NEA Economist Warns Of Lean Education Funding

In the "Digital Education" blog of Education Week (12/1), Ian Quillen writes that Richard Sims, the chief economist for the National Education Association, "warned not to expect any significant increase in education funding until at least 2017, based on real estate tax revenues that are likely to decrease significantly as they follow the housing downturn on a three-year delay, policymakers that favor taxation policies with revenues lagging economic growth, and the loss of federal stimulus dollars." He added that "with property taxes remaining the biggest funding agent for education, their expected precipitous drop in revenues could mean even more lean times for school budgets."