Educational inequality and school finance : why money matters for America's students / Bruce D. Baker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baker, Bruce D., author.

Contributor:

Brigode Family Endowment.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Education and state.

Finance.

United States.

Education--United States--Finance.

Education.

Education--United States--States--Finance.

Public schools--United States--Finance.

Public schools.

Public schools--Finance.

Education--Economic aspects--United States.

Education--Economic aspects.

Education and state--United States--Finance.

Education and state--Finance.

Education--Finance.

Education--U.S. states--Finance.

Physical Description:

280 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard Education Press, [2018]

Summary:

"In Educational Inequality and School Finance, Bruce D. Baker offers a comprehensive examination of how US public schools receive and spend money. Drawing on extensive longitudinal data and numerous studies of states and districts, he provides a vivid and dismaying portrait of the stagnation of state investment in public education and the continuing challenges of achieving equity and adequacy in school funding. Baker explores school finance, the school and classroom resources derived from school funding, and how and why those resources matter. He provides a critical examination of popular assumptions that undergird the policy discourse around school funding—notably, that money doesn’t matter and that we are spending more and getting less—and shows how these misunderstandings contribute to our reluctance to increase investment in education at a time when the demands on our educational system are rising. Through an introduction to the concepts of adequacy, equity, productivity, and efficiency, Baker shows how these can be used to evaluate policy reforms. He argues that we know a great deal about the role and importance of money in schools, the mechanisms through which money matters for student outcomes, and the trade-offs involved, and he presents a framework for designing and financing an equitable and adequate public education system, with balanced and stable sources of revenue. Educational Inequality and School Finance takes an issue all too often relegated to technical experts and makes it accessible for broader public empowerment and engagement." -- Publisher's description

"In Educational Inequality and School Finance, Bruce D. Baker offers a comprehensive examination of how US public schools receive and spend money. Drawing on extensive longitudinal data and numerous studies of states and districts, he provides a vivid and dismaying portrait of the stagnation of state investment in public education and the continuing challenges of achieving equity and adequacy in school funding. Baker explores school finance, the school and classroom resources derived from school funding, and how and why those resources matter. He provides a critical examination of popular assumptions that undergird the policy discourse around school funding-notably, that money doesn't matter and that we are spending more and getting less-and shows how these misunderstandings contribute to our reluctance to increase investment in education at a time when the demands on our educational system are rising. Through an introduction to the concepts of adequacy, equity, productivity, and efficiency, Baker shows how these can be used to evaluate policy reforms. He argues that we know a great deal about the role and importance of money in schools, the mechanisms through which money matters for student outcomes, and the trade-offs involved, and he presents a framework for designing and financing an equitable and adequate public education system, with balanced and stable sources of revenue. Educational Inequality and School Finance takes an issue all too often relegated to technical experts and makes it accessible for broader public empowerment and engagement." -- Publisher's description

Contents:

Why money matters

School finance 101

Money myths and misdirections

How schools use money

School finance reforms and results

State funding formulas and district disparities

The erosion of equity and adequacy

Evaluating education innovations

Applying high-quality cost analysis to school finance policy

Equitable, adequate, and sustainable school funding.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Brigode Family Endowment.

ISBN:

9781682532423

1682532429

9781682532430

1682532437

OCLC:

1042099831

Publisher Number:

99983651011