Inside Look
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Hello, Great Lakes Center subscriber:
A new report published by the Reason Foundation provides information about school funding inequities in Arizona, but lacks necessary analysis to make its funding recommendations useful. The Reason Foundation explains Arizona’s complicated school finance formula, pointing out its many inequities, then provides 16 policy recommendations to change the state’s school funding system.
However, a new Think Twice review by the National Education Policy Center found the report fails to critically consider its own recommendations. Read on to learn more.
Dr. Gretchen Dziadosz
Executive Director
Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice
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Think Twice Reviewer David R. Garcia, a professor at Arizona State University, reviewed A Roadmap to Fix Arizona School Finance: Steering the Grand Canyon State Toward Fairness and Innovation in K-12 Education. The report points out funding inequities and makes policy recommendations to change the funding system in Arizona’s schools.
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Garcia found the report lacks supporting evidence to make its many policy recommendations useful. The report describes how Arizona’s lowest-income school districts receive less funding from state and local sources than higher-income school districts. As in many states, Arizona’s school districts with lower property wealth have higher tax rates and generate less revenue than higher property wealth school districts.
The report makes 16 complex policy recommendations its author argues will improve the “transparency, equity and effectiveness of Arizona’s school finance system.” The recommendations would equate to a complete overhaul of Arizona’s school funding method.
While the report points out existing inequities, it does not provide any assessment of the impact of any of its recommendations on Arizona’s schools. In his review, Garcia calculates the impact of two of the report’s policy recommendations, demonstrating how they would decrease the state’s already meager per-pupil expenditures.
The report also shows a lack of coordination among its recommendations, which may encourage legislators to cherry pick which recommendations to implement. This would lend itself to a piecemeal approach that created Arizona’s inequitable school funding formula in the first place, Garcia concluded.
Overall, the report is not a credible policy document because it doesn’t assess the impact of any of its recommendations. It is also undermined by the lack of coordination among its numerous policy recommendations.
Read the full review on the Great Lakes Center website or on the National Education Policy Center website.
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The Reason Foundation’s report advocates for policies that are not well substantiated or coordinated, which could lead to legislators cherry picking which recommendations to implement. This lack of coordination mirrors how Arizona’s inequitable school finance formula was created. As a result, the recommendations could lead to further inequities in school funding.
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TALKING POINTS TO REMEMBER
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- A new report by the Reason Foundation lacks necessary evidence to make useful policy recommendations for Arizona’s school funding method.
- The review found the report does not assess the impact of any of its recommendations, making them useless to Arizona’s policymakers.
- Implementation of the recommended policies could lead to further inequities in Arizona’s school funding approach.
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