School Funding: From Equity to Adequacy

As states move toward higher expectations for student learning and stringent consequences for results, many school districts are demanding reciprocity — the resources and support they say are needed to do the job. These demands are forcing policymakers to struggle with a difficult question — What kind and amount of resources does it take to enable all students to reach desired achievement levels? This policy brief examines the shift in school funding from equity to adequacy, with special attention to some of the challenges it raises, including: adequacy-based legal issues and litigation; current models for calculating an adequacy-based funding formula; practical implications of shifting to an adequacy-based finance structure; and, special challenges faced by western states.