This policy brief examines the prevalence and design of state-level equalization policies aimed at reducing funding disparities between public community colleges within states across the U.S. We reviewed publicly available legislative documents and government sources covering fiscal years 2017–2024 to catalog which states had equalization policies and what factors were used for equalization. We show that 22 states had some form of equalization policy during this period, with 19 accounting for non-local factors like rurality or enrollment size and 10 accounting for local factors like property taxes or economic conditions. While these policies are increasingly prevalent, little is known about them and their impact on institution and student outcomes.
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