Bamboozled

[Elizabeth Pendleton]

Help Put Fairness Back in School Funding For nearly a decade, a few lines in a 1,029-page federal law have let school districts cheat our nation’s high poverty schools. Unless Congress corrects this problem when it reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, local officials will continue to short-change the schools—and students—who need the most support. Here’s what’s wrong: Currently, ESEA requires all districts receiving federal funds to provide a comparable amount of state and local resources to all of their schools. For example, each school is assigned the same number of teachers. Seems fair, right? The problem is that, by counting teachers rather than dollars, the law actually lets the district get away with spending more money on affluent schools than it does on schools serving low-income students. Think about it: Teachers assigned to low-income schools are frequently among the least experienced. And since teacher salaries—which account for the bulk of a school budget—are based on seniority, districts end up giving poor schools far less than their fair share of state and local funding. So when the federal government provides Title I money to help low-income schools buy the “extras” that poor kids need to achieve at higher levels, they’re really just backfilling a gap created by local—and often unfair—funding practices. And in some school districts, that gap is as much as $1 million each year. The good news is that fixing this problem is a no-brainer. Already, two U.S. senators—one Democrat and one Republican—have proposed legislation to do so. We just need to draw attention to their efforts and rally support in the Senate. Tell your senator to help ensure that high-poverty schools get a fair shake. Fix the comparability provisions and support fair funding for all students.