Submitted by: Matthiew Gliebe - United States of America

Local taxes provide the basis for public school funding in America. As a result, there are many school districts who have a massive difference in the dollar spent per student relative to another nearby school district and an achievement gap between wealthy and poor districts. One proposed solution is for each state to pay out the equal amount regardless of the taxes collected in each school district. The other solution acknowledges the potential disruption and proposes leaving the system alone. A third solution can begin moving towards more equity and is how actuaries develop geographic rates: smoothing. Instead of returning to each school district based on its own taxation alone, there is an option to evaluate spending across nearby districts and compute averages as radial bands expand. This would continue to reward communities who support local business and are investing in local homes by benefiting those local schools while sharing the wealth with nearby districts who likely contribute to the businesses of the first. There is an opportunity for state governments to set weights between the amount the overall average benefit is determined by the various radial bands which can enable a long-term transformation to school funding.