School Funding Adequacy (SFID)
This indicator reports the average gap in dollars between actual and required spending per pupil among public school districts. Required spending is an estimate of dollars needed to achieve U.S. average test scores in each district. Data are directly obtained from the 2023 School Finance Indicators Database – District Cost Database.
Source
Source Description
The School Finance Indicators Database (SFID) is a public collection of data and research on K–12 school finance developed by researchers at the Albert Shanker Institute, the University of Miami School of Education and Human Development, and the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education. The SFID is designed to help policymakers, researchers, journalists, and the public evaluate the adequacy and fairness of education funding across the United States.
The District Cost Database (DCD), one of the SFID’s primary datasets, provides district-level estimates of school funding adequacy for approximately 12,000 public school districts annually from 2009 through 2023. The DCD compares actual per-pupil spending to estimated adequate spending levels required to achieve a common benchmark of national average student performance. Adequate spending estimates are derived from the SFID National Education Cost Model, which accounts for factors such as student poverty, special education enrollment, English learner populations, labor costs, district size, and other characteristics that influence the cost of providing educational services.
In addition to spending adequacy measures, the DCD includes contextual information such as student enrollment, child poverty rates, racial and ethnic composition, English learner enrollment, special education enrollment, and student achievement measures. These data allow users to examine the relationship between educational resources, student needs, and academic outcomes across school districts nationwide.
For more information, visit the School Finance Indicators Database (SFID) website.
Methodology
School funding adequacy estimates are derived from the School Finance Indicators Database (SFID) District Cost Database (DCD). The funding gap is calculated as actual per-pupil spending minus estimated required (adequate) per-pupil spending; negative values indicate spending below estimated adequacy targets, while positive values indicate spending above those targets.
County-level summaries are calculated by CARES as population-weighted averages of school district funding adequacy measures. Each district estimate is weighted by the estimated number of children ages 5–17 residing within the portion of the school district located in a county. These weights are derived from 2020 U.S. Decennial Census population counts at the census block geographic level and district-county allocation factors. Because school district boundaries frequently cross county boundaries, this approach allows district-level estimates to be appropriately represented within counties.
State and national summaries are calculated directly from district-level data and are not adjusted using district-county allocation factors. As a result, county-level estimates may not aggregate exactly to the corresponding state totals.
Not all school districts are included in the District Cost Database. Districts may be excluded due to missing finance or student outcome data, small enrollment sizes, or other data limitations. These exclusions may affect county-level estimates.
For more information, please visit the School Finance Indicators Database (SFID) website.
Data Breakouts Available
- School Funding Adequacy Trend over Time, 2016-17 through 2022-23 School Year
- School Funding Adequacy – List
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