7 Issues Facing K-12 Budgets as COVID-Shocked Legislatures Reconvene

Almost every state's legislature is expected to reconvene in the coming weeks to cut billions of dollars from their budgets. The coronavirus-driven shutdown of the economy caused a precipitous drop in income and sales tax revenue, which states heavily rely on. 

Without another federal infusion of aid for states on the horizon, the consequences for public schools will be swift and severe. More than half of the nation’s school districts get the majority of their revenue from state aid. These districts, on average, serve a disproportionate number of poor, black, and Latino students, many of whom were lagging academically before the crisis abruptly closed schoolhouse doors this spring.  It's well-documented that it will cost billions of dollars more for schools to reopen this fall and to get children back on track. 

How legislatures decide to fill a multi-billion-dollar deficit will have long-lasting effects on academics and politics. After school districts laid off more than 300,000 people between 2008 and 2010 in the last recession, students’ performance on tests stagnated and disparities between wealthy and poor students widened.  Many districts have yet to recover.

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2020/05/28/whats-in-store-for-school-budgets-when.html?cmp=eml-enl-et-news1-rm&M=59596923&U=2050105&UUID=42d8eaa0e1fd83d2d422f1841ef2e9b9