U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS

U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS

U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS

Washington, DC 20425 Official Business

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BRIEFING

REPORT

JANUARY 2018

U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is an independent, bipartisan agency established by Congress in 1957. It is directed to:

? Investigate complaints alleging that citizens are being deprived of their right to vote by reason of their race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin, or by reason of fraudulent practices.

? Study and collect information relating to discrimination or a denial of equal protection of the laws under the Constitution because of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin, or in the administration of justice.

? Appraise federal laws and policies with respect to discrimination or denial of equal protection of the laws because of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin, or in the administration of justice.

? Serve as a national clearinghouse for information in respect to discrimination or denial of equal protection of the laws because of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin.

? Submit reports, findings, and recommendations to the President and Congress.

? Issue public service announcements to discourage discrimination or denial of equal protection of the laws.

MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION

Catherine E. Lhamon, Chairperson Patricia Timmons-Goodson, Vice Chairperson Debo P. Adegbile Gail L. Heriot Peter N. Kirsanow David Kladney Karen Narasaki Michael Yaki

Mauro Morales, Staff Director

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20425 (202) 376-8128 voice TTY Relay: 711

This report is available on CD/DVD in ASCII Text, Adobe PDF, and Microsoft Word 2010. To obtain, please call (202) 376-8128. You may download this report from .

Public Education Funding Inequity in an Era of Increasing Concentration of Poverty

and Resegregation

Briefing Before The United States Commission on Civil Rights

Held in Washington, DC

Briefing Report

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UNITED STATES COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS

1331 PENNSYLVANIA AVE., NW SUITE 1150 WASHINGTON, DC 20425 WWW.

Letter of Transmittal

President Donald J. Trump Vice President Mike Pence Speaker of the House Paul Ryan Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

On behalf of the United States Commission on Civil Rights ("the Commission"), I am pleased to transmit our briefing report, Public Education Funding Inequity in an Era of Increasing Concentration of Poverty and Resegregation. The report is also available in full on the Commission's website at .

The report examines the funding of K-12 education and how the inequitable distribution of these funds negatively impacts the educational opportunities of low-income students and students of color.

The majority of the Commission voted for key findings including that quality education is critical to prepare students to be contributing members of a democratic society and competitive workers in a global economy. The Commission majority also found that vast funding inequities in our state public education systems factor significantly in rendering the education available to millions of American public school students profoundly unequal.

The Commission majority found that many students in the U.S. living in segregated neighborhoods and concentrations of poverty do not have access to high-quality schools simply because of where they live, and that there is potential for housing policy to help provide better educational opportunities for these students. Low-income students and students of color are often relegated to low-quality school facilities that lack equitable access to teachers, instructional materials, technology and technology support, critical facilities, and physical maintenance. These absences can negatively impact a student's health and ability to be attentive and can exacerbate existing inequities in student outcomes.

As data on school spending become more accurate, some scholars believe there is concrete empirical evidence that funding is critical to positive student outcomes.

The majority of the Commission voted for key recommendations, including that Congress should prioritize incentivizing states to adopt equitable public school finance systems that provide

meaningful educational opportunity, promote student achievement for all students, and close achievement gaps where they exist; increase federal funding to supplement state funding with a goal to provide meaningful educational opportunity on an equitable basis to all students in the nation's public schools; and promote the collection, monitoring, and evaluation of school spending data to determine how funds are most effectively spent to promote positive student outcomes. The Commission majority also calls on Congress to make clear that there is a federal right to a public education. Federal, state, and local government should develop incentives to promote communities that are not racially segregated and do not have concentrated poverty, which in turn would positively impact segregation and concentrated poverty in public schools and the educational challenges associated with such schools. We at the Commission are pleased to share our views, informed by careful research and investigation, to help ensure that all Americans enjoy civil rights protections to which we are entitled. For the Commission,

Catherine E. Lhamon Chair

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary .........................................................................................................................3 Chapter 1: Introduction & Overview .........................................................................................11

61 Years after Brown: the Equity of Public Education...............................................................11 Still Separate, Still Unequal...................................................................................................12

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Equal Educational Opportunity ...........................15 Other Relevant Laws that Promote Equal Educational Opportunity ..........................................15 The Coleman Report ...................................................................................................................16 Past Findings and Recommendations from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on How

to Achieve Equal Educational Opportunity .............................................................................17 The Evolution of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act--Unrealized Goals ...............19

Overview of No Child Left Behind--Successes and Failures...............................................20 The Every Student Succeeds Act and its Potential for Creating

Educational Opportunities ................................................................................................22 Recommendations from the Equity and Excellence Commission ..............................................24 Chapter 2: The Public Education Funding Structure .................................................................27 Federal, State and Local Funding Streams--How Public Education is Funded.........................27 Measuring Inequity .....................................................................................................................31 Fundamental Funding Inequities at the Local Level...................................................................32 The Role of the State & Gradual Disinvestment ........................................................................36

Funding Inequity Litigation ...................................................................................................38 Disparities in Title I Spending at the Federal Level ...................................................................40 How is the Money Spent? ...........................................................................................................44

Inequity in Teacher Salaries ..................................................................................................46 Inequity in Spending on School Facilities, Technology and Instructional Materials ............47 Spending Gaps Due to the Title I Comparability "Loophole"....................................................49 Equal Funding vs. Equitable Funding.........................................................................................51 School Choice as an Alternative Financial Path to Equal Educational Opportunity ..................51 Chapter 3: Inequitable Spending and the Effect on Achievement.............................................57

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EDUCATION EQUITY

What the Achievement Gap Looks Like for Low-Income Students and Students of Color .....................................................................................................................57

Measuring Achievement .............................................................................................................57 Achievement Trends ...................................................................................................................58 Beyond Test Scores: School Discipline, Access to Courses, Gifted Programs, and

Extracurricular Programs .........................................................................................................62 Stanford Education Data Archive ..........................................................................................66 Disparities in Teacher Quality between Low- and High-Poverty Schools ............................69 Access to Preschool ...............................................................................................................72 Dropout Rates ........................................................................................................................74

Per-Pupil Spending--Does Spending Matter for Bolstering Student Achievement?.................77 The Case that Equitable, Targeted Spending Matters for Student Achievement ..................78 The Case that Increased Spending Alone Does Not Matter for Achievement ......................81 Accountability--Who Bears the Burden? .............................................................................83

Chapter 4: How Housing Policy Impacts Educational Opportunity..........................................85 The Role of Residential Segregation & Concentrated Poverty in Exacerbating Unequal Educational Opportunities for Low-Income Students and Students of Color .........................89 A Look at Residential Segregation in Metropolitan Areas in the U.S...................................90 Wealth Disparities and Concentrated Poverty in the U.S......................................................94 Disconnect Between Federal Housing and Federal Education Policy: Separate Silos, Separate Agendas.....................................................................................................................96 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing as a Means of Advancing Educational Opportunity................................................................................98

Chapter 5: Findings and Recommendations ............................................................................105 COMMISSIONERS' STATEMENTS ........................................................................................109

Statement of Chair Catherine E. Lhamon .................................................................................109 Statement of Commissioner Karen K. Narasaki .......................................................................113 Dissenting Statement of Commissioner Peter Kirsanow ..........................................................119 Dissenting Statement of Commissioner Gail Heriot.................................................................133 Surrebuttal of Chair Catherine E. Lhamon, joined by Commissioners

Adegbile and Kladney............................................................................................................147

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