Washington, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–November 18, 2013. Too many state governments and school districts are employing outdated and ineffective forms of school funding, according to two new reports released today by the Center for American Progress. The reports detail how outdated approaches for funding and managing schools can hinder school-improvement efforts. While categorical grants—funding streams for schools with strict limits on their use—provide a stable way for districts to fund important programs and services, they do so at the expense of local flexibility. The reports argue that better approaches exist and recommend states empower local decision-making at the district and school level by moving toward weighted student-funding systems that more efficiently drive resources to schools based on the population of their students and students’ needs.
