School Funding Deception Alert! (in a CAN)
I’ve noticed a pattern in a few recent school funding proposals, mostly emanating from shoddy, haphazard proposals developed on behalf of the CANs (ConnCAN & its close relatives) and often with “technical support” of Bryan Hassel of Public Impact. Let’s call it school finance reform in a CAN.
These new simplified school funding formula proposals, framed under the “money follows the child” ideology are intended to make state school funding formulas more “transparent” and to allow for more equitable and predictable flow of funding to charter schools or other non-district schools.
In each proposal (ConnCAN’s Spend Smart & The Tab, or Rhode Island’s new formula), among a variety of other major overlooked factors, arbitrary and unfounded recommendations, exists a seemingly innocuous proposal regarding how to target aid for variations in student needs across districts.
As the authors of ConnCan’s recent Spend Smart brief explain deeply embedded in a footnote… you really only need to use a single factor to get state aid targeted to the right schools and that factor is the share of children
