Proof Points: Research and data on the rich-poor divide in schools

Proof Points
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By Jill Barshay

Before joining the Hechinger Report in 2011, I was a long-time financial and economics reporter.  I had covered the Bush tax cuts in the 2000s and was already interested in rising income inequality in our society. At Hechinger, I wanted to know how the big economic trends were  manifesting themselves in education. This week’s Proof Points column is a summary of what I’ve learned about increased poverty in our schools and the very uneven investments that we make in the next generation.
Read the column
Key Findings 
  • The richest 25 percent of school districts spend more per student, on average, than the poorest 25 percent of school districts. But it’s difficult to say precisely how this inequity has worsened over time because different administrations use different methods for calculating school funding.
  • It’s not just a divide between rich and poor but also between the ultra rich and everyone else. In  2020, a Pennsylvania State University researcher documented how the wealthiest school districts in America -- the top 1 percent -- fund their schools at much higher levels than everyone else and are increasing their school spending at a faster rate.
  • Funding inequities are happening in a context of increased poverty in our schools. The number of high poverty schools has increased from one out of every eight schools in 2000 to one out of every four schools in 2016-17.
  • Race and poverty are intertwined. One third of all Black children under 18 were living in poverty in 2016-17, compared with a quarter of Hispanic children. White and Asian children have a similar poverty rate of 11 percent and 10 percent, respectively.
Lit Review 
  1. The Condition of Education 2019 (May 2019) National Center for Education Statistics
  2.  The number of high-poverty schools increases by about 60 percent http://educationbythenumbers.org/content/the-number-of-high-poverty-schools-increases-by-about-60-percent_161/
  3. Poverty among school-age children increases by 40 percent since 2000 http://educationbythenumbers.org/content/poverty-among-school-age-children-increases-40-percent-since-2000_1310/
  4. The gap between rich and poor schools grew 44 percent over a decade https://hechingerreport.org/the-gap-between-rich-and-poor-schools-grew-44-percent-over-a-decade/
  5. Data show segregation by income (not race) is what’s getting worse in schools https://hechingerreport.org/segregation-by-income-not-race-worsening/
  6. In 6 states, school districts with the neediest students get less money than the wealthiest https://hechingerreport.org/in-6-states-school-districts-with-the-neediest-students-get-less-money-than-the-wealthiest/
  7. An analysis of achievement gaps in every school in America shows that poverty is the biggest hurdle https://hechingerreport.org/an-analysis-of-achievement-gaps-in-every-school-in-america-shows-that-being-poor-is-the-biggest-hurdle/
  8. Rich schools get richer: School spending analysis finds widening gap between top 1% and the rest of us https://hechingerreport.org/rich-schools-get-richer/
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