortages are squeezing school nutrition programs.
Susan Montoya Bryan/AP
School & District Management 3 Big Challenges School Lunch Programs Face as They Feed Students
School nutrition directors report problems with costs, supply shortages, and staffing.
Evie Blad, January 14, 2025
4 min read