Updated Demographic Data Available on FEBP

The Federal Education Budget Project (FEBP), Ed Money Watch’s parent initiative, recently made available updated state and district-level student demographic data on its website http://www.edbudgetproject.org. FEBP maintains an extensive database of state and school district level funding, demographic, and achievement data that is continuously updated as new information becomes available.

Now users can view, download, and compare student demographics including enrollment, race, poverty, and participation in special programs in 2008 for all 50 states and nearly 14,000 school districts in the country. The race, program participation, and enrollment data comes from the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data while student poverty comes from the Census Bureau’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) program.

These new data can help users understand how federal funds for various programs are distributed among states and school districts. For example, a user can tell an interesting story about the distribution of Title I funds in 2008 using the new demographic data and the custom comparison function available on the website.

The custom comparison function allows a user to select a particular school district of interest and then compare it to similar school districts within the state or other states. In one such case, we selected Cheektowaga-Maryvale Union Free School District in New York state and compared it to other districts in New York with student enrollment within 10 percent of Cheektowaga-Maryvale. Additionally, we asked the comparison tool to display each district’s 2008 student poverty rate, free and reduced price lunch enrollment rate, and Title I funding. See display below:

We found that districts with similar student poverty rates did not always receive similar amounts of Title I funding. For example, Cheetowaga-Maryvale received slightly less than $345,000 in Title I funds in 2008 while Phoenix Central School District received more than $514,000. This disparity is surprising because both districts are similarly sized (2,354 versus 2,329) and have similar poverty rates (12.2 percent versus 12.8 percent). As we have explained in the past (see complete post here), these variations are due to complexities in the Title I formulas that blur the relationship between poverty and Title I funding.

We hope that these new data, and the funding, demographic, and achievement data we will continue to add to the Federal Education Budget Project website, are helpful as Congress begins to discuss reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and other education-related programs. Check out the new data here.