Equity, Equality and Adequacy

For any school administrator to be successful, he/she must have a clear understanding of equity, equality and adequacy from an educational stand point. Equity is insuring that all children have an equal access to a high quality education regardless of where they live or who they are. An example would be Title I funding that provides additional money for schools that have a large population of students that receive free and reduced lunches, or economically disadvantaged. A second example would be federal funding received by a district to provide supplementary services to special education students. Both of these funding sources provide money to insure that the learning field is somewhat leveled or equitable for all students.

Equality in education is defined as every student having the same access to the same type of basic educational programs. Permanent school funding is an example of fairness in funding. Another good example would lie in a district's ability to hire a high quality teacher just as a neighboring district. Due to demographics and salaries in many districts, it is very difficult to hire and retain quality teachers.

Adequacy is defined as a minimum level of funding needed for every school to teach its students or a district receiving financial support sufficient to meet state accreditation standards. Providing school improvement funding to a school that is rated unacceptable would be one example of adequate funding. All of the sub-groups identified in PBMAS and the funding provided in the District Improvement Plan is another example.