As pandemic aid runs out, America is set to return to a broken school funding system

"High-poverty districts in most of the country need more money to even get close to the performance of affluent districts. In Greeley, it would take $2,000 more per student. Baltimore needs nearly $10,000 more per pupil. Schools in Selma, Alabama, need a breathtaking $17,000 more per kid. The typical high-poverty district needs close to $6,000 more, the study estimates. Many factors drive costs up. Rural districts and those in high cost-of-living areas generally need more. Another particularly important factor is child poverty. In total, it would cost $105 billion to fill in all these funding gaps every year — a major increase on the $771 billion in funding K-12 schools received in 2020. And that probably underestimates the cost, since the research is based on data before pandemic-induced learning loss. 'This is a tremendous figure,' wrote the Shanker Institute researchers. 'It may even sound like an impossible gap to bridge.'"