Chapter 9: Funding Academic Disparity: Integrating Education Finance and Discipline Policy

Since the 1990s, funding formulas have increasingly accounted for school safety costs, such as surveillance technology, metal detectors, and school police. Studies have shown, however, that resources purposed for school safety have been largely repurposed for school discipline, which has had a detrimental impact on the educational and life outcomes of students, particularly racially minoritized students. Yet, the conversation at the intersection of funding and discipline has been sparse. This chapter explores the role of funding in school-level disciplinary practices. We use school resource officers (SROs) as an illustrative case to argue that security expenditures, as traditionally used, run directly counter to academic achievement goals. Ultimately, this chapter argues that student discipline and criminalization often go unnoticed as a de facto school finance priority, likely due to being subsumed under the category of school safety. Finally, this chapter explores the actions taken by school districts that have reconsidered their SRO contracts, and particularly how these districts plan to reallocate those dollars. We discuss implications for policy and future research.