The Center for American Progress (CAP) recently released the report Unequal Education: Federal Loophole Enables Lower Spending on Students of Color.
The two primary findings of this paper are that the US is spending less on the schools that serve high concentrations of students of color, and the current discrepancies in per-pupil spending stems from both state and district spending policies.
The report data shows that schools with 90 percent or more students of color spend a full $733 less per student per year than schools with 90 percent or more white students. On average, the high-minority schools have 605 students. This average school would see an annual increase of $443,000 in state and local spending if it were brought up to the same per-pupil spending level as those schools with very few nonwhite students.
Data also shows how an increase of 10 percent in students of color is related to per-pupil spending in each state. It shows that in 24 states an increase in the concentration of students of color is associated with a decrease in dollars spent per pupil. These 24 states educate 63 percent of all students of color. In 13 states the percentage of students of color is not related to a school’s per-pupil spending. In 12 states an increase in the concentration of students of color is associated with an increase in per-pupil spending.
New data shows the percentage of variation in per-pupil spending occurring within and between districts in each state. The percentage of variation that is within districts ranges from 9 percent in Arizona to 77 percent in South Carolina. On average, 41 percent of the variation in spending between schools happens within districts; the remaining 59 percent falls between districts in a state.
Visit the CAP website to view the full report and their recommendations.
CAP Report on Strategies to Increase Teaching Effectiveness
Research Resources from the International Reading Association (IRA)