Funding Our Schools: Reforms and Partnerships in Pursuit of a High-Quality Education

Research confirms that money spent well is a significant contributing factor in school success. Additionally, many students of color, students living in poverty, and students living in some rural and urban areas are systematically less-well funded than students in schools serving primarily White students in more affluent neighborhoods. This report is paper two in a two-part series that examines school funding and its impacts. 

Paper one asks: 

• Why does school funding matter? 
• What are the school funding opportunity gaps along lines of socioeconomic status, race, and geography that occur because of inadequate or inequitable school funding? 
• What litigation strategies have been used to attempt to address inadequate and inequitable school funding?

This paper asks:

• What are potential state and federal reforms to better promote fair school funding? 
• What federal resources exist to help districts and states address school funding opportunity gaps today? 
• What law and policy reforms would help to prevent, reduce, or close school funding opportunity gaps moving forward? 

In the first report, School Funding: Opportunity Gaps and How They Harm Our Students, we explained why funding matters in schools, current opportunity gaps that exist along lines of class, race, and geography, as well as a brief history of school funding litigation. Stories from the 2023 case William Penn School District v. Pennsylvania Department of Education are included throughout that report to illustrate the national trends at a local level. Many stakeholders in education use different terms when discussing school funding. To help clarify the terms used in this report, we supply a glossary for reference. Definitions of the words in bold can be found in the glossary at the end of the report. In order to address the gaps discussed in School Funding: Opportunity Gaps and How They Harm Our Students, state and federal law and policymakers must commit to fair funding that is consistent with research and provides schools and districts the money they need to provide a high-quality education for each and every student. Policymakers at the district level, too, must commit to a funding distribution that systematically addresses the harms the system has perpetuated through inadequate and inequitable funding throughout our nation’s history. In this report, we present promising state reforms that address funding gaps. We share federal resources that can assist schools and districts and highlight potential federal policy solutions that could further close funding gaps. Finally, we discuss changes in accountability that systems of education must embrace to equitably fund schools. These changes are essential for a high-quality education that prepares students to be college and career ready and engaged civic participants.