Project Context
In 2022, 878 Billion Dollars were allocated to school districts in the US.
Some of the states with the biggest school districts had the most revenue, like the east-coast states
The states with the lowest revnue were in the Midwest, although, they tend to have lower enrollments too.
The per-pupil revenue was $18,910
Again, there are two regions with higher revenue per-pupil. Northeast
And, West coast
States in the center tend to have lower per-pupil revenue.
States contributed to 43% of total revenue.
High-state contributors are mostly on the West.
Though there are notable exceptions like, NM, KS, AR
And, VT
Spending has the same geographic trends as revenue generation.
The same is true for spending per-pupil.
There was 21 Billion excess in revenue which was no spent.
So, why study School Finance?
Because, school finance is an Intervention for creating better schools.
And, a lot of money goes into US Education systems.
State policy purposefully divides money among districts serving diverse student needs.
Existing research has described the variation in all aspects of school funding.
However, it hasn’t documents the variation in revenue allocation and spending for Special Population, such as students in special education or English language programs
So, why study Oregon?
Between 50-60% Oregon’s funding comes from state revenues.
Oregon allocates revenue based on student subgroups
In programs, like Special education and English-language programs
With certain characteristics, like student in poverty, students in foster care/neglected or delinquent, students in parenting programs.
And, Oregon tracks school-level spending based on student subgroups - After the 2017 state legislation.
