Many people support the current school funding system because they believe local control ensures schools reflect the values and priorities of their communities. They argue that property taxes should stay within the communities that pay them and that wealthy districts should not be penalized for their success. This perspective is rooted in the idea of fairness through ownership and responsibility. However, this approach to school funding has created vast and measurable inequities across the United States.
The system primarily relies on local property taxes to fund public schools. This means that students in wealthier neighborhoods often attend well-resourced schools while students in poorer areas are left with fewer resources, outdated materials, and less experienced teachers. The data is clear. Nationwide, school districts serving mostly nonwhite students receive $2,226 less per student than districts serving mostly white students. That adds up to a $23 billion funding gap every year according to data from EdBuild. These disparities are not just theoretical, they have real consequences for student achievement, graduation rates, and long-term outcomes.
Consider Pennsylvania, where some of the most extreme disparities exist. In Lower Merion, a wealthy suburb, schools spend nearly $30,000 per student. Just a few miles away, Philadelphia schools spend roughly half that amount. The state’s funding system was ruled unconstitutional in 2023 because of these gaps, with the court citing clear and persistent underfunding in rural and low-income districts. In Connecticut, Greenwich spends more than $27,000 per student, and student test scores regularly exceed 70 percent proficiency. Meanwhile, students in New Haven, who receive far less funding, struggle with proficiency rates closer to 20 percent.
Texas offers another example. Its “Robin Hood” funding mechanism is designed to recapture money from wealthier districts and distribute it to poorer ones. Yet the results still fall short. In 2022, Edgewood Independent School District raised only $21 million for its schools while Dallas ISD generated $1.3 billion. Even after receiving $54 million in state aid, Edgewood continued to lag behind, with only 56 percent of students meeting grade-level benchmarks compared to 80 percent in Dallas.
The impact of these funding disparities extends well beyond test scores. Research shows that increasing per-pupil funding by just 10 percent over 12 years raises adult earnings by 7 percent and reduces poverty by 3 percentage points. In California, additional funding through targeted formulas led to a full grade-level improvement in reading and math, and significantly increased high school graduation rates and college readiness.
While local funding may seem equitable on its face, it leads to deeply unequal outcomes. Ensuring every child has access to a high-quality education regardless of their ZIP code requires a serious rethinking of how we allocate public school dollars. Maintaining the status quo benefits a few at the expense of millions of children. Real equity demands more.
Read More:
How School Funding Inequities Impact Student Success – EdBuild
Dividing Lines: How Property Taxes Perpetuate Inequality in American Public Schools
– Saphiron