High Poverty Schools

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Neediest Schools Receive Less Money

Neediest Schools Receive Less Money, Report Finds

by Diana Jean Schemo

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 — As schools enter a new era of tough federal demands to raise achievement among poor and minority students, a report released here today shows that in most states, school districts with the neediest students receive far less state and local tax money — an average of just under $1,000 per student — than schools with the fewest poor children.

The report, by the Education Trust, a nonpartisan group that represents schools in poor urban districts, found the greatest disparities in New York, where schools teaching the poorest students receive $2,152 per student less from state and local government sources than schools with the fewest needy students. In Illinois, the state with the second-greatest gap, the disparity is $2,060.

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