This series of articles discusses categorical grants, defined as financial assistance by a higher level of government to a lower level for educational services of a specific type or for a particular group of students. In the first article, criticism of such programs is discussed, as well as alternative approaches to better meet the goals of…

The 1981 enactment of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act Chapter 2 (ECIA-Chapter 2), which consolidated 28 separate categorical federal aid programs into a single block grant, has had policy and fiscal impacts in Michigan. Policy debate centers on the inherent tension between equity, particularly equity defined as equal treatment of…

Although federal involvement in education has been reduced in the 1980's under the Reagan Administration's "New Federalism," it is far from clear that state and local governments are willing and able to adequately compensate for this decreasing involvement to ensure educational equity and quality. In the current debate over federalism,…