School Funding

Learn more about how K-12 schools and districts raise money, set budgets, and spend funds
Teacher helping adult special-needs student with computer.
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Special Education Who's Eligible for Special Education Services? Schools Struggle to Keep Up
Many states now require schools to offer special education services to students until they turn 22. Costs and logistics can be daunting.
9 min read
The direction of money, the question of money, the businessman stands at the crossroads with coins and ponders.
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Budget & Finance Districts Struggle to Find the Least Harmful Cuts as Budgets Shrink
Districts are losing one-time federal funds and laboring to figure out how to prudently cut positions or even close schools.
Mark Lieberman, June 11, 2024
9 min read
Hand putting together puzzle blocks with people icons.
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Budget & Finance 3 Ways Districts Can Prepare for Financial Woes to Come
ESSER dollars are expiring soon, leaving districts to get creative with resources in future years.
Mark Lieberman, June 4, 2024
4 min read
Budget & Finance Webinar Staffing Schools After ESSER: What School and District Leaders Need to Know
Join our newsroom for insights on investing in critical student support positions as pandemic funds expire.
May 30, 2024
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Budget & Finance Webinar
Innovative Funding Models: A Deep Dive into Public-Private Partnerships
Discover how innovative funding models drive educational projects forward. Join us for insights into effective PPP implementation.
Content provided by Follett Learning
Illustration of woman turning back hands on clock.
Education Week + iStock / Getty Images Plus Week
Budget & Finance Districts Scramble to Comply With New Overtime Rule
Organizations push to delay new rule that requires overtime pay for more school employees.
Evie Blad, May 21, 2024
2 min read
A Black woman is standing on a ladder and looking into the distance with binoculars, in the background is an ascending arrow.
iStock/Getty
School & District Management From Our Research Center Principal Salaries: The Gap Between Expectation and Reality
Exclusive survey data indicate a gap between the expectations and the realities of principal pay.
Olina Banerji, May 20, 2024
4 min read
Illustration of empty school desks with scissors cutting 100 dollar bill.
F. Sheehan for Education Week + iStock / Getty Images Plus
Budget & Finance Why Chronic Absenteeism Is a Budget Problem, Too
Chronic absenteeism has serious academic consequences. It also comes with a price tag.
Mark Lieberman, May 13, 2024
7 min read
Conceptual illustration of Newton's Cradle: 4 balls on strings and one ball is pulled back and swinging towards other three. The one pulled back represents money and has a dollar sign on it.
Wenmei Zhou/DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Budget & Finance How to Build Voter Support for School Bonds: 5 Tips
A ‘steady drumbeat of communication’ with lots of detailed information go a long way, district leaders say.
5 min read
Photo illustration of school building and piggy bank.
F. Sheehan for Education Week + iStock / Getty Images Plus
Education Funding What New School Spending Data Show About a Coming Fiscal Cliff
New data show just what COVID-relief funds did to overall school spending—and the size of the hole they might leave in school budgets.
Mark Lieberman, May 7, 2024
4 min read
Collage of a construction site and school grounds.
Collage via Canva
Budget & Finance Passing School Bonds Is Hard. Advice From 3 Superintendents Who Did It
‘Educating instead of campaigning’ in an era when district leaders are under a political microscope.
Caitlynn Peetz Stephens, April 29, 2024
8 min read
Photo illustration of school bus and people exchanging cash.
F. Sheehan for Education Week + Getty
Budget & Finance Why Some K-12 Students Have to Pay for a Bus Ride to School
Transportation costs force some districts to consider charging fees for students who live near school buildings to ride the bus.
7 min read
Parents take photos of their children during a Black History Month program at Stevenson Elementary School in Southfield, Mich., on Feb. 28, 2024.
Parents take photos of their children during a Black History Month program at Stevenson Elementary School in Southfield, Mich., on Feb. 28, 2024.
Samuel Trotter for Education Week
Families & the Community How a School Made Parents Central to Its Turnaround
A strategy to constantly bring parents into the school has been central to rising achievement at a Detroit-area elementary school.
Libby Stanford, April 25, 2024
16 min read
An empty school classroom with chairs and desks overlaid with an illustrated professional standing on a percentage mark holding an arrow above it.
iStock/Getty
Teaching Profession An Unexpected Effect of Teacher Strikes on How Much Schools Spend
Districts where strikes took place saw average per-pupil funding grow. But that wasn't the only impact of educator strikes.
Mark Lieberman, April 19, 2024
4 min read