Fiscal Federalism and K–12 Education Funding: Policy Lessons from Two Educational Crises

Abstract

We synthesize and critique federal fiscal policy during the Great Recession and COVID-19 pandemic. First, the amount of aid during both crises was inadequate to meet policy goals. Second, the mechanisms used to distribute funds were disconnected from policy goals and provided different levels of aid to districts with equivalent levels of economic disadvantage. Third, data tools are missing, making it difficult to understand whether funds were used to meet policy goals. Details for these results are provided along with policy recommendations.

Keywords

achievement finance politics educational policy case studies correlational analysis policy analysis regression analyses federal fiscal stimulus inequality Great Recession COVID-19 pandemic

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Agostinelli

Doepkeb

Sorrentic

Zilibottid

(2022). When the great equalizer shuts down: Schools, peers, and parents in pandemic times. Journal of Public Economics, 206, 104574.

Anglum

J. C.

Shores

K. A.

Steinberg

M. P.

(2021). Federal stimulus aid and school finance: Lessons from the Great Recession. Annenberg Institute at Brown University EdWorkingPaper 21-497. https://doi.org/10.26300/v68m-1s83.

Bloom

H. S.

Hill

C. J.

Black

A. R.

Lipsey

M. W.

(2008). Performance trajectories and performance gaps as achievement effect-size benchmarks for educational interventions. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 1(4), 289–328.

Chakrabarti

Livingston

Roy

(2014). Did cuts in state aid during the Great Recession lead to changes in local property taxes? Education Finance and Policy, 9(4), 383–416.

Coleman

J. S.

(1966). Equality of educational opportunity. National Center for Educational Statistics.

Dye

R. F.

Reschovsky

(2008). Property tax responses to state aid cuts in the recent fiscal crisis. Public Budgeting & Finance, 28(2), 87–111.

Engzell

Frey

Verhagen

M. D.

(2021). Learning loss due to school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118, 17.

Evans

W. N.

Schwab

R. M.

Wagner

K. L.

(2019). The Great Recession and public education. Education Finance and Policy, 14(2), 298–326.

Fahle

E. M.

Shear

B. R.

Shores

K. A.

(2019). Assessment for monitoring of education systems: The US example. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 683(1): 58–74.

10.

Goldhaber

Kane

T. J.

McEachin

Morton

Patterson

Staiger

D. O.

(2022). The consequences of remote and hybrid instruction during the pandemic (No. w30010). National Bureau of Economic Research.

11.

Gordon

Reber

(2020). Federal aid to school districts during the COVID-19 recession. National Tax Journal, 73(3), 781–804.

12.

Gordon

Reber

(2022). Were federal COVID relief funds for schools enough? Tax Policy and the Economy, 36(1), 123–157.

13.

Jackson

C. K.

Mackevicius

(2021). The distribution of school spending impacts. Annenberg Institute at Brown University Ed-WorkingPaper 21-357. https://doi.org/10.26300/e2z3-yc67.

14.

Jackson

C. K.

Wigger

Xiong

(2021) Do school spending cuts matter? Evidence from the Great Recession. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 13(2), 304–335.

15.

Kraft

M. A.

Bleiberg

J. F.

(2021). The inequitable effects of teacher layoffs: What we know and can do. Education Finance and Policy, 17(2), 367–377.

16.

Kuhfeld

Soland

Lewis

(2022). Test score patterns across three COVID-19-impacted school years. Annenberg Institute at Brown University EdWorkingPaper 22-521. https://doi.org/10.26300/ga82–6v47.

17.

Leachman

(2020). New CBO projections suggest even bigger state shortfalls. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

18.

Leachman

Masterson

Figueroa

(2017). A punishing decade for school funding. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

19.

Leachman

McNichol

(2020). Pandemic’s impact on state revenues less than earlier expected but still severe. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

20.

Lee

Shores

Williams

(2022). The distribution of school resources in the United States: A comparative analysis across levels of governance, student subgroups, and educational resources. Peabody Journal of Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2022.2107369

21.

Oster

Jack

Halloran

Schoof

McLeod

Yang

. . . Roche

(2021). Disparities in learning mode access among K–12 students during the COVID-19 pandemic, by race/ethnicity, geography, and grade level—United States, September 2020– April 2021. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 70(26), 953.

22.

Parolin

Lee

E. K.

(2021). Large socio-economic, geographic and demographic disparities exist in exposure to school closures. Nature human behaviour, 5(4), 522–528.

23.

Reardon

S. F.

Kalogrides

Shores

(2019). The geography of racial/ethnic test score gaps. American Journal of Sociology, 124(4), 1164–1221.

24.

Shores

Lee

Williams

(2022) The distribution of school resources in the United States: A comparative analysis across levels of governance, student sub-groups, and educational resources.

25.

Shores

Steinberg

M. P.

(2019a). The great recession, fiscal federalism and the consequences for cross-district spending inequality. Journal of Education Finance, 45(2), 123–148.

26.

Shores

Steinberg

M. P.

(2019b). Schooling during the Great Recession: Patterns of school spending and student achievement using population data. AERA Open, 5(3), 2332858419877431.

27.

Snyder

T. D.

Dinkes

Sonnenberg

Cornman

(2019). Study of the Title I, Part A Grant Program mathematical formulas. Statistical analysis report. NCES 2019-016. National Center for Education Statistics.