Are Friends of Schools the Enemies of Equity? The Interplay of School Funding Policies and External Fundraising

Abstract

School spending matters for student outcomes, and, while public schools are primarily funded with public sources, private fundraising for individual schools has increased. In this brief, we document variation in public and private funding across Chicago’s public elementary schools by school poverty level. Federal, state, and local funding policies resulted in high-poverty schools receiving an average of $2,021 more in public per-pupil dollars compared to low-poverty schools. In contrast, while almost all schools engaged in private fundraising, the magnitude of dollars raised was $500 to $700 more per pupil at low-poverty schools compared to high-poverty schools. Private fundraising thus offset the difference in public funds by an estimated 23% to 35%.