Monday, January 9, 2012

Louisiana's Minimum Foundation Program Formula: Analyzing the Results

The Cowen Institute recently published a report analyzing Louisiana’s funding formula. The report, entitled Louisiana’s Minimum Foundation Program Formula: Analyzing the Results, presents general information on school funding formulas, discusses the basic components and structure of Louisiana's formula, analyzes its outcomes, and then compares it to other states. Among other conclusions, the report finds the formula to be regressive, in that wealthier districts receive more money.

In November, the U.S. Department of Education released a report comparing expenditures of schools within districts and between high-poverty and low-poverty schools, as determined by Title I eligibility.  The study found that more than one third of higher-poverty schools had lower per-pupil personnel expenditures than lower-poverty schools in their districts, among other findings of education funding inequity. For additional perspective on the Department's findings click here to read an article in the National School Boards Association’s Legal Clips and here for an article from the Center for American Progress.

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In Case You Missed It: Two Reports from the Cowen Institute

The Cowen Institute recently published Transforming Public Education in New Orleans: The Recovery School District, 2003-2011, a report on the history of the Recovery School District (RSD). This report provides an analysis of some of the issues and policies that have defined the RSD over the past eight years, as well as an examination of the interplay among the contextual conditions and the community’s ability to engage and restructure to ensure sustainable change in public education. The report concludes by discussing the continuing role of state intervention and highlighting the issues currently facing the RSD in New Orleans. Click here for the report, here for the executive summary, and here for coverage in Education Week.

Also, as part of our Spotlight on Choice project we comissioned our third annual opinion poll, K-12 Public Education through the Public Eye: Parent's Perceptions of School choice. Click here for more information on the poll, including key findings and our analysis of the results. Click here for coverage in the Times-Picayune.

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RSD Announces Final Building Assignments

After releasing a preliminary assignment list in November and holding meetings to receive feedback from the community, the Recovery School District (RSD) released its final building assignments in December. The assignments guarantee every school in the RSD a home once their assigned facilities are ready as determined by the School Facilities Master Plan . However, the assignments are ongoing depending on school closings and the approval of new charters. According to the RSD, assignment decisions were based on a number of factors including previous facility assignments, alignment between programs and the facilities, geographic distribution of current students based on zip code analysis, and school operators' academic performance track records. 

Click here to read the press release and to access the final building assignments list.

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Jindal's Second Inauguration and Education Priorities

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal begins his second term today. The Governor has mentioned education reform will be a focus of his administration, but has yet to give details. Experts expect the Governor's focus to be on expanding the voucher program, and tying academic performance to educator tenure and pay. 

Click here and here for coverage in the Times-Picayune.

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Louisiana Wins Race to the Top Money

The U.S. Department of Education awarded Louisiana over $17.4 million in the third round of their Race to the Top grant competition.  Louisiana was among seven states to be awarded money in this round. The Obama Administration created the program in 2009 to support states that are implementing aggressive reforms and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) initiatives. Louisiana will use the money to establish a STEM goal office, to implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and CCSS-aligned assessments, and to implement the new educator performance evaluation policy approved by the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in December. Twenty of Louisiana’s 70 school districts opted to participate in the Race to the Top funded programs.

Click here to read coverage in the Times-Picayune and here for the Louisiana Department of Education’s press release.

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LDE Announces Budget Reductions

The Louisiana Department of Education (LDE) announced over $1.3 million in budget reductions. The reductions include an LDE hiring freeze and a decrease in the LDE supplies and contract budget. The reductions also include a decrease in funding for the Professional Improvement Program and a decrease in funding for the School Choice Pilot program, due to decreases in participation. And due to a decrease in need, the reductions include a decrease in funding to provide financial assistance to approved nonpublic schools for the purchase of instructional materials.

Click here for the LDE’s press release.

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Congress Passes U.S. Department of Education Budget

On December 17th, Congress passed the final budget for the U.S. Department of Education through September 2012. The Department’s budget will decrease 0.2%, leaving $71.3 billion for the next nine months.The Obama Administration was able to keep its priority programs for the Department intact including Race to the Top, Investing in Innovation, and School Improvement Grants.

Click here for coverage in Education Week and here for another article in Education Week with more information on the budget deal.

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