The Class is Greener on the Other Side: How Private Donations to Public Schools Play into Fair Funding

Abstract

Public schools have long drawn on private sources of funding to supplement federal, state, and local public funding. In the last thirty years, private funding has grown in sophistication and prominence, leading many schools to increasingly rely on formal educational support organizations to meet their budgetary needs. This trend, however, may be in tension with state funding schemes that attempt to weaken the link between a community's wealth and the quality of its schools. Educational support organizations appear to feature the same socioeconomic stratification that gave rise to the need for state formulas to mitigate differences in local funding based on the wealth of the community. Yet, there is no state legislation that speaks to the equitable results of private funding for public schools. This Note argues that it is an appropriate time for state legislatures to address the interplay between private donations and public school funding, and provides several frameworks by which to balance the competing interests related to the provision of high quality education and fair funding.