All Politics is Local - Introducing a Relative Measure of How Adequately States Fund Community Colleges based on County-Level Demographics

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Fahsai

The paper argues that the concept of funding adequacy should extend from K-12 education to community colleges, given that these institutions enroll disproportionate shares of underrepresented racial minority students and therefore face additional academic and support needs when budgets are cut. It proposes that states evaluate community college funding adequacy using county-level demographics that predict local educational deficits. Using publicly available national data, the study measures (in)adequacy by examining state appropriations, grants and contracts, and state-funded financial aid, and presents a new index capturing racialized disparities within states.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages34

Reading Time1 h 26 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Funding adequacy beyond K-12

County demographics and racial equity

Research Question and Approach

Measurement and data sources

A new index for within-state disparities

ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL: INTRODUCING A RELATIVE MEASURE OF HOW ADEQUATELY STATES FUND COMMUNITY COLLEGES BASED ON COUNTY-LEVEL DEMOGRAPHICS July 2025 FRANK FERNANDEZ XIAODAN HU The authors thank Denisa Gandara, Kelsey Kunkle, and Dustin Weeden for helpful comments and feedback. The authors also thank the Joyce Foundation and the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) for financial support. All Politics is Local: Introducing a Relative Measure of How Adequately States Fund Community Colleges based on County-Level Demographics Twenty-two times, state courts have ruled that legislatures are inadequately funding K-12 schools based on constitutional rights to public education (Feng et al., 2019) . When states implemented court-ordered financing reforms, the poorest school districts increased per-student spending by 11.5% to 12. 1% . Those districts then showed increased graduation rates by between 6.8% and 11. 5%(Candelaria & Shores, 2019) . The notion of funding adequacy should be extended beyond public high schools and into community colleges to ensure students have consistent and adequate resources to equal learning opportunities in higher education. Community colleges enroll disproportionate shares of the nation’s underrepresented racial minority students (American Association of Community Colleges [AACC], 2024) . These students have often been poorly served by underfunded schools and school districts (Sosina & Weathers, 2019) and enter higher education with additional academic and student services needs that can be costly for colleges. Underrepresented racial minority students are also disproportionately affected when college budgets are cut (e.g., Bahr et al., 2015; Jenkins & Belfield, 2014) . We argue that states should examine how they fund community colleges based on the students those colleges serve. Prior literature has examined education funding based on county-level demographics (Coburn & Horowitz, 2003; Miller, 1996; Ladd & Murray, 2001) . Figlio and Fletcher (2012) argued that stark disparities in local funding for education were correlated with local demographics, which “may also help to explain state interventions in school finance at the state level”(p. 1153) . In other words, it is important to focus on state appropriations exactly because local demographics predict inadequacies in local education expenditures. Community colleges, which often aim to serve residents in local counties, are uniquely positioned to transform state investment into healthy and economically thriving communities (e.g., Van Noy et al., 2023) . Prior literature has focused on K-12 school resources, but we argue it is important to focus on community college finance for two reasons: First, examining adequacy in community college funding could be used to help prevent legal allegations that states are perpetuating racialized funding disparities between community colleges. Second, state policymakers could use this approach of defining and measuring funding adequacy based on how county demographics relate to the overall state population to close inequitable funding gaps that correlate with race. Achieving funding adequacy while considering racial equity ensures that the community colleges that are best situated to address state higher education completion gaps (e.g., between Black students and white students) have more resources to do so. State completion agendas are contingent on improving college success for these groups of students, particularly in community colleges (Mullin, 2010) . Prior scholarship has sought to apply K-12 education finance concepts to consider how public higher education should be funded (Fernandez et al., 2023; Hu & Fernandez, 2024; Prescott et al., 2021; Romano & Palmer, 2023) . However, scholars have not reached consensus on how to define adequacy or how to identify when potential inadequacy is correlated with racial demographics within a state. For this paper, we adopt Richmond and co

FAQs

Why should funding adequacy be extended to community colleges?

Community colleges enroll disproportionate shares of underrepresented racial minority students and need additional services, so inadequate state support can compound educational inequities. The paper contends adequacy must be assessed for these institutions to ensure consistent resources and equal learning opportunities in higher education.

What does the paper propose states should examine?

States should examine how they fund community colleges based on the characteristics of the students those colleges serve. The approach ties funding adequacy to how county demographics relate to the overall state population, using this relationship to identify correlated inequities.

How does the study measure (in)adequacy and what is new in its index?

The study uses publicly available national data and evaluates state support through base appropriations, state grants and contracts, and state-funded financial aid. Instead of focusing on income neutrality across states, it introduces an index designed to measure racialized disparities within states.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Fahsai