Progress Illinois

There's a strain of thought among some conservative education reformers that goes like this: because a complex set of factors (including social and economic disadvantage, teacher quality, and parental involvement) cause disparities in achievement between students in poor and wealthy districts, education funding reform isn't the cure-all to our the nation's achievement gap. Thus, we shouldn't spend much of our political capital addressing funding inequities. Instead, more vouchers!

Of course, it's absolutely true that equal funding doesn't erase the acheivement gap on its own. But that doesn't mean money doesn't matter. A new study released (PDF) by the Illinois-based Center for Tax and Budget Accountability divides schools into three distinct categories based on their local property wealth:

- "Flat Grant" districts, which have the greatest amount of available local property wealth.
- "Alternative Formula" districts, which have the second greatest amount of available property wealth.
- "Foundation Formula" districts, which have available local property wealth that ranges from very low to just above average.

And what does the research show? Academic performance -- measured by data from the Illinois State Achievement Test -- is "strongly correlated" with mild increases (between $1,000-$2,200) in spending on instruction. The academic growth is evident in both school districts with low poverty (3-8 percent low income rates) and significant poverty (27-32 percent low income rates). CBTA concludes:

The 23 percent of Illinois students fortunate enough to attend school in wealthy Flat Grant and Alternative Formula districts, receive a better education, with higher quality teachers and significantly more spent on instruction, that do the vast majority of Illinois students—the 77 percent who attend Foundation Formula districts. In turn, those same children attending Flat Grant and Alternative Formula schools out-perform their peers academically, and at least some of that enhanced academic performance correlates to enhanced funding. These educational differentials affect the entire state of Illinois, and have been particularly harsh for students of color—African Americans and Hispanics.

To figure out how your local district stacks up, check out the Chicago Reporter's research from August.

Image used under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user Max Wolfe.