Using ESSA’s School Spending Requirement to Push for Equitable Funding
January 16, 2020
As the Education Trust reports, a new requirement in the Every Student Succeeds Act for states to report school-level spending data provides a valuable opportunity for “parents, advocates, and other community members who can use it to push for fair funding in their local schools.” According to Ed Trust, “22 states have already released at least some school-level spending data.” As more states work toward this goal, the Alliance for Resource Equity has outlined “five principles for reporting equity-oriented school spending data.” The ultimate goal, according to Ed Trust, should be for parents, advocates, and other community members to use the data reported by states in order to better understand “whether the schools in their district are receiving funds based on the needs of their students” and push for greater funding equity.