EDLD+5342+Equity,+Equality,+Adequacy

**Equality**— All students have access to the same basic education program. The first example of equity in the school system is taht all schools must provide courses in math, science, english, and social studies based in the TEKS provided by the Texas Education Agency. The next example would be taht all schools must meet a certain number of instructional days based on state law.

**Equity**— refers to the system being fair and responding to the needs of the individual. It refers to the fair or equal distribution of resources after taking into account school characteristics and student differences. A good example of equity in school finance would be the distribution of compensatory funds. This is an example equitable funding because they provide districts with additional funds for students who are economically disadvantaged. Bilingual allocations are another example of equity funding so that districts that are required to meet the needs of LEP students have the funding necessary to provide quality instruction for students that are learning in a language other than English.

**Adequacy**— Adequacy refers to the funding needed for schools to meet the state accreditation standards. Schools are adequately funded when they are able to meet the state standards for accreditation. Equity in funding does not assure equal results.

From Scott The concepts of equality, adequacy and equity: If you consider equity to be defined as fair or equal distribution of resources for schooling and then you take into account student differences and school district characteristics and then there are many examples provided for equity. Examples might include transportation issues for districts whose children live far apart, career courses or academies that have expensive equipment requirements and special programs to address gifted students or special education students. I believe these are the funds that are used to help level the field for districts. I think that many people confuse these words by using them interchangeably. I believe equity and equality are probably the most misused. Equality means, every student has the same type of basic educational program. I believe this means everyone gets the same basic education. Examples of this would include basic educational allotments for every student and Tier I funding sources for situations such as new instructional facility allotments, technology, and military child allotments. Adequacy is to include that the school district receives financial support sufficient to meet state accreditation standards. Examples of this include textbook sand minimum teacher salaries.

From Rob: Equality truly means that no matter where a student lives, and no matter what the financial situation in the area is, that each and every child will have access to the same type of educational programming. Your ability to receive a properly funded education will not be determined by what district you reside in. This primarily refers to core courses in order to ensure accreditation levels are secure. –Math, science, reading, and other cores.

Equity is simply fairness. Dr. Nicks refers to special program allocations as a prime example. A second is compensatory funding for the economically disadvantaged.

Adequacy basically means that funding is sufficient to reach accreditation standards. Examples include similar salaries for teachers across the state, as well as similarly balanced finances for instructional materials