Brookings: How the coronavirus shutdown will affect school district revenues

This recent Brookings article shares that facing a pandemic-triggered economic slowdown, U.S. school districts now need to consider doing something they haven’t had to do in recent budget boom years: Draft a budget that assumes they’re headed for a financial fall.

Why? More than ever, school districts rely on state money. In many states, much of the state revenue comes from income and sales taxes­—both of which abruptly collapsed when states shut down most business activity. While most districts will see little impact on their 2019-20 budget, it’s next year (2020-21) when leaders should expect state revenue shortfalls to hit district budgets.