1. Equity vs. Adequacy By: Jay Masterson

2. For 100 years…  School financing through local wealth and property taxes  Creates a situation if significant inequitable per pupil spending across schools, states (Superfine, 2010)

3. Finance reforms  Attempts for the last 60 years  Legislative process  Court procedure Taken on the role of facilitator Attempt to bring more equity to districts and their situations  States took on more of a role in financing education  Research showed that equalization of funding was not enough to improve student achievement

4. Courts vs. states  Courts rulings attempt a direct and active effort to boost student achievement  Courts did not trust districts would spend funds properly to boost student achievement

5. Question  Can school funding be both equitable and adequate at the same time?

6. Adequacy  Since 1989, 20 out of 27 state court rulings state current funding systems do not provide access to an adequate education

7. Adequacy and Odden  Providing a level of resource that enable substantial improvements in student performance in 4-6 years  All or most students meet state performance standards  Substantial performance means students who meet proficiency goal will increase substantially in short/medium term

8. Adequacy simpler..  Resources are considered adequate when they are sufficient to achieve a specified standard of education for students or the value of inputs needed to achieve a specified educational output (Levacic, 2008)  Investment made takes into account current functioning ability reviewed by a needs assessment  A predictable cost is calculated to meet the need with a recommendation

9. 4 approaches to adequacy  Cost functions  Successful school districts  Professional judgment  Evidence based (Picus, 2004)

10. Cost function  Determined through statistical analysis Decide what funding is needed to meet a certain level of student performance  Considered very complex method due to the number of mathematical inputs

11. Successful school districts  Use studied districts spending as a baseline for per pupil expenditures

12. Professional judgment  When experts are consulted to determine what type of inputs are needed to meet the needs of student population  From there, experts create a calculated cost (Picus, 2004)

13. Evidence based approach  Relies of current educational research Identify resources needed for a prototypical school to meet a state’s student performance benchmarks  Advantage Reliance on the growing research base on what programs and models have been successful in improving student learning as demonstrated in current research (Picus, 2004) Data could be proportional teachers: students or dollars: pupil

14. Data comparison  Adequacy and North Cumberland Middle SchoolNorth Cumberland Middle School  Key findings 30% more students than the prototypical middle school 53% more staff 75 % more supervisory aides 11% difference in class size 3% less school days Teachers have 33% more sick days

15. Example  Teacher takes 15 sick days 7 less school days  Student/ teacher contact would be 88% If student is in the same days as the teacher Teacher who takes 15 days could be referred to truancy court is they were a student

16. Equity  Key word of fairness Which resources are allocated and used Provide equal means with no variables Meant to provide an equal opportunity for all students no matter where they come from Even when attempts are made for equalization, differences will maintain if decided through local democratic decision-making (Levacic, 2008) Equity principles, individual districts must look at external variables and account for those differences

17. Equity  Just education provides whatever education we provide (so long as it affects life prospects equally (Strike, 2010)  Equivalent packages of inputs  Balance differences educational capacity of home with differences in educational resources or treatments  Provide equality of opportunity rather than to simply avoid discriminatory provision or resources in its institutions  Role of school to help equalize packages of inputs by compensating for inequalities elsewhere (Strike, 2010)

18. Simply stated..  All students are entitled to the same benefits of a public education regardless of: where they come from Where they currently reside Their life experiences Especially their needs that have to be addressed  Role of the public school to stand behind the premise that all students have a right to an education as supported by all 50 states and their state level constitutions

19. Conclusion  Adequacy cannot be established until there is equity  Equity establishes a baseline method for financing, equalize the per pupil funding ratio Once set a needs assessment can be conducted fairly to address adequacy issues  Important component of any adequacy system is continual evaluation To ensure level of funding remains adequate over time and be sure that it is achieving its goal of raising student performance (Picus, 2004)

20. Conclusion  Adequacy key components Emphasis on outputs and outcomes rather than inputs Emphasis on absolute rather than relative standards and a focus on the achievement of particular groups of students (Simkins, 2004) Model of working backwards to get forward thinking results

21. Final thoughts  Taxpayers prefer equity principle Easy to understand Easily quantifiable  Issue Students walk through the doors with different issues each year, can’t be accounted for

22. Preferable model based on research  Evidence based prototypical school district  Why is this appealing? Based on research, data Data based on ratios, size, grade configuration Easiest model to sell to policy makers  They could easily visualize and understand the makeup

23. Challenges  Factory model building construction  Research is calling for smaller middle schools but budgets are calling for bigger buildings, cheaper

24. Future considerations  Where does virtual learning and technology fit in with the research model?  If online learning can happen at home, are we creating an equity issue for those families Class system?