3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

This course will give students a strong understanding of the history of education finance, how and from what sources public education is financed in the United States, various finance reforms, and the impact of finance structures on student outcomes and other educational policies. Specifically, the course will layout the tri-part structure of funding between federal, state, and local governments, the revenue sources available to each, and policy tensions created between the three levels of government. The course will cover specific federal funding elements such as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), Title I, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). On a state level, the course will provide an understanding of the constitutional requirement that each state has to finance public education and the various ways states elect to do this. The course will use case studies from states that have unique funding structures, such as Indiana which abolished local funding of public education. Next, the course will offer an analysis of various finance reforms focusing on court ordered reforms as a result of state finance litigation as well as more recent funding interventions such as education savings accounts and tax credits along with the debates surrounding these issues. Throughout the course, students will wrestle with ideas over what it means to have equitable, sufficient, and adequate education funding and how education finance affects student outcomes.