Reduce class sizes, lengthen the school year, provide tutoring—or let principals decide?
Marguerite Roza, Chad AldemanDistrict leaders may be celebrating the $122 billion in stimulus relief Congress approved for K–12 schools last month.
Best- and worst-case scenarios for how school stimulus dollars will be spent
Chad AldemanIn the last year, Congress has now invested nearly $200 billion to support K–12 education. It’s an unprecedented federal infusion of money, but will it lead to an unprecedented recovery effort? It’s worth taking a moment to pause and consider the range of possibilities. Best case
Our full rebuttal to a flawed critique of “Robbers or Victims? Charter Schools and District Finances”
Earlier this month on her “Answer Sheet” blog in the Washington Post, Valerie Strauss ran a lengthy rebuttal written by Carol Burris about a study that we recently published. Robbers or Victims?
The stimulus package won’t fix schools’ employee-benefit problem
Brandon L. WrightEditor’s note: This is the second post in a series that puts the themes of 2020’s Getting the Most Bang for the Education Buck into today’s context, with particular attention to the effects of the pandemic and federal relief dollars.
A challenging funding future for schools—made worse by the pandemic
Brandon L. WrightEditor’s note: This is the first post in a series that puts the themes of 2020’s Getting the Most Bang for the Education Buck into today’s context, with particular attention to the effects of the pandemic and federal relief dollars.
Charter school growth increases resources in district-run schools
Patrick WolfEducation funding is sticky. Once dollars are sent to a public school or school system, they tend to stay there.
How schools should spend federal Covid-19 aid
Brandon L. WrightWith two big rounds of Covid-19 aid having been sent to schools and at least a third on the horizon, leaders must make difficult decisions, especially as more schools reopen and the pandemic rages on. How can they use this money to best mitigate risk, facilitate effective hybrid learning, and most importantly, get kids back on track after suffering substantial learning losses?
Massive student loan forgiveness would be a lost opportunity to help needy Americans
Michael J. PetrilliIt’s not surprising that most of the arguments against widespread student loan forgiveness are coming from the political right, given that the idea itself gained prominence during the 2020 presidential campaigns of Senators Bernie Sander
Are charter schools a drain on district finances?
David Griffith, Michael J. PetrilliShould President Biden follow through on his campaign promise to grant local school districts veto power over the creation of new charter schools within their borders, on the assumption that their expansion harms traditional public schools?
Mind the gap: Persistent and growing inequities in charter school funding
Victoria McDougaldLike traditional public schools, charter schools are publicly funded according to student enrollment. But compared to their district counterparts, charters have long received far less per-pupil funding.
Use caution, district leaders: Even in a pandemic, there’s no immunity from financial missteps
Marguerite RozaCharges of financial blunders have taken out district leaders before. Think the pandemic inoculates leaders from that possible fate? Think again.
Democrats’ ed designs dealt setback in statehouses
Dale ChuControl of state legislatures is particularly important in a census year, but it’s also an often-overlooked element in driving substantive education policy changes. National politics takes up all the oxygen, but it’s state legislators who make most of the big decisions about how a state’s public-education system operates, is funded, is held accountable (if at all), and much more.
Our aging population will end this golden era of school spending
Andrew J. RotherhamSpend a few minutes on education Twitter or listening to the loudest special-interest voices, and you’d think the future of public education hinges on whether Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, and the president can agree to another stimulus deal. That’s just a short-term Washington game—that will likely soon have a new roster of players.
The Education Gadfly Show: Coping with the costs of declining enrollments
On this week’s podcast, Karen Hawley Miles, CEO and president of Education Resource Strategies, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith
Strategies to help schools navigate the Covid-19 cash crunch
Frederick M. Hess, Brandon L. WrightIn education, one of the more bizarre debates of the past quarter century has been over whether more money improves students’ outcomes. It’s tough to think of anywhere else in American life where we’d even have that discussion.
Money matters, which is another reason for spending it well
Mike McShaneLast month, Teachers College Press is releasing Getting the Most Bang for the Education Buck, a new volume edited by Rick Hess and Brandon Wright.
The interconnectedness of school-finance reforms and test-based accountability
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.Proponents of test-based accountability generally believe that robust systems—those that set high bars for achieving success, generate copious and transparent data, and impose substantive awards or consequences based on progress (or lack thereof)—are enough to boost student achievement. Another school of thought posits that more funding to schools does likewise.
The Education Gadfly Show: How the pandemic could lead to smarter school spending
On this week’s podcast, Brandon Wright joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss his and Rick Hess’s new edited volume,
The Education Gadfly Show: How did those online summer camps go?
On this week’s podcast, Timothy Daly, co-founder and CEO of EdNavigator, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss
The Education Gadfly Show: The politics of school reopenings
On this week’s podcast, Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, joins Mike Petrilli to discuss why politics seems to be
The growth and diversification of charter school facilities funding
Jeff MurrayOne of the starkest differences between charter and traditional district schools is in the area of facilities funding.
With its next stimulus bill, Congress should return federal education aid to its roots
Michael J. PetrilliSenate Republicans released their relief bill this week, the HEALS act, which proposes to steer the bulk of education aid to schools that open for in-person instruction. This is triggering angry reactions from most of the education establishment. Here's a less controversial and more constructive suggestion: Return federal education policy to its roots and require schools to provide “targeted assistance” to their disadvantaged, low-achieving students.
How states have responded to school finance reforms
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.School funding mechanisms are the largest and perhaps most obvious levers for policymakers to pull when attempting to reform how education dollars are distributed. To wit, a new research report from a trio of scholars tells us that there were a whopping sixty-seven major school finance reforms (SFRs) across twenty-seven states between 1990 and 2014.
Federal relief funding should be used to help schools reopen
Aaron ChurchillWith Covid-19 cases on the rise and state budgets in crisis, federal lawmakers seem poised to pass another round of stimulus. It appears that K–12 education will receive a decent portion of the emergency aid, likely exceeding the $13.5 billion-plus provided to U.S.
The Education Gadfly Show: The crisis’s outsized impacts on Catholic schools
On this week’s podcast, Michael McShane, the director of national research at EdChoice, joins Mike Petrilli to discuss how Catholic
Four reasons Republicans should support aid for state and local governments
Michael J. Petrilli, Chad L. AldisConservatives are right to be leery of bailing out profligate state and local governments, especially for needs that bear little relationship to—and pre-date—the virus crisis and its economic consequences. A well-crafted bill would base the amount of funding for state and local governments upon an estimate of the actual costs and losses incurred as result of the pandemic. It cannot be a blank check to fund every item on a state’s wish list. But telling states to “make hard decisions” is not going to cut it.
Schools brace for belt-tightening in the wake of coronavirus
Dale ChuThe financial fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic is part of a triple threat facing schools this fall: (1) students who are far off track academically and socially; (2) a decline in state revenue that will result in severe budget cuts; and (3) rising costs in response to the pandemic. The silver lining is that the financial pressure could provide cover to enterprising leaders interested in tackling thorny issues like pension obligations that might otherwise have gone unaddressed.
The nudge: Financial incentives and educational effort
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D., Jeff MurrayThe evidence is mixed on whether we can motivate students to work harder by offering them financial incentives.