Recent legislative and judicial trends require both adequate and equitable school funding. Legislatures and governors must decide how much funding is needed to generate expected achievement levels. So far, expectation for adequacy has outstripped technologies for calculating it. Ohio's empirical studies and Wyoming's "professional…

Study of educational practices in five countries and the United States found the United States unique in depending heavily on local property taxes. Although none of these countries has devised perfectly fair system of educating their children, they are working toward that goal. New Jersey debacle is example of willingness of American middle class…

Supreme Courts in Texas, Kentucky, and Montana have ordered their legislatures to devise more equitable ways of distributing funds to schools. The New Jersey Supreme Court is hearing a case; and lawsuits challenging school financing systems are pending in Alaska, Connecticut, Indiana, North Dakota, Oregon, and Tennessee. (MLF)

Board members and superintendents should know their state's laws regarding fund balances. Some states prohibit accumulation of fund balances and return unspent district revenues to state coffers. Most allow a limited fund balance to accumulate. Districts that overaccumulate are undermining state efforts to create educational equity. Tips are…

Ten years ago the new superintendent of District 11 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, learned the proposed budget was $12 million out of balance. Now the district has sound financial backing thanks to improving business practices. (MLF)

A 1996 U.S. General Accounting Office report indicates one-third of the nation's schools need $111 billion worth of repairs or partial replacement. Local school districts cannot keep up with enrollment increases or construction costs and will receive little help from federal or state governments. Capital improvement funding inequities are heating…

Argues that states should reinvent their school-finance systems to align them with standards-based reform. New finance systems must link standards with funding, link schools with social services, and target educational adequacy and equity. (PKP)

Reviews several issues having implications for the future nature and funding of school construction, including recent state educational adequacy and equity litigation, smaller class sizes, full-day kindergartens, educational technology, and charter schools. (PKP)

The relationship between school funding and student achievement is not clear. Therefore, policymakers should concentrate more on how resources are distributed, rather than on how much money is available. They should also explore the importance of adequate resource levels and equitable distribution schemes. A sidebar outlines the characteristics of…

Reviews Title IX and its three components: (1) accommodation of interests and abilities; (2) athletic financial assistance; and (3) other program areas. Sidebars include a 12-point test to assess knowledge of Title IX and a list of compliance issues. (LMI)

With state budgets in disarray, school districts are taking a hard look at cuts and possible reforms. At the state level the issue is the complex ways states fund public schools. Finding a better way to link dollars to academic performance includes simplifying school finance and equalizing funds to provide adequate education. (MLF)

Education policy should be aimed at creating the most equitable system possible. Equity is measured in terms of opportunity, not inputs or outputs. Equal opportunity means providing educational goods and services to each student regardless of his/her educationally irrelevant characteristics and with regard to his/her educationally relevant…

Recent court decisions and legislation show that an adequate school finance formula must provide sufficient money so public schools can teach all students. Four different approaches for determining school finance adequacy are: (1) determining the economic cost of various educational functions; (2) linking spending to performance benchmarks; (3)…

School-finance equity is deceivingly complex. Equity necessitates fair and just treatment, which might actually require unequal treatment of some individuals or groups. State governments face a tremendous challenge in developing school-finance systems that result in equity for children. Obstacles include finding the correct mix of taxes to…

Explains how state and federal court decisions dealing with educational equity and adequacy have increased state involvement in school finance. Describes five state education system models: Single system, single system with capacity for charters, district operating system with multiple state categorical aid programs, district operating system with…