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Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Neglecting teaching of the poor

In more than half of the states in the U.S., the poorest school districts do not receive funding to address their students' increased needs.

School districts with the highest rates of poverty receive about $1,000 or 7 percent less per student in state and local funding than those with the lowest rates of poverty.  The gap widens when comparing districts serving high populations of students of color and those serving fewer students of color — the former receive about $1,800, or 13 percent, less per student than the latter. These disparities add up. A district with 5,000 students, for instance, loses almost $5 million in funding that could be used to hire more teachers, reduce class size, and implement professional development programs for educators.

In Illinois, for example, the poorest districts received 22 percent less in state and local funding than the lowest-poverty districts.

Schools and school districts that serve large proportions of poor students have historically been shortchanged when it comes to things like access to high-quality teachers, advanced course offerings, early education programs and school counselors – resources that are directly linked to the amount of funding available.

“The funding gaps between high and low poverty districts look even worse when we consider that students in poverty are likely to need additional supports in order to succeed academically,” the report reads. “In other words, simply offering equal funding isn’t enough. Moreover, some states that fund their highest poverty districts equally, or even progressively … are still providing substantially fewer dollars to districts that serve the most students of color than to those that serve the fewest.”

https://thinkprogress.org/poorer-diverse-schools-less-funding-eb99fa6bc484/

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