State Budgets

Chicago charter school teacher Angela McByrd works on her laptop to teach remotely from her home in Chicago, Sept. 24, 2020.
Chicago charter school teacher Angela McByrd works on her laptop to teach remotely from her home in Chicago, Sept. 24, 2020. In Montana, a district hopes to save a virtual instruction program by converting it into a charter school.
Nam Y. Huh/AP
School Choice & Charters How a District Hopes to Save an ESSER-Funded Program
As a one-time infusion of federal funding expires, districts are searching for creative ways to keep programs they funded with it running.
Mark Lieberman, January 10, 2024
6 min read
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Education Funding Schools Lost Ground on Funding in Recent Years. The Recovery Could Be Slow
School funding took a hit a few years ago. It might be some time before it recovers.
Mark Lieberman, December 8, 2023
5 min read
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Education Funding A Judge Just Ruled That Another State's School Funding System Is Unconstitutional
New Hampshire joins Pennsylvania on the list of states whose courts have ruled that it's underfunding poor school districts.
Mark Lieberman, November 27, 2023
5 min read
Illustration of Benjamin Franklin on a one hundred dollar bill looking at a calculator that says "recalculating."
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Education Funding This State Would Be the First to Reject Federal K-12 Funds. But It's Far From a Given
Tennessee lawmakers have established a task force to review federal education funding, risking money for low-income schools and special ed.
Libby Stanford, November 13, 2023
8 min read
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School Choice & Charters Most Students Getting New School Choice Funds Aren't Ditching Public Schools
Data from several states show most voucher and education savings account recipients aren't leaving public schools for private alternatives.
Mark Lieberman, October 4, 2023
6 min read
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Privacy & Security Cybersecurity Is the Top Priority for Ed-Tech Officials. Funding Doesn’t Match the Demand
There is a growing gap between the rising threat of cyberattacks and the lack of state resources to protect schools from those attacks.
Alyson Klein, September 19, 2023
1 min read
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Education Funding Do K-12 Students Have a Right to Well-Funded School Buildings?
The answer in a recent state court case wasn't exactly a "yes." But it also wasn't a "no." Here's what could happen next.
Mark Lieberman, September 19, 2023
5 min read
Stylized illustration of a school bus arriving at a public school split in half with a darker side of the image
Traci Daberko for Education Week
Budget & Finance Reported Essay What Does It Actually Mean for Schools to Be Public?
There’s a conflict between how we fund public education and its public purpose.
Mark Lieberman, August 31, 2023
10 min read
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Budget & Finance Pa. Hasn't Fixed Its School Funding System, and Educators Are Frustrated
After Pennsylvania's school funding formula was deemed unconstitutional, state legislators failed to come up with a solution this session.
Lydia McFarlane & Mark Lieberman, August 17, 2023
9 min read
Woman clutching knees next to prescription bottle: opioid crisis.
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States As States Dole Out Billions for Opioid Relief, Educators Rarely Get a Say
Most states haven't included a district representative or state education department employee on their council for doling out opioid funds.
Mark Lieberman, August 4, 2023
4 min read
Illustration of a man holding oversized money.
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Education Funding School Funding Debates Are Raging in States, With Districts Caught in the Middle
School choice, historically inequitable funding, political partisanship, and funding predictability are among the issues at stake.
Mark Lieberman, July 14, 2023
6 min read
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Education Funding A Governor Boosted School Funding for the Next 400 Years. But the Reality Is More Complex
Wisconsin's governor enshrined mandatory K-12 funding increases in law until 2425—but the move may not be transformative for districts.
Mark Lieberman, July 12, 2023
4 min read
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Student Well-Being More States Call on Schools to Provide Period Products, But Many Don't Fund Mandates
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia require schools to stock free menstrual products for students, an analysis finds.
Evie Blad, June 26, 2023
5 min read
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Education Funding What Happens (or Doesn't) After Courts Order States to Improve School Funding
Pennsylvania is the latest state working on school funding reforms after a judge ruled its current approach unconstitutional.
Mark Lieberman, June 23, 2023
8 min read