Addressing Special Education Staffing Shortages: Strategies for Schools
Category: Staffing, Finance, and Operations
School finance inequities are a key driver of disparities in educational outcomes. Higher per-pupil funding levels allow schools to provide more qualified educators, smaller class sizes, and high-quality physical resources such as modern instructional technology. We study how Washington state school districts generate and allocate funding for instructional technology, and how that changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. We find districts use state funding but rely most heavily on local levies, creating economic and racial disparities in access to educational technology. Federal stimulus funds allowed districts to increase expenditures on technology, and states may need to take steps to ensure those investments are supported as stimulus funding expires.
Keywords
Educational technology, school finance, COVID-19, distributive justice
Education level
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/2xc6-gm93
