Too Many States Consistently Spend Less Money in School Districts Educating English Language Learners, Low-Income Students and Students of Color
The seventh funding gap report from The Education Trust documents continued injustice in state education funding patterns and for the first time shows how school districts serving high percentages of English Language Learners are shortchanged
WASHINGTON (January 17, 2008) – When it comes to school funding, too many states still provide the least to school districts serving students with the greatest needs, according to a report released today by The Education Trust.
The seventh in a series of annual reports, The Funding Gap includes state-by-state analyses of funding trends from 1999 to 2005, comparing the resources available to school districts serving the highest percentages of low-income students and students of color to the resources available to districts serving the lowest percentages of such students. For the first time, the report also compares funding available to school districts serving the high percentages of English language learners (ELL) to that available to districts serving the lowest percentages of ELL. Using data for the eight states with the highest percentages of English learners, the report finds that high-ELL districts generally receive less financial support than do districts with few or no ELL students.
“This report delivers both bad news and good news,” said Kati Haycock, President of The Education Trust. “We hope that the bad news will shine a light on the work that must be done to make the promise of equal educational opportunity real. The good news will remind citizens and policymakers that unjust funding patterns are not carved in stone – they can change, and they have changed in states that are committed to greater equity.”
The Bad News
In 1999, Illinois’ funding gap was the second-largest in the nation. By 2005, the Illinois gap was still the second-largest, and had actually gotten worse. Illinois is joined by Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin at the top of the list of states in which the funding gap between high- and low-poverty districts grew between 1999 and 2005.
In Vermont, the funding gap grew by more than $2,000 per student, even as the state was under court order to provide equitable funding to poor districts. In 1999, Vermont ensured that high-poverty districts had more than $2,000 more per student. By 2005, that funding pattern had reversed – high-poverty districts were now receiving about $264 less per student than in more affluent districts.
In eight states – Illinois, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York and Wyoming – high-minority districts received at least $1,000 less per student than districts with lower percentages of minority students.
The Good News
“Many states still fail to give equal funding to the school districts serving the students who face the greatest challenges. It doesn’t make sense and it doesn’t have to be this way,” said Carmen Arroyo, Director of Research for The Education Trust, and the report’s author. “However, there is good news: an increasing number of states recognize that their future prosperity requires them to address longstanding education funding inequities.”
Arroyo pointed to dramatic changes in New York’s funding patterns as an example. The gaps in New York, she said, have consistently been among the widest in the nation. But, the state has dramatically adjusted those patterns to achieve greater equity. “Though there are still problems in New York, and although their positive actions came too late to be reflected in the data used to create this report, the state deserves credit for moving in the right direction.”
Geri D. Palast, Executive Director of The Campaign for Fiscal Equity confirmed Arroyo’s assessment of the situation in New York. “After 14 years of gridlock, New York has taken its first steps toward correcting decades of inequitable school funding, which denied students of their constitutional right to a sound basic education.”
In 2007, the state made its first payment on the four-year, multi-billion dollar plan. However, New York now faces the challenge of securing full-funding for the entire four-year commitment. “Any less funding than required by law, or softening of the newly created accountability measures, would be detrimental to closing the teaching and learning gaps that affected primarily the highest-need students in the lowest-performing schools by denying them the quality education they deserve,” said Palast.
The good news is not limited to New York. From 1999 to 2005, 10 states increased funding equity by decreasing the gaps between their high- and low-poverty school districts. Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Wyoming each took important steps toward greater funding equity. Maryland, Ohio and Wyoming not only closed their low-income funding gaps, they reversed them and began providing more funding to their highest-poverty districts.
And in five states – Alaska, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey and Ohio – high-minority districts received at least $1,000 more per student than districts with the lowest percentages of minority students.
English Language Learners
Among the biggest changes in school demographics over the last decade is the increase in the number of English language learners. In 2004, the ELL student population had grown to approximately 11 percent of all public school students nationwide. In most states with large percentages of ELL students, the districts with the highest concentration of ELL students received less money than districts with lower percentages of such students. In Nevada and Texas, those funding gaps exceeded $1,000 per student, per year.
“Parents, teachers, policymakers and the students themselves know that strong English language reading and math skills are critical to success in school and beyond,” said Janet Murguía, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Council of La Raza. “The educators who are working hard to help English language learner students excel academically need their fair share of resources if they and their students are to be successful.”