National Report Card

November 2, 2010 -- Released on October 12, "Is School Funding Fair? A National Report Card" is generating intense debate about how to fix the nation’s broken school funding systems in state capitols across the country and in Washington, D.C.

The Report Card, authored by Dr. Bruce Baker of the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education and David Sciarra and Dr. Danielle Farrie of Education Law Center (ELC) in New Jersey, received significant national press coverage. Education Week’s Sean Cavanagh called the National Report Card "intriguing" and noted that the "focus on impoverished schools is critical to many of the debates playing out in public education today."

The Report Card also was the impetus for numerous posts on well-known and influential education blogs ranging from The Answer Sheet (Valerie Strauss on WashingtonPost.com) to The Quick & The Ed (Rob Manwaring for Education Sector) and Ed Money Watch (Jennifer Cohen for the New America Foundation).

The Report also received widespread press coverage at the state level. Newspapers from Ohio to Oklahoma to South Dakota jumped on the story, providing information about their state’s ranking on the Report Card and calling into question the level and distribution of school funding there.

Story titles were indicative of the important information picked up on by reporters: "Study shows rich-poor gap in New York's school district funding among the highest in the country" (NY Daily News); "Virginia school funding among the least fair in US, study says" (The Virginian-Pilot).

ELC worked with partners in a number of states around the nation to highlight the condition of their school finance systems. A full list of these partners, the press releases they distributed about the National Report Card and how their states fared on it, and the press coverage they received are all available on the "In the States" page of the report website. Additional state level and national coverage can be found on the "Press Coverage" page on the site.

"The Report Card has clearly struck a nerve," said David Sciarra. "We’re already changing the debate from ‘how much’ to ‘how fair are the state school funding systems.’ Now we intend to work with our partners and public education supporters everywhere to press for school finance reforms that fairly allocate sufficient resources to all children, with additional resources directed to those students who need them most."

Visit the "Is School Funding Fair? A National Report Card" website to read the full report and access additional information.