Maintenance of Equity: A New Provision with Big Implications for District Budgeting

In this commentary, Chad Aldeman and Marguerite Roza explain how the federal Maintenance of Equity provision works, and why it could unintentionally force some districts to make costly, inefficient, and potentially inequitable budget decisions. The authors urge the Department of Education to make its one-year moratorium permanent and to interpret the law as focusing exclusively on districts that are cutting their budgets. They also put forth several alternatives to the MoEquity rules for Congress to consider.