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Are High-Poverty School Districts Disproportionately Impacted By State Funding Cuts? School Finance Equity Following The Great Recession, David S. Knight

Working Papers

The Great Recession caused states around the country to make substantial budget cuts to public education. As a result, districts that rely more heavily on state funding – those with greater concentrations of students in poverty – may be disproportionately impacted by the Great Recession funding cuts; however, little prior research examines this issue. This study examines how state school finance systems responded to recessionary funding cuts on average nationally. The study then draws on state specific data to examine local district taxation patterns in response to state spending cuts. The study finds that (a) on average across states, high-poverty …