Building FAIR School Finance Data Systems: A Multi-State and Federal Analysis

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 7:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Data, Accountability, and Political Contexts in Education Finance

Abstract

Despite widespread agreement that resources matter in education, significant gaps remain in understanding what educational resource data is publicly available and how useful it is for research and practice. This paper uses FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles to assess education resource data for equity-focused decision-making. Drawing on Bowers and Choi's (2023) framework, we systematically collected and coded over 1,000 datasets from eight states, Washington D.C., and federal sources. Findings reveal substantial school finance data that varies across states regarding FAIR principles. Many datasets require extensive processing, complicating efforts to conduct meaningful comparisons. Results suggest systemic challenges in education data management, highlighting the need for coordinated FAIR-compliant approaches to support evidence-based equity decisions.

Authors

• Sarah Volk, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Christopher Saldaña, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Laura Davalos, Wisconsin Center for Education Research

• Xinyu Guan, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Ariadna Guerrero, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Brooke Fousek, University of Texas at Austin

• Ghipsel Cibrian, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Aaron Mathew, University of Wisconsin - Madison