Federal Formula Allocation For Schools: Historical Perspective and Lessons from New York State

This article offers a practitioner's perspective on education funding through school aid formulas. State school aid formulas in New York State have tended to evolve through a process of incremental change characterized by slow growth, punctuated by occasional reforms. Many of the current formulas are designed to drive aid to districts according to their levels of student need and fiscal capacity. Such targeting efforts depend, however, on the State's ability to gather and analyze complex data. Abstract concepts such as student need and district wealth need to become measurable variables in order to drive funding. Debates about acceptable proxy measures for these important concepts mean that, even when we agree on policy goals, the means of achieving those goals remains an issue.