A new article from scholars at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and Rice University in Houston, Texas, has found state finance reforms aimed at closing funding gaps between high and low-income school districts increased inequities for school districts with higher shares of Black and Hispanic students.
The study authors examined three decades of federal data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics regarding school finance reforms that occurred between 1990 and 2022. According to their analysis, these reforms reduced school spending gaps between the highest and lowest income school districts by an average of $1,300 per student. However, these same reforms increased the spending advantage of districts with low percentages of Black and Hispanic students by $900 and $1,000 per student, respectively. Furthermore, the funding reforms were most effective in states where the disparities were already relatively modest, while less effective in states with high levels of racial and economic segregation between school districts.
“School resources shape student opportunities: If resources are not distributed equitably by student race and ethnicity, then we’re creating unequal opportunities that will shape lives in unfair ways,” said study co-author Emil Rauscher, professor of sociology at Brown University. “I hope this research will be a reminder of one of the many crucial roles of the federal Department of Education; keeping an eye on equality of school resources and educational opportunity across states.”
