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Trends in the News

READ AFTON'S "TRENDS IN EDUCATION FINANCE"

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Las Vegas Sun, 2/28/17

What’s next for Education Savings Accounts in Nevada?

The program, the first of its kind nationwide to be passed that doesn’t limit applicants based on income, would deposit upward of $5,100 in state education funds into a bank account to be used by approved families for private school tuition, tutoring and other expenses. The program was put on hold last year after the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that ESA funding couldn’t come from the state school budget, but supporters are hoping to resolve lingering issues and revive it.

Alternative Education Models and Funding Mechanisms
Education Week, 2/28/17

Weighing special ed. as a school choice option

Allowing federal special education money to follow students would be a radical departure from the current funding mechanism, a complex formula that is tied to a state’s overall share of students as well as its population of students in poverty. And if a voucher program were financed only with federal money, each student’s share would be small based on current funding levels: about $1,800 per student for those ages 3 to 21 with disabilities, according to U.S. Department of Education figures.

Alternative Education Models and Funding Mechanisms
M Live, 2/27/17

How Michigan public schools spent their money in 2015-16

The state’s Center for Educational Performance and Information recently posted 2015-16 financial data for Michigan’s traditional public and charter schools. Here are some of the highlights of that data, which includes charters schools unless otherwise noted: Michigan public schools’ operating budgets totaled $13.9 billion in 2015-16 about 6% less than 2007-08; traditional, charters spend their money in different ways; and schools are spending less on salaries and insurance, but more on retirement and contracted services, among other findings.

Local Education Funding State Education Funding
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2/13/17

Big state subsidy for pensions spurs concern for Georgia lawmakers

The $223 million slated for the retirement system, which ended fiscal 2016 on June 30 with fewer assets than it had two years earlier, is enough to have given all teachers 4 percent or 5 percent pay raises, rather than the 2 percent Gov. Nathan Deal and lawmakers are offering. And it’s more than enough to return the state to the education funding levels lawmakers long ago promised public schools.

Pension Costs
Crain’s Chicago Business, 2/24/17

Editorial: Stop talking and fix the school funding formula

Last updated in 1999, the current setup has been massaged and manipulated into a Frankenstein-ish mess of loopholes and special grants. Wealthy districts such as Lake Bluff can make up the difference with local tax dollars. That’s not an option for towns that have lost their industrial bases and where home values wither, whether in suburban Chicago or downstate.

State Education Funding
Indiana University Center for Evaluation & Education Policy, 2/1/17

Report: A comparison of state-funded pre-K programs, lessons for Indiana

Most of the ten states provide funding for pre-K via general revenue funds, but a few use lottery funding…By contrast, the three states with the lowest levels of total funding (Nebraska, Ohio, and South Carolina) also enrolled the fewest children. An increase in total funding and consideration of funding sources in addition to the state’s general revenue fund are recommended for expanding access to pre-K in Indiana. This may include funding options available through federal grant.

Pre-K