Students in poor neighborhoods often need extra support to succeed in school.

That’s why we fight for resources for all students, particularly supports that level the playing field for children from low-income families—like high-quality pre-K; powerful learning with rich, engaging curricula; and services for the whole child, like school-based health clinics, counseling and tutoring.

The Department of Education recently released draft regulations that would help direct more resources into struggling schools—a principle we fully support. Unfortunately, the way it’s gone about it would all but guarantee that, to achieve this goal, states would have to take resources away from schools that are succeeding, making it an unfunded mandate.

We can’t address funding inequity with quick accounting fixes or by destabilizing successful schools.

We are on the eve of a new administration—hopefully, if we turn out to vote, a Clinton-Kaine administration. Why would Education Secretary John King be rushing to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act, especially when 35 states are still spending less on students than before the Great Recession? That’s why we need your comments on the regulations now.

The current “supplement, not supplant” rules proposed by the department would push districts to spend equally across schools but don’t include additional federal funds to make it possible. To comply with these rules, that would mean moving money from schools that are succeeding.

The department’s rules would destabilize successful schools, but given the budget cuts schools have faced since 2008, districts and states are unlikely to move enough resources to provide sufficient support to struggling schools.

While we appreciate the intent of the proposed “supplement, not supplant” rules, they need to be fixed or they could wreak havoc on thousands of schools. We’re asking the department to fix the proposed rules by:

• Requiring “leveling up” of state and/or local funds;
• Giving districts more time to design plans for achieving equity;
• Inserting language requiring districts to level up spending rather than destabilizing schools by shifting resources; and
• Ensuring that the necessary resources, including staff, are allocated to ensure stability for students and workers.

We ask the Department of Education to fix “supplement, not supplant” so that the rules support struggling schools without destabilizing successful schools.

The way to achieve equity is to boost education funding for all schools and ensure schools in struggling neighborhoods have the resources they need to level the playing field for all students—not to take resources from successful schools.

There is no quick and easy accounting mechanism that can provide a real solution to funding inequities. The only real way to help disadvantaged children and achieve funding equity without taking money away from schools that are meeting their students’ needs is for states and districts to level up funding at under-resourced schools so that their funding levels match or exceed such funding at well-resourced schools.

We are calling on the Department of Education to fix these rules.