WASHINGTON (AP) -- Poor students are shortchanged by federal and state school aid policies, a report released Wednesday says.
At the federal level, the Education Department gives states nearly $13 billion a year to help students in low-income districts.
The complex formula used to determine each state's share guarantees a minimum amount for small states. That means Wyoming, Vermont and North Dakota, for example, can get more money per poor student than do more populous states.
Federal school dollars also are tied to the amount that each state spends on education. States that spend more get more from Washington.
But this link rewards states more for their wealth than their efforts to educate poor kids, according to the Education Trust, a Washington-based children's advocacy group.
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more:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/12/20/education.spending.ap/index.htmledit to correct attribution