A report on school funding will be sent to the state in the fall.

State to get advice on improving school funding in fall

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

A report on school funding will be sent to the state in the fall.

A report on school funding will be sent to the state in the fall.

Delaware will have recommendations on how to improve their public school funding formula sometime this fall.

Drew Atchison, senior researcher at the American Institutes for Research, shared the project timeline during an equity in education seminar Friday hosted by the Vision Coalition of Delaware, a public-private partnership composed of a broad range of Delawareans who work together to improve the state’s public education.

“In the report, you’ll be able to see comparisons of Delaware’s current system to what other states do,” Atchison said. “We’ll be examining the strengths and weaknesses of Delaware’s funding system according to those big questions of adequacy and equity.”

The state announced in August that it paid American Institutes for Research $698,438 to analyze current policy and make recommendations for improvements, with a focus on equity for all students.

MORE ON FUNDING: Here’s why state wants advice on school funding

The report will also include if there’s substantive evidence of unequal opportunity in schools and if the current funding system is equitable for not only students, but the taxpayers that pay for public schools to operate.

“We’ll also be looking at issues of transparency and flexibility,” he said, “We’ll be developing some alternative approaches to funding that we think would result in an equitable and adequate education.”

The institute recently finished a study on New Hampshire and Vermont’s funding system for similar reasons. 

Concerns around school funding came to a height after a far-reaching lawsuit resulted in more state funding for poor and special needs children and also triggered a statewide property reassessment.

To learn more about how Delaware funds its schools, click here.

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