@EdWorkingPaper{ai26-1425,
title = "School Finance in the US",
author = "Kenneth A. Shores, Hojung Lee",
institution = "Annenberg Institute at Brown University",
number = "1425",
year = "2026",
month = "April",
URL = "http://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1425",
abstract = {This chapter provides an overview of K-12 public school finance in the United States by tracing how funding systems changed over time, how they operate today, and how well they advance core policy goals. Section 2 documents the long-run shift from local property tax finance toward larger state and federal roles, driven by economic crises, legislation, and litigation. Section 3 describes the contemporary funding system, including the distinct roles of state, local, federal, and non-governmental revenues. Section 4 explains the core functions of state finance formulas, focusing on adequacy baselines, required local effort, and incentives for additional local spending. Section 5 reviews the school finance reform movement, showing how litigation moved from equal protection to equity and then to adequacy, with contemporary examples from Washington, California, and Tennessee. Section 6 evaluates school finance in terms of efficiency and equity, reviewing evidence that additional revenues improve achievement and long-run outcomes, generate broader social benefits, affect housing markets, and remain unevenly distributed across places and student groups.},
}