As states reckon with racial enrollment and attainment gaps in higher education, some have made efforts to address them through their higher education funding. Two common approaches are outcomes-based funding (OBF) and Promise programs, as each can be designed with an explicit race equity lens. This report summarizes a two-year study examining the…

This study examines a number of questions surrounding the distribution of Title I aid and state compensatory education aid. The extent to which the two types of aid are complementary and their effect on the equalizing thrust of the state general aid are also examined. There are four major states that are studied: Florida, New Jersey, New York, and…

Concerns the ability of the New Jersey school reform groups that won in court in the Robinson v. Cahill decision to gain access and the requisite resources to affect the new school finance formula and the development of "thorough and efficient" guidelines. (Author/IRT)

Faced with a December deadline imposed by the State's highest court, New Jersey's legislature will soon convene in an extraordinary special session to consider a controversial proposal for changing the State's system of financing public education. Discusses that proposal and the current system for school finance. (Author/JF)

Discusses the interplay of legal, fiscal, and educational policy surrounding the implementation of the New Jersey landmark decision, Robinson vs Cahill. (Author)

Summarizes the findings of an Educational Testing Service study on the effectiveness of New Jersey's 1976 state reforms to equalize school taxes and to provide a "Thorough and Efficient" education. (SJL)

Questions about inequities in educational funding were raised in New Jersey when the legislature enacted the state's second major education-finance-reform law, the Quality Education Act of 1990 (QEA). This paper describes changes in revenues, expenditures, and programs in 11 diverse New Jersey school districts during the first year of…

New Jersey's legislature, as the result of a decision by the State Supreme Court in Robinson vs Cahill, is now under order to implement the century-old provision in the State's constitution for "a thorough and efficient system of free public schools." In an effort to contribute to the resolution of the problems arising from this order, a…

Most of New Jersey's charter schools are located in the state's poorer, urban school districts, or "Abbott" districts, and exclusively serve students from those communities. A number of other schools are located outside of the Abbott districts but enroll students from these districts. Specifically, of the 50 charter schools operating in…

The first part of this document (and Appendix A) focuses on New Jersey as a microcosm of the problems, questions, and issues involved in revising the existing system of how school costs are paid. New Jersey is particularly suited for such analysis because for years it depended heavily on the local school property tax, to an even greater extent…

Eight years of school finance under New Jersey governor Brendan Byrne is analyzed. The author suggests the new governor will face the same problems Byrne faced eight years ago: a legal challenge to the state's system of funding schools, and a large hole in the state budget. (KC)

1976 saw a number of major fiscal changes occurring in New Jersey, all of which had an impact on educational funding. These include the imposition of a state income tax, a property tax rebate program, and a new system of funding public education that significantly increases the state's share of total education support. Based on a measure of the…

This report describes League of Women Voters citizen education campaigns concerning the financing of public schools. Launched in South Carolina, New Jersey, Idaho, Vermont, Missouri, California, and Maine, the campaigns were aimed at raising public awareness and interest in the issues and problems involved in funding public schools, thereby…

Financial resources do affect educational quality. When the advantaged have the better-financed school, America will continue to provide unequal education to those who most need what school has to offer. Legislative responses to early litigation and the recent litigation in Montana, Texas, and New Jersey are discussed. (MLW)