Educational Economics

by Marguerite Roza

Imagine if a school were to spend more per pupil on ceramics electives than core science classes. What if a district were to push more funding to wealthy neighborhoods than to impoverished ones? Such policies would provoke outrage. Yet these schools and districts are real.Today's taxpayers spend almost $9,000 per pupil, roughly double what they spent 30 years ago, and educational achievement doesn't seem to be improving. With the movement toward holding schools and districts accountable for student outcomes, we might think that officials can precisely track how much they are spending per student, per program, per school. But considering the patchwork that is school finance--federal block funding, foundation grants, earmarks, set-asides, and union mandates--funds can easily be diverted from where they are most needed.Educational Where Do School Funds Go? examines education finance from the school s vantage point, explaining how the varied funding streams can p

Genres: Education, Economics, Nonfiction

126 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2010

Reviews

[Allison]

This book argues for a different system of school finance--one that is based on students and dollars, rather than districts and deliverables. I serve on a local school board and I found this book to be a highly-accessible articulation of issues that have long concerned me. At the same time, I felt frustrated by the author's failure to address some of the bigger system-level concerns. Charter school advocates see activities like ceramics class or cheerleading as frivolous, but for many students a rich array of electives and activities is a vital source of educational engagement.

[Liz]

A simple book on a complex topic. Debated giving this book four stars since it's getting old, but I don't think much has changed so it's still relevant! I learned a lot on a topic I didn't know much about.

[Connor Oswald]

a simple review of the problem and a broad solution to the issues.

[Brian Michael]

Great read and very thought-provoking. This was our text for my School Finance class in my Masters Program!

[MJ]

What a mess the educational financial system is in today! With so many players at the school, district, state, and federal levels, nobody really knows where funds are going and hence everybody is making decisions blindly. The result is wasted resources, widening inequalities among schools, and bigger achievement gaps among students. Throwing more money at schools won't do much until the system is straightened out, but the author only offers a few overarching ideas about how to fix it. This book is very informative and full of studies and statistics. It's also quite dry (so I started skimming much of it).

[Andrew Kaiser]

I don't usually assign a star-rating, but this one receives 5 stars. Roza succinctly outlines most if not all flaws in America's education from the schools' vantage points. This microeconomical, bottom-up approach sheds tremendous light on common and uncommon decisions made by many school administrations and other decision makers.

Please, read it. Everyone.

[Erin Harrington]

This book is eye-opening in it's early chapters, but totally inconclusive in real recommendations for moving forward. I like the ideas, and would like to see more substance in recommendations.

[Samuel Lubell]

Book on how the ways the education system spends money does not match what we claim to be the goals of the school system. We spend money in ways that does not help students achieve.

[Bridget]

If you've ever thought educational funding was challenging and complicated, this book will show you that you underestimated just how challenging & complicated it is. I couldn't believe how well she traced the money and identified the complications of school finances. I would have liked a better/longer/more prescriptive solution, but alas.