Giving Compass' Take:

• According to a new report from nonprofit EdBuild, more wealthy communities are trying to leave their school districts, resulting in under-funded and under-resourced schools. 

• How can donors think about the root causes of school funding as it pertains to property taxes?

• Read more about the broken education funding system. 


The number of communities trying to break away from their districts continues to grow — in the past two years, 27 communities across 13 states have tried to secede from their districts, and 11 have succeeded, according to a new report from nonprofit EdBuild. And since 2000, 128 communities have attempted to secede from their districts, with 74 succeeding and 16 more still in the process.

In many of these cases, these changes are happening because of local school funding methods — school districts get a significant portion of their funding from local property taxes, meaning that wealthy areas usually imply better-funded districts. So, when a wealthy area separates itself from the rest of the community, it typically leaves behind fewer resources for a needier population, the report notes.

In addition, "beyond any policy measures specific to secession, states must reimagine their education funding systems in a manner that gives all students a chance at success," the report continues. State funding formulas have routinely been deemed inequitable — especially in supporting higher-poverty districts — and revamping these formulas, both at a state and district level, has proven to be essential in ensuring better student outcomes that support all young learners.

The report discusses ways states can prevent communities from "using secession to segregate students or to undermine equity and efficiency," the authors write. Similar to Florida and Georgia, other states can follow suit by legally outlawing areas from being able to secede. If it's not possible or feasible to enact state law, the report also notes that officials can set high standards for creating new districts as a way to de-incentivize communities from doing so.

Read the full article about wealthy states secede from school districts by Jessica Campisi at Education Dive.