Trends in the News
Every year, the state of Texas and local school districts pay more and more for public education. Together, they’ll spend a projected $46 billion on Texas schools in 2017. That money comes from two main places: the state government and local property taxes. But that burden isn’t shared equally.
Olentangy is supposed to get more. A lot more — about $80 million over the next two years, based on the state funding formula. But the district, like 133 others around the state, is subjected to an arbitrary funding cap that restricts its increase, regardless of enrollment growth.
The awards are the first since the Legislature agreed last year to set aside $100 million to help privately run charter schools borrow money at lower interest rates. The state is effectively guaranteeing that lenders will not miss payments.
Senate Bill 1480, which would allocate an additional $3 billion of the Permanent School Fund to back charter school bonds, passed the Senate Monday, with four Republicans voting against the measure. The $30 billion Permanent School Fund, the largest education endowment in the country, guarantees bonds from traditional school districts and charter schools, allowing them to borrow money for construction at lower interest rates.
The Arizona Legislature has passed one of the most expansive school-voucher programs in the nation. The program gives public funds to students to use on private-school tuition, therapies and other educational services. Republican lawmakers narrowly approved the plan, which allows an estimated 30,000 students to take part in the program by 2022.
The Taxpayers Guide to Education Spending 2017 shows the myriad ways which school district numbers can be divided, with several categories of per pupil costs, including one labeled “actual per pupil costs.” But trying to compare district to district can be a daunting affair, even if the state does try to eliminate some variables, such as transportation costs, the amount of pension costs for local teachers paid by the district or even judgments against the school district. Click here for an interactive map of district per-pupil spending from NJ Spotlight.
At the beginning of this school year, the state put $4,125 in an online account for her and every other Idaho seventh- through 12th-grader to spend on any academic boost they think they need to be better prepared for college.
Verdery now favors a new funding formula, spearheaded by the Kirwan Commission, which is tasked to recommend changes in how Maryland funds public schools. The idea is to inject more tax dollars into poorer districts like Baltimore City, in part, by adjusting for those developer tax breaks. But some say, more money won’t matter.
Over the next few years, they must absorb much higher pension payments and likely cuts in the federal budget, while relying on state funding that, though still rising, isn’t keeping pace with increasing costs.
Oklahoma: A revenue failure was declared for the current fiscal year, requiring cuts to state-appropriated agencies, including the Oklahoma State Department of Education. The school board and administrators associations estimate that because of student enrollment increases amid all reductions for the current year, schools have about $160 less to spend per student than they did in 2015-16.