Case Study: Chester Upland School District

In many countries, education funds come from local sources. However, all states have a duty to contribute towards costs that school districts incur in offering education to learners. In this case, both states and districts are deemed to have a formula that guide them in funding these costs. In addition, the formulas also help in distributing funds among the districts depending on factors such as enrollment of student levels, characteristics of students and local wealth. A funding formula helps in making sure that districts have enough funds thus increasing equity. Though the particulars of different funding formulas differ, they enhance equity among different districts, since rich districts receive fewer funds while poor districts receive more …show more content…
Due to the problem, the district has been rocked for above 20 years, which has attracted the state control, which worsens the situation. The district has continued to follow the same path, putting the education of the many students who study within its schools at a risk. Implementing a funding formula in schools within the district is a public policy issue because struggles to stay afloat is also a problem. Most of the children in the district have been forced to attend charter schools. Despite that the schools are no longer within the district, the district is still in charge of supporting them. It subjects the district into fiscal management challenges. According to Chester Upland, the district cannot continue paying for these schools as well as stand on its own financially. The funding policy will thus help in eliminating the debt of Chester Upland (22 million), increase revenue as well as student enrollment for the district modern technology and raise stakes for high performance. Chester Upland School District currently stands on a critical financial precipice; the high debt that has been accumulated for quite some years due to the failure of the District to limit its expenditures, which in return has raised charter costs beyond its …show more content…
In the past, these statutes only paid attention to districts that faced financial distress only. However, after they were revised, the commonwealth boards started focusing on academic distress. In 1994, CUSD, for the first time, was declared to be financially distressed after it experienced deficits in the last two years, amounting to $1.6 and $3.8 respectively. The distress was attributed to poor fiscal practices as well as poor management by the school board. After 2 years, the State Board of Control chairman predicted that the state could not fix the problem within the district, and so it was the duty of the district to do so. A lawsuit was later brought against the district in 1997, but the request was denied. In 1997, the district’s debt was around $15 million, but by 2001, the debt had accumulated to $ 40 million. By 2005, the debt had doubled to $85 million. In 2008, the impact of charter schools within the district were