Dive Brief:
- Iowa is trying to even out district funding by convening a new panel dedicated to exploring “perceived inequities,” the Gazette reports, including proportionally vast transportation spending for large districts, per-pupil cost discrepancies, and unequal property tax bases.
- The panel will come up with a variety of recommendations regarding possible solutions, though preliminary proposals have already been shot down due to price estimates that are in the tens of millions of dollars.
- One reason transportation costs have hampered rural districts is because some have joined together to pool resources, meaning their geographic area has expanded.
Dive Insight:
Around the country, funding inequities are being looked at in a variety of ways, and for various reasons. In Kansas, lawsuits over funding have been filed by parent groups, who challenge the state's cap using local property taxes for education. In Pennsylvania, lawsuits focus on alleged violations of the state constitution in “failing to provide adequate education” for students, whose per-head spending gap is reportedly between $9,800 to $28,400, based on location.
But it’s also important to note that addressing education inequality requires more than funding alone. Recently, the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education noted a 20-point gap in graduation rates between black students and their white peers 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education. A "discipline gap" also impacts minority students, who are suspended at a rate higher than their white peers.