Dive Brief:
- In Kansas, the state Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether or not the state's funding formula is constitutional next week, and if the justices don't approve a fix, schools might be shut down as of June 30, 2016.
- The plaintiffs in the case are high poverty school districts, whose superintendents say funding is not currently fair and equitable.
- Kansas is one of 13 states in which school funding lawsuits have been filed, with the Sunflower State's legislation dragging on for the last five years, the local public radio station reports.
Dive Insight:
A lack of funding can not only affect classroom learning, but actual classroom conditions as well. A number of American schools are in a state of disarray, and their condition can lead to physical consequences for students as well as teachers. Decaying buildings can also fray concentration for learners and dampen teacher morale.
Many say money alone isn't the answer. Education experts, teachers and leaders still debate whether inequity in school performance stems from unequal funding or unequal usage of funding. And a recent six-month investigation published by 20 NPR member stations found glaring discrepancies in school spending between individual districts, state-by-state.
A recent Education Law Center report entitled "Is School Funding Fair? A National Report Card" found the majority of current school funding formulas across the U.S. are "unfair and inequitable," with "little improvement over the past five years in those states that consistently fail to direct additional funding to districts with high levels of need, as measured by student poverty."