As districts work to meet increasing student needs and maintain high-quality educational programs, the purchasing power of state and local dollars has eroded under the cumulative effects of persistent inflation. To understand how rising costs are impacting students and teachers in the classroom, we conducted interviews with leaders across 18 school districts.
This brief details how an inflation-based adjustment to the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula's foundation amount could be implemented to mitigate the annual increasing costs of providing educational services. The potential adjustment would alleviate districts’ reliance on local sources to cover rising costs and would ensure all districts have the resources they need to properly operate their schools and provide their students with a high-quality education when economic changes occur.