Increased K-12 Funding Crucial for Students, Report Challenges Cuts

Impact of School Funding: A Review of Key Findings

WASHINGTON—A recent report by the Albert Shanker Institute has provided clear evidence that enhancing financial investment in K-12 education leads to improved student performance, while reductions in funding have detrimental impacts. This comprehensive research review emphasizes the importance of maintaining and increasing school funding amidst current policy debates.

The report, titled "Does Money Matter in Education?", is the third edition in a series that analyzes extensive empirical studies on school funding and student performance over several decades. The findings in this report challenge recent policy trends that propose defunding public schools in favor of voucher systems, which could divert essential resources from schools that serve the vast majority of American children.

Research conducted by professors Bruce Baker from the University of Miami and David Knight from the University of Washington formed the basis of this report. They analyzed significant studies from the past ten years to draw their conclusions.

  • Increased investment in K-12 education positively influences student outcomes, whereas decreased funding results in negative effects.
  • These effects are consistent regardless of whether funding changes arise from legislative actions, economic shifts, or local community decisions like bond elections.
  • Additional funding benefits schools whether allocated for operational costs like salaries and supplies or for infrastructure improvements such as building renovations.
  • The positive or negative impacts are especially significant for students in poverty-stricken areas or regions with a history of inadequate funding.

Professor Baker stated, “The evidence that money matters in public schools has been quite solid for a long time, but the steady flow of rigorous studies over the past 10 or so years has clarified the impressive size and consistency of that impact. Increases in K-12 funding, if sustained over time, are a safe investment. They will work if we see them through.”

Beyond general funding impacts, the report also reviews specific policies that positively affect students. These include raising teacher salaries, reducing class sizes, and ensuring adequate school facilities. According to the findings, increased funding improves student outcomes because it enables schools to invest in resources that directly benefit students.

Mary Cathryn Ricker, Executive Director of the Shanker Institute, stated, “During this time of aggressive efforts to dismantle public education, the evidence reviewed in this report confirms what teachers, administrators and parents have always known: When we give public schools what they need, students do better, particularly the students who need the most help.”

Randi Weingarten, President of the AFT and the Albert Shanker Institute, commented, “This report echoes what teachers and families already know—money matters. Proper funding correlates to better student performance and helps schools become the safe, welcoming environments where students develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills as well as develop resilience and relationships—all the skills they need in this diverse and complex world. And cutting off funding for our foundations like public education and healthcare will take a hatchet to opportunity. Americans did not vote for that; they want to see public schools strengthened and their children’s progress properly supported.”

The authors of the report note that the body of research over the last decade has contributed to a growing consensus regarding the necessity for adequate and equitable school funding. Baker pointed out that previously, skepticism about the benefits of K-12 spending hindered progress in state governments and courts. “Those days are over,” Baker noted. “State lawmakers can either ignore this data or let it guide the long-term process of really improving our public schools and the lives of their students.”

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