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Looming funding cuts threaten the academic progress of Black students in districts across California, according to a report by researchers at the University of Southern California.

“The Cost of Equity: Exploring Recent K-12 Federal and State Funding Shifts and Their Impact on Black Students,” examines how changes in legislative and policy could impact California’s school systems, which enroll more than 287,000 Black students.  

Now, important programs covering a gamut of services used by Black students, ranging from tutoring to transportation to counseling, could be cut, the report says.  

The 45-page meta-analysis, which was edited by USC Rossier School of Education Professor Kendrick Davis and published by Rossier’s freshly formed Critical Policy Institute, lands at a critical time for budgeting decisions in California and elsewhere.

Shifts in federal, state and local funding and policy are prompting changes in districts across the state, Davis said in a recent interview.  

Those developments could exacerbate long-standing inequities — especially for Black students in low income, he said.

“It feels like so many reasons why education should be, and currently is, front and center in a lot of the local, statewide and national conversation,” said Davis. “But when there’s drastic changes happening … information and perspective can get lost.” 

Here are some key takeaways from Davis’s study, which was written with graduate researchers from Rossier’s Black Student Collective and is the first in a series of three reports to be published by the Critical Policy Institute. 

1. School Funding In California Stands at a Crossroads 

Federal funding cuts, including the expiration of pandemic relief, have combined with dropping enrollments and shrinking tax bases to cut budgets for local school districts across California, with districts in other states across the country facing similar headwinds.

School systems such as Los Angeles Unified have already begun making tough choices about what to prioritize in the face of looming cuts, and how those choices play out could have an outsize impact on Black kids, said Davis.     

2. How the State Counts Students Will Impact Local Funding 

California currently allocates state funding for local districts based on average daily attendance, giving school districts their share of per-pupil funding based on how many students on average showed up at class.  

That money typically accounts for more than a third of a local district’s budget. The state is now researching a change to the way that funding is shared, so that money will be allocated based on how many kids are enrolled in each district, instead of how many attended class. 

It’ll cost the state more to fund schools this way, Davis said, but more of the money will go to districts with schools serving vulnerable populations, like Black kids, who have higher rates of chronic absenteeism and lower graduation rates.     

3. Programs For Black Students Are Threatened by Federal Changes   

Even before President Donald Trump Took office, ushering in a slew of new changes, programs for Black students were already under scrutiny in districts across California after LAUSD overhauled its signature effort for those students in response to new federal guidance. 

Now, new policies at the federal level, including threats to cut funding to districts that do not end diversity, equity and inclusion programs, present fresh legal and regulatory challenges for efforts to reach Black kids with effective services, said Davis. 

“It makes an already precarious situation worse,” he said.