Dive Brief:
- Inequalities in school district funding throughout the state of New Hampshire have remained essentially unchanged, twenty years after a State Supreme Court case mandated that the state attempt to rectify inequities in funding gaps, according to the Concord Monitor.
- A new report shined light on the issue, with analysts finding a two-fold variation between the towns which spent the most on education and those which spent the least, both 20 years ago and today. Declining enrollment and projected cuts in aid in the state budget to low-income, rural districts look likely to exacerbate the issue further.
- Schools are primarily funded through local property taxes; previously, the state had "adequacy" payment per-student, which did take into account the property values of areas, offering more if less property tax revenue was coming in, but the state Legislature discontinued this action. Now, the state is set to spend $16 million less on education over the next five years.
Dive Insight:
If the majority of a district’s funding comes from property tax revenue, you will always have gaps between the haves and have nots, in terms of school quality. This is one such disparity which states like Maryland, which seeks to compensate for low local funding by increasing state funding to those districts, has sought to address. However, as Marguerite Roza of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University notes, funding can still be inequitable, even within districts. Beyond the actual appropriations, individual schools may see disparities because of the efforts of parent organizations which may solicit more grants and private donations. Higher-income parents have the time and ability to fundraise additional revenue for their individual schools, an opportunity low-income parents may not enjoy.
Roza expressed hope that the Every School Students Act, which requires that districts report funding for each school, will expose a lack of transparency in how individual schools are funded. However, New Hampshire schools in the rural areas described in the report, and other schools in similar circumstances, can look to schools and districts throughout the country facing similar challenges of funding paucity for inspiration to move forward. Some schools are investing in blended learning technology as a method to help battle the strain put on districts by teacher shortages, while other districts may be sharing teachers or counselors to ensure some semblance of services are still available. Many possibilities will be a band-aid when substantive healing is necessary, but there are approaches school and district leaders can consider in the short-term to help close the gaps.