There is vital economic dimension to the American promise of a free, quality pubic education for all of its youth. In its simplest aspect, government needs to provide adequate funding to public schools. As the recent wave of teacher strikes and protests have highlighted, many states are far from meeting that basic obligation. A more complex economic aspect is how government funds are distributed and used. The growth of charter schools, and the resultant diversion of public funds from public district schools to charter schools, had added a new element in the distribution and use of public funds, raising a series of questions. From a variety of perspectives and grounded in studies in different states, our panel addressed these issues.  Watch the video.