Educational Economics: Where Do School Funds Go? (Urban Institute Press)

Book Review:"Educational Economics: Where Do $chool Funds Go?" by Marguerite Roza is a 116-page book that is enlightening on school funds. This book was published by the Urban Institute Press in Washington, DC, in 2010. It was easy to read because it simplified finance in the Education World. If you decide to purchase this book, you can locate it via Amazon for $27-$36, depending on whether you buy it new or used. Otherwise, many second-hand stores have copies available for purchase.Overview-This book exhibits a concise and informative description of finance in schools. It is divided into seven chapters. At the beginning of the book, the author describes where the money goes and how many players contribute to inequities in schools. The school finance system is fragmented and often pulled in too many directions instead of being transparent and cohesive. One aspect of the fragmented system is that the revenue streams often have strict rules on how the money is used, which can lead to issues ranging from schools within the same district. Roza stresses that funds are GREATLY mismanaged. What was alarming was that the distribution of resources is often unclear and undocumented to district staff. Therefore, even though federal funds are given to districts, there is no guarantee that the students in most need receive a boost in their education compared to affluent students. Overall, Roza stresses that the school finance system is not working. It is complex with incoherent spending patterns, and the solution is complicated. In Chapter 7, she demonstrates how some changes can reform the school finance system. Also, she stresses the importance of open-mindedness and how ALL players in the system need to have an aligned solution that benefits ALL students.Practicality-In my opinion, I thought this book was practical because it helped me comprehend three out of the four finance lenses that are discussed both in my grad school course and in "School finance: A policy perspective" by Allan Odden and Laurence Picus. Roza's book addresses three significant lenses: equity, adequacy, and efficiency. Roza explains through her research that inequities are evident within the school finance system. Still, they can be hard to quantify/report publicly because what districts allocate money towards varies with follow-through between schools. The variability with follow-through makes efficiency hard to measure. As a result, efficiency is a significant problem within our current finance education system because it is difficult to measure student achievement based on finances that are hard to quantify. Also, Roza stresses how adequacy is flawed because the amount of resources depends on how they are used. For example, high-quality teachers still work in higher-paid schools, and high-poverty schools receive teachers with little experience and a high burnout rate. Resource decisions must be more "transparent, coherent, and aligned with the district's stated strategies for improving student achievement" (p. 31). When money is provided for districts to use for the students in need, school districts have not been able to prove their effective use of funds to target high-needs students. In conclusion, this book was very informative regarding the three lenses of finances. If you are taking a finance class in the field of education, I highly recommend this eye-opening, compelling book.

Marguerite Raza’s Educational Economics: Where Are School Funds Going? As an educator, I found this book to easily relate to many everyday problems encountered in schools. Also, the language of this book is so comprehensive and clear. It makes it easy to read. “Question about spending arises in part out of frustration with the weak link between spending and student outcomes. K-12 education spending has ballooned over the past few decades” (pg.1). This weak link between financial spending and student achievement outcomes brings up many questions. I would like to state that this book is an important start for me in questioning the funding of schools. Teachers, parents, students, and others involved in this system may have a fundamental perspective on school funds. “Labor unions also influence how resources get used within a district. Education is a labor-intensive business; a large portion of the district’s operating expenses goes directly to paying and supporting the millions of school employees, and teacher contracts play a big role in determining where such resources are deployed (pg. 29).” In my opinion, that resource allocation decisions should be more transparent, consistent, and aligned with districts' stated strategies to increase student success and accountability. "The current environment in which education dollars are allocated to children in America's schools makes it nearly impossible to accomplish any single fiscal priority (pg.33)." The system has different components, and each has different priorities. Therefore, it differs in how policies are ultimately carried out. While this book also discusses the responsibility and impact of society's role in school finances, from school administrators to parents, notices how difficult to touch on any single financial prime concern or problem. “Principals and school site councils still meet to talk about what is going on at the schools. In many of these conversations, attends talk about what can and cannot be done at the school level, and what schools might or might not expect from district headquarters next year (pg. 62).” However, I have noticed that schools make very few decisions, decisions about resources are mostly not controlled in schools. I think those meetings and conversations stay at just school levels. As seen on pages 97 and 98, “The implications for this kind of alignment of functions in today's education governance system are complicated. Our current system has many more than two levels. The funders, as described here, could be the federal, state, or local districts. And yet, all these governmental agencies also play a hand in controlling how resources are used. Take for instance the state role in the finance system, where states dole out funds, set standards, and help define accountability. Yet, states also prescribe decisions contradiction was described earlier: making decisions about how resources are used interferes with other key functions, including accountability.” When I was a principal in Turkey, I always said that transparency between school administrations and teachers / between schools and parents is very important. In this book, I saw once again that transparency in schools is very important for education in order to ensure top-down adequacy, equality, efficiency, and liberty.