Episode 42: Government Funding of Schools

Are you doing these critical things to help your child succeed academically? Take the quiz now to find out the important actions you can take to enhance your child's education. Go to my website, liberationthrougheducation.com quiz and take the quiz today. Foreign welcome to another episode of K12 Education Untangled. My name is Dr. Kim Fields, former corporate manager turned educational researcher and advocate, and I'm the host of this podcast. I got into this space after dealing with some frustrating interactions with with school administrators and educators, as well as the micro discriminations that I faced as an African American mom raising my two kids who were in the public school system. I really wanted to understand how teachers were trained and what the research provided about the challenges of the public education system. If you're looking to find out more about current topics in education that could affect you or your children, then you're in the right place. On today's episode, I'll be discussing government funding of US K12 schools. National, state and local governments fund the public school system, but do we know how that money is allocated or used? Is there a way to determine this? What about state lottery money? This is an example of alternative funding, but but how much of the money actually gets directed towards schools? With all of the monies that are poured into the public school system, is academic achievement excelling and equitable? I'll explore these topics on this episode of the podcast. The American public education system, comprising primary and secondary Schools, receives over 90% of the funding from state and local governments. The formulas that states use to fund schools has recently come under fire and has been the subject of lawsuits. For example, in 2017, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the legislature's formula for financing schools was unconstitutional because it didn't adequately fund education. Of course, less funding means a smaller staff, fewer programs, and diminished resources for students, all of which are common school problems. Additionally, a 2021 report from the InfrastructureReportCard.org indicated that close to a quarter of all U.S. public schools are in fair or poor condition and that 53% of schools need serious renovations and repairs. School facilities represent the second largest sector of public infrastructure spending, after highways. Public school buildings are not only used for educating children, but are also used for community meetings, emergency centers, and shelters. Furthermore, a 2021 survey by Adopt a Classroom. Org revealed the that teachers spent an average of $750 of their own money on classroom supplies. America's public school system today costs taxpayers over two and a half times more than it did 50 years ago when federal, state, and local spending is taken into account, it stands as one of government's most expensive endeavors. Some would argue that the money that is spent supporting public schools is not being distributed in a fair or effective way. Public school spending accounts for more than $700 billion in taxpayer money each year. These monies help to support roughly 51 million public school students nationally. An Edweek Research center survey in 2019 indicated that the top five impacts on rising per pupil expenses at the school district level included special education, higher levels of students in needs, salaries, health care, and enrollment. The top five areas that were in need of the most funding at the school district level included teacher salaries, building and facilities maintenance, counseling and social work, social emotional learning, and special education. Additionally, the survey results revealed that the major funding challenges at the district level included persuading the public and elected officials to sufficiently fund schools, the timing and predictability of funding, understanding how the state's funding formula works, and the training, expertise, and technical support for district and school staff. Not surprisingly, the survey respondents indicated that the biggest obstacle to making spending decisions that addressed students needs are state legislators, followed closely by local superintendent of schools and federal legislators, as well as local school board members. 66% of survey respondents indicated that they knew how much money was spent annually in their school districts. As represented by the respondents who took the survey, what seems to be driving these costs are increased enrollment demographics, which includes the need for special services operational costs, which include higher demand for facilities and transportation costs, staffing with roughly 7 million full time school employees and health care and retirement benefits. Who pays for these costs? The federal share of school spending remains the smallest piece, which leaves it up to the states and local governments to carry the load, mainly through income taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes. The states fund pre K programs in order to ensure that all children can be successful in school and beyond, the goal of which is to improve student outcomes and reduce disparities. State funding is generally associated with both increases in student achievement and reduced achievement gaps. The effect of the funding tends to be stronger in states that provide targeted pre K access to low income or at risk students, and mandated quality standards seem to only improve overall achievement in states that provide universal access to pre K. Research shows that children attending pre K programs are more prepared for school and tend to have higher achievement early on. However, there's a fair amount of difficulty in identifying an association between pre K programs and student achievement because of the wide disparities between pre K programs and policies. State policies vary considerably across the US in terms of program spending, standards of structural quality and scope of eligibility and access. The return on investment for high quality programs targeted at children ages 0 to 5 is generally high. Pre K is typically funded through a combination of federal, state, and local governments, including federal funding from the Head Start program and state funding through block grants, general appropriations, and state funding formulas. The amount of funding allocated to Pre K programs varies widely between states. Not surprisingly, disparities in school funding exist along the lines of race and ethnicity. This profoundly affects Black and Latinx students. As the number of Latinx students increases, per pupil spending and revenue decrease, respectively by about 4% to 7% for districts that are 100% Latinx compared to those that have few or no Latinx students. After controlling for poverty. As Black student numbers increase, revenue and spending increased as well when controlling for poverty, as reported in the findings by by researchers Baker and others, in 2020, Latinx students make up over 25% of public school enrollments in the United States compared to less than 15% for black student enrollments. There's a strong correlation between wealth, income, and race, which has a lot to do with the function of policy creators over time establishing and reinforcing racially and economically segregated housing, which is strongly linked to local school district boundaries and attendance areas. Black and Latinx families are disadvantaged by state school finance systems. A district that is 100% Latinx is nearly two and a half times as likely as a district that is 0% Latinx to be financially disadvantaged. When not controlling for poverty. A 100% Latinx district is nearly 30 times more likely to be financially disadvantaged. When taking poverty into consideration. A district that is 100% black is only about 25% as likely as a district that is 0% black to be financially disadvantaged. The fact of the matter is that most, if not all, predominantly Black districts are also high in poverty. When not accounting for poverty, districts that are predominantly black are nearly 20 times as likely as districts with no Black children to be financially disadvantaged. Money matters as far as the improvement of school quality and disparities in school funding, and this has definite consequences for children of color. When school funding has been increased, students have benefited from those increases. Substantive and sustained school finance reform positively affects intermediate outcomes like test scores and graduation rates, as well as longer term outcomes when school resources are increased for sufficient durations. When school funding has been cut, it's the students who suffered the consequences, and when these cuts have been made, they impact districts serving larger shares of children from families in poverty. More significantly, it would seem prudent that federal policy regarding funding of public schools should consider measuring racial disparities as a condition for participating in a new expanded federal aid program, the federal government can pressure the states to mitigate racial disparities in funding. Evidence support the fact that a significant portion of the interstate disparities identified in the study by Baker and others in 2020 resulted from a lack of state effort, not a lack of state capacity. School district procurement is another important consideration when discussing public school spending. In the scheme of school spending, purchases make up about 20% of the district district's K12 expenditures. According to federal data, procurement offices oversee everything from curriculum materials, digital devices, wireless access, transportation services contracts, and professional development and training contracts for teachers. Currently, the cost per pupil that American schools spend on things like services, textbooks, and Debt is roughly $14,000 per student. Earlier in the podcast, I asked a question about where the lottery monies are used and how they support schools. State sponsored lotteries have become increasingly popular as an alternative funding source for K12 education. However, there seems to be a gap between the lotteries promoted benefit to public K12 schools and the actual fiscal support that they are supposed to provide. Lotteries generate on average, less than 3% of total state revenues, yet they are the most visible and most controversial revenue generating activity the state governments participate in. Twenty years ago, the average American spent more money on lottery tickets than reading materials or movie tickets. State lotteries have been marketed to the public as a mechanism to offset the rising costs of public education. Although revenue generated from lotteries in the US has grown rapidly, the actual percentage of lottery contributions that go directly to state budgets is quite minimal. State lottery revenue is typically allocated into three 1 lotteries for non education programs, 2 general fund lotteries, and 3 public education lotteries. The monies for programs other than K12 public education include funding local transportation, economic development, juvenile detention facilities, and prison construction. Some states, like New Hampshire and New York, earmark over 30% of the lottery's total revenues to K12 public education program programs. Interestingly, an allocation pattern for using lottery revenues that has had the greatest negative impact on public K12 education revenues has been the trend to direct lottery dollars to public higher education and scholarship programs. Some of the states that have the highest percentage of lottery funds earmarked specifically for K12 public education include Illinois with 33% of lottery revenue, Louisiana with 35%, Michigan, 32%, New York, 33%, Virginia, 32%, Ohio, 30%, and New Hampshire at 30%. Collectively, state lotteries generate only a small percentage of total state revenues allocated to K12 public education. The issue with most of these state lottery revenue tracking to K12 public education is that it's difficult to track those dollars to specific school programs. States that have lottery proceeds earmarked specifically for K12 public education tends to be more economically efficient at generating revenue for these public schools as compared to states where the lottery profits are placed into a general fund. Fund lotteries account for less than 1% to 5% of total revenue for K12 education in states that use these monies for schools. The fact is that most of the money raised by lotteries is used primarily to sustain the games themselves, including marketing, prize money and vendor commissions. A surprising finders by the authors Stachiel and Nick Nixon in the New York Times in 2007 was that many Americans in states with lotteries linked to education think that their schools are largely supported by lottery funds. And many Americans question the need to vote for tax increases or bond authorizations to finance schools when in their minds, schools are supported by lottery funds. The fact is that the percentages allocated to K12 public education have been dropping in many states. It turns out that the states have increased payouts and lowered the percentages going to educational programs. Some of the directors of state lotteries indicate that it's not about the percentages, but about the dollars that are being allocated. For example, New York State has 38% of its lottery revenue for education 20 years ago, and although that share dropped to 32%, the dollar amount rose from $1.3 billion to $2.2 billion. The problem is that certain percentages of lottery revenues are sold to the public, and the public expects those exact percentages to be allocated to K12 public education. As indicated, since funding public education is typically done at the federal, state, and local levels, there may be little actionable steps that you can take as parents of children in the K 12 public school system other than just being aware about the policies and budget wrangling that goes on in order to fund the schools. There just seems to be a struggle to fund public schools in support of academic achievement for all students. Here are this episode's takeaways. Although the federal government provides a fair share of funding for American K12 public schools, a lot of the money that is directly impacting schools is paid out at the state or local government level. The disparities in the allocation of funds for schools where children of color attend is real. Unfortunately, it's the students who suffered from consequences of underfunding for their schools. You might think that state lottery revenues are being allocated to support K12 public schools, but the reality is that only a small amount of lottery revenues are paid to public education programs. America's public school system today cost taxpayers over two and a half times more than it did 50 years ago. When federal, state, and local spending is taken into account, it stands as one of the government's most expensive endeavors. Money matters as far as the improvement of school quality and disparities in school funding, and this has definite consequences for children of color. When school funding has been increased, students have benefited from those increases. If this is the type of subject matter and discussion around resonates with you, please follow my podcast on whatever service you're listening to this also, I'd love to hear from you, so please leave me a rating, a review, or a comment on Apple, Spotify or Podchaser. You can also rate my podcast@ratethispodcast.com if you like this podcast. The best way to support me and help me grow it is by leaving a review. This helps my range rankings and entices other people to listen to the show and share this episode with anyone you think would find it valuable. Be sure to tell your friends, family and community about my podcast. I'd really appreciate it if you would recommend my podcast to a friend directly on Twitter and to mention my show in your tweet. Additionally, connect with me on Instagram and Facebook with the handle Kim J. Fields. Thanks for listening today. I hope you'll come back for more K12 educational discussions with even more exciting topics to untangle. And be sure to stay tuned on the next episode of my podcast. I'll be discussing learning loss and absent students. Until next time, aim to learn something new every day. Foreign Consider being a regular subscriber. You can subscribe for as little as $3 per month. 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