In the Fiscal Year 2020 Executive Budget Recommendation, Governor Whitmer proposes a series of investments which prioritize access to opportunity for students who have historically been left behind and underserved in Michigan's public education system. This includes students of color, students from low-income families and students with…

Michigan radically altered its school finance system in 1994. The new plan, called Proposal A, significantly increased state aid to the lowest-spending school districts and limited future increases in spending in the highest-spending ones, abolishing local discretion over school spending. I investigate the impact of Proposal A on the distribution…

This paper, one of three related documents, examines the distributions of general revenues and instructional expenditures across school districts in Michigan. It discusses the equal yield formula for the funding of public schools and examines how the formula has accomplished its objectives. The data indicate success in reducing the effects of…

Investigates the effects of including an income factor in a power equalization aid formula. Some evidence indicates that a power equalization formula with recapture and with an income adjustment may substantially achieve the objective of making education expenditures independent of the wealth of the local district. (Author/IRT)

Proposes a model for evaluating state equalization aid formulas, accounting for municipal overburden and tradeoffs between expenditures and taxes. Tests the model using the Michigan state aid formula. Results relate elasticities to spending and tax levels and suggest that relatively unrestricted guaranteed tax base formulas can work. (PGD)

The five papers in this document first apply the criteria of adequacy, equity, efficiency, and liberty to financing school choice programs and then consider programmatic issues related to choice. Following an introduction by Suzanne Langston Juday entitled "Evaluating Education Finance Policy Decisions," section 1 consists of an overview…

The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the degree to which school revenue equity has been improved by changing the state aid funding systems of Illinois, Michigan, and Kansas from foundation systems to power equalization systems. Chapter 1 contains the general background and rationale of the study, evaluative criteria, and definitions…

Regarding shortcomings in guaranteed tax base (GTB) school aid formulas, especially difficulties in measuring district fiscal capacity, the authors cite Michigan data to argue that inequities resulting from measurements using property wealth can be mitigated by property tax relief, intrastate cost differentials, and a unique aspect of Michigan's…

Part of a three-volume report on the effects of school finance reform, this volume examines the effects of reform on Michigan school districts' budgets from 1971 to 1976. Econometric models were used. Researchers found a very small "price" effect--an elasticity of -.02. The data provide no evidence that state matching grants stimulate…

Part of a three-volume report on the effects of school finance reform, this volume summarizes principal findings of the studies presented in the other volumes. The report summarizes school finance reforms enacted between 1972 and 1974 in California, Florida, Kansas, Michigan, and New Mexico. It recounts what happened to school taxing and spending…

Under the plan described in this report--a so-called "Equal Yield" formula contained in Senate Bill No. 110--each district will have an equal opportunity to realize the same amount of revenue per pupil from each unit or "mill" of local tax levied in combined State and local funds. The publication examines in detail several key…

In 1994, Michigan voters amended the state constitution to reduce schools' reliance on local property taxes for financial support. School districts were also divided into three funding tiers that were determined by their 1993-94 state and local revenues. This paper presents findings of a study that examined the impact of Michigan's finance reform…

This handbook is one in a series prepared for use at workshops designed to help teachers, administrators, and legislators understand and deal with the intricacies of school finance equalization plans in their states. Michigan's education finance plan is discussed in this particular book. Chapter 1 discusses how Michigan's plan undertakes its…

Alternative funding mechanisms for appropriating operating and capital outlay revenue for public colleges and universities are described. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) Budget formulas are utilized by 25 of the 50 states in allocating funds to higher education. (2) Budget formulas are used predominantly in budget areas where data related…

Using extensive data from before and after school finance reforms, the author analyzes the reforms' effects on school finance inequities in Michigan and Missouri, for all school districts and for suburban districts. In Michigan, data from 1970-71 show, the state met neither of two equity standards--equality in expenditure per pupil and fiscal…