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This section of the ACCESS website provides:
Overview
In
all 50 states, state and local tax revenues provide
most public school funding, with the federal government
supplying only about seven percent of school funds nationwide.
Historically, the state portion of school funding has
been based on a politically determined amount of available
money - without an analysis of educational needs - and
the outcome of a political struggle over how to distribute
that money among a state's school districts. Usually,
this process has led to an "Inequitable Equilibrium,"
in which the distribution of resources represents the
balance of political power in the state.
Standards-based
Reform
Over
the past 15 years, 49 of the 50 states have adopted
statewide student learning standards in accordance with
standards-based reform. Therefore,
a new set of questions has emerged as to how states
should fund schools to align funding with the standards
that students are required or expected to meet:
 What resources and
conditions do schools need in order to enable their
students to meet the state's student learning standards?
How much funding is
required to build and maintain the necessary resources
and conditions?
What kind of state
education finance system would best deliver that funding
to all schools?
To
answer these questions, especially the first
two, states and education advocacy organizations
have increasingly turned to "costing-out studies"
to obtain rationally based, objective information
on how to fund public education so that
all students have a genuine opportunity
to meet the learning standards. Since 1991,
when a business group in Massachusetts conducted
an education cost study for that state,
over 30 studies have been undertaken in almost 30 states.
Finance Litigation
An
additional impetus for costing-out studies has come
from the courts, many of which have declared their state's
school funding system unconstitutional as the result
of education finance litigation. In five
of these states, courts have also ordered the states
to conduct costing-out studies as part of their Remedial
Orders: Arizona, Arkansas, New York, Ohio, and Wyoming. (Status of
School Funding Litigations in the 50 States)
NCLB
The 2001 reauthorization of the federal Elementary
and Secondary Education Act, known as “No
Child Left Behind” (NCLB), has added another reason
for education cost studies because its unprecedented
goals would require an unknown level of additional funding
for schools. Ohio was the first
state to conduct such a study.
Public
Engagement
To
date, most costing-out studies have not afforded the
public the opportunity to become involved, although
the Maine and Kansas studies included
some outreach. However, public engagement has played
a significant role from the outset in a New
York costing-out study that is currently in progress,
and more public engagement is planned around that study
later this year (2003).
Useful
Resources
A Costing-Out Primer explains what costing-out is,
summarizes the methodologies used, and provides additional
resources.
Background
briefing on Public Engagement: New York State Council
on Costing Out, Adequate Funding for New York's Schools:
A Community Conversation on What Our Students Really
Need to Succeed (Spring 2003)
Discussion of the
three costing-out studies in Ohio, in Molly A. Hunter,
Trying to Bridge the Gaps: Ohio's Search for an Education
Finance Remedy, 26 Journal of Education Finance 63 (Summer
2000)
Report
on Public Engagement in costing out: New York State
Council on Costing Out, Adequate Funding for New York's
Schools: Communities Speak Out on What Students Really
Need to Succeed (June 2003)
Discussion of NCLB funding needs in "Two
Very Different Questions," by William J. Mathis,
Education Week, April 21, 2004
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