Poverty Counts & School Funding in New Jersey
NJ Spotlight today posted a story on upcoming Task Force deliberations and public hearings over whether the state should continue to target funding in its school finance formula to local districts on the basis of counts of children qualifying for free or reduced priced lunch. That is, kids from families who fall below the 185% income threshold for poverty.
The basic assumption behind targeting additional resources to higher poverty schools and districts is that high need districts can leverage the additional resources to implement strategies that help to improve various outcomes for children at risk. I have discussed this issue at length in this related post. New Jersey has done this better than most states over time. (evidence on outcomes here)
The idea is to find the indicator or measure that seems to best capture the likelihood that children will struggle in
The basic assumption behind targeting additional resources to higher poverty schools and districts is that high need districts can leverage the additional resources to implement strategies that help to improve various outcomes for children at risk. I have discussed this issue at length in this related post. New Jersey has done this better than most states over time. (evidence on outcomes here)
The idea is to find the indicator or measure that seems to best capture the likelihood that children will struggle in