I linked to the Education Law Center's state-by-state analysis of school funding in my earlier post about college admissions test prep and test scores that reflect inequities in school resources.
It's worth taking a closer look at all the information that we can explore at this site.
State comparisons in this interactive tool consider three funding factors:
- The state and local revenue available per student, relative to national averages. States that spend less than national averages are graded lower; states that spend more get higher grades.
- How funds are allocated within states. Do districts with higher concentrations of childhood poverty get more or less money than districts with fewer poor children?
- Spending on education in the state relative to the overall economic activity of the state. If a state is relatively wealthy, do they invest more in education? Is the lower rate of education funding in some states because of their overall economy is struggling or are they being extra stingy (or possibly investing more in education as an investment in a struggling state economy)?
The childhood poverty rate and racial/ethnic demographics of students are also on each state's page.
It's very easy to toggle between states and to quickly see how states invest very differently in education. Alabama draws attention by virtue of being first in the alphabet and also by virtue of its dismal school funding. Illinois raises healthy amounts of money for schools but does not ensure that high poverty schools get more resources. New York is quite diverse, has relatively high childhood poverty rates and relatively healthy and equitable school funding.
I'm thinking of the questions that I could pose to students about the patterns they might find across the states in funding and demographics. I might challenge students to find recent legislation around school funding in given states and the arguments made for and against funding. I'd ask them to notice who was taking each position. I'd ask them what data might be missing here.
What else could we ask students to see and to think about with tools like this?
