Three essays on the equity and adequacy of K-12 school funding for English language learners: a national analysis

This dissertation follows a three publishable papers format to analyze school funding equity and adequacy for English Language Learners [ELLs]. In the first paper, I provide background on the legal rights of ELLs and compare the criteria for each state for identifying, assessing, and exiting ELLs. I then describe funding policies within each state for providing for the educational needs of ELLs. ELLs are a legally protected class of students under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974 (Jimenez-Castellanos & Topper, 2012). However, outcome gaps between ELLs and non-ELLs have continued to persist. States vary widely in their policies for ELLs, including in how they identify, reclassify, and fund programs for them. I find that the majority of states use a single test score to identify and reclassify ELLs and that more than 70% of states use tests from the World Class Instructional Design and Assessment [WIDA] consortium. Concerning funding, I estimate an average per pupil yield of only $8,500 per pupil for ELLs. The inadequate funding per pupil is likely driven by inadequate estimates of both base funding per pupil and pupil weights. I conclude with suggestions for further research. In the second paper, I use district-level data from the School Finance Indicators Database [SFID] to analyze the equity of school funding for ELLs across the nation (Baker, Di Carlo, Srikanth & Weber, 2021). That is, I attempt to determine whether states actually provide greater funding and resources per pupil to districts serving higher ELL concentrations. I use three different measures of school funding equity- the ratio of state and local revenues per pupil relative to other districts in the same labor market, the ratio of operating expenditures per pupil relative to other districts in the same labor market, and the number of teachers per 100 pupils. Overall, I find no statistically significant relationship between relative revenue and ELL concentration, and a statistically significant but weak relationship between relative expenditures and ELL concentration and teachers per 100 pupils and ELL concentration. I also analyze school funding equity across the three measures for all 50 states. Only seven states have positive and statistically significant results across all three resource measures- Alaska, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, and North Dakota. I conclude with recommendations for legislators, advocates, and administrators to improve the equity of school funding for ELLs. Finally, in the third paper I attempt to determine the adequacy of school funding for districts serving higher ELL concentrations. I use data from the School Finance Indicators Database (Baker, Di Carlo, Srikanth and Weber, 2021) and the Stanford Education Data Archive (Reardon, Ho, Shear, Fahle, Kalogrides, Jang & Chavez, 2021) to determine the costs for ELLs to meet national average scores in standardized tests of English Language Arts and math. Using a National Education Cost Model, I find that a 10% increase in ELL concentration is associated with additional required spending between approximately $1,600 to $2,000 per pupil to meet national average outcomes, depending on the indicator used. I then use these estimates to determine appropriate pupil weights for ELLs to meet national average outcomes. My estimates range between 1.3 and 1.6 for pupil weights, depending on the measure used. Finally, I use estimated spending per pupil to determine the level of investments required for ELLs to meet national average outcomes. The range of total additional spending required ranges between $8 billion and $10 billion for an increase of 10% in ELL concentration. I conclude with recommendations for policymakers and administrators to improve the adequacy of school funding for ELLs and recommendations for further research.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference