Agenda- 05-14-20; Item 1-A - Public School Forum Local School Finance Study

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PUBLIC SCHOOL ' iL FORUM of north carolina INTRODUCTION For more than 30 years,the Public School instructional expenses,exacerbating face substantially greater financial Forum of North Carolina's Local School inequities in educational opportunities burden to support public education while Finance Study has highlighted variations between those with the least and the still finding that their schools are more and trends in local spending for public greatest need. poorly resourced than those in wealthier education across our state's 100 counties. counties. The purpose of this annual study is to In recent years,our annual studies have isolate local spending from state and consistently identified two key trends that These funding disparities have tangible federal spending to examine the capacity have led to deepened educational inequity impacts in North Carolina classrooms. and actual effort of counties to support across districts over time. For instance, local salary supplements public schools.The Local School Finance for educators are generally substantially Study focuses not only on the amount First,there is a widening gap between larger in high-wealth and larger districts, that counties spend on schools, but also wealthier counties and those with lower which better positions them to attract on each county's investment in relation to levels of wealth.As a result,there is and retain top talent. Many rural districts, their taxable resources. a growing disparity in the ability of which already face challenges in recruiting counties to provide their schools with the and retaining highly skilled teachers,are Under North Carolina's school finance resources they need, particularly given at an even greater disadvantage if they system,established nearly nine decades the increasing role of local spending are not able to offer competitive pay. In ago,it is the state's responsibility to over time. low-wealth districts,schools are often fund instructional expenses(including unable to offer the diversity of course personnel)while county governments Second,we demonstrate that wealthier offerings found in wealthier counties, pay for capital expenses(buildings and counties are able to allocate more meaning that many students in these maintenance). However,cuts to the state local dollars to public schools while districts are unable to access advanced budget during the most recent Great simultaneously making less taxing courses or electives that are important in Recession have yet to be restored to effort. Because wealthier counties have developing college and career readiness. pre-recession spending levels,and more taxable resources,they are able to And while higher wealth districts are districts across the state are struggling to keep tax rates low while still generating able to tap deeper wallets as they cope meet their students' needs.This,coupled significant revenue.Conversely, lower with inadequate state-level investments, with increasing costs for education wealth counties with fewer taxable low-wealth districts must scramble to pull stemming from population growth and resources have to make greater taxing together scarce local resources to provide a changing economy, has forced local effort to support their schools.Thus, even the most basic classroom supplies districts to take on a larger share of residents living in lower wealth districts such as paper, pencils and textbooks. TABLE INTRODUCTION 16 APPENDICES 3 2017-2018 TOTAL LOCAL SPENDING PER STUDENT 16 TABLE 1:RANKING OF ADJUSTED PROPERTY VALUATIONS PER STUDENT 4 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2020 LOCAL SCHOOL FINANCE • EFFORT• •• • OF CAPITAL • UTLAY AND DEBT -• V.STATE OF NORTH •• AN INTRODUCTION FUNDING FOR • • SMALL COUNTIES •• • • PAYS FOR WHAT? 20 TABLE 4:ABILITY TO PAY 10 LOCAL SCHOOL FINANCE STUDY 2020:GAPS AND TRENDS 21 TABLE 5:RELATIVE EFFORT 13 LOOKING AHEAD 22 GLOSSARY 14 NOTES ON METHODOLOGY