High Poverty Schools Do Not Get Fair Share of Funding

A new study from the Department of Education has confirmed that schools and districts are failing to fund high poverty schools--at least 10% less funding than the average amount of funding for other schools in their districts. The main cause of this funding disparity is the differing levels that teachers are paid in different schools. High poverty schools generally have teachers with less credentials and experience and are therefore paid less than those at more affluent schools. Thus, high poverty schools receive less money than their counterparts. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan believes one way to address this problem is to close the “comparability loophole” in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) which requires that districts give high-poverty schools the same share of state and local dollars as other schools.

Article: http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2011/12/01/department-of-education-high-poverty-schools-do-not-get-fair-share-of-funding/