Date of Award

Spring 2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education Policy, Planning, and Administration

Committee Chairperson

David Backer, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Mimi Staulters, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Beatrice Adera, Ph.D.

Abstract

This study is a critical analysis of the funding distribution of the 2019-2020 Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) School Safety and Security Grant (SSSG) to identify if there is evidence of inequity in the grant's funding distribution. It used a theoretical framework that includes a transformative paradigm with trauma informed social policy as a theoretical lens, with the conceptual lenses education debt and distributive justice, applied to a concurrent mixed methods design. The research followed a QuantCrit methodology, and the features of a critical policy analysis were used to present the findings.

The quantitative tests found several significant correlations and covariances that indicate implicit and systemic bias represented in the grant program in addition to an opportunity to use grant funding as part of a reparation. The results identified statistically significant relationships between the percentage of white students in a school district and the total grant award per student in addition to several financial demographics and the total grant award per student. The findings from the quantitative research can provide policymakers with specific data about school demographics and finance to draft equitable and reparative funding formulas for this grant program as well as others. The qualitative results demonstrated that school leaders are interested in the grant program, but there are challenges that inhibit an easy and equitable process as well as funding distribution. Finally, the theories and methods used in this study, combined with the results and findings, were used to draft a trauma informed social policy theoretical lens that can be applied to future education research.

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