Research and Policy Report

Do School Districts Allocate More Resources to Economically Disadvantaged Students?

Michael Hansen, Jon Valant, and Nicolas Zerbino
December 2022 | The Brookings Institution

This report from The Brookings Institution addresses inequity in resource allocations, noting that students in low-income, low-wealth communities are at risk for attending underfunded schools due to large discrepancies in per-pupil funding both between and within states. The report is divided into two chapters with an accompanying methodological appendix. Chapter 1 examines within-district resource allocations. Specifically, it compares per-pupil funding in schools with higher and lower shares of economically disadvantaged students within the same district. Chapter 2 explores the interplay between financial and teacher resources through an analysis of staffing and spending patterns across six states: Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, and North Carolina.