This report briefly summarizes the background, the criteria and procedures for evaluation, the findings, and the recommendations of the Tennessee School Finance Equity Study that, during the two year period ending in November, 1979, examined Tennessee's present program for financing the public schools, kindergarten through grade 12. The purpose of…

The increasing tendency in North Carolina to support school expenditures from local revenues may be leading to greater disparities in financing from one school district to another. (Author/IRT)

This description of the Tennessee equalization plan consists of (1) a description of Tennessee's current public school finance program; (2) recommendations for change in the existing program; (3) a description of the conformance of the recommended changes to the equity guidelines developed by the United States Commissioner of Education pursuant to…

In the Serrano decisions, the courts found California's method of financing schools to be unconstitutional and gave the state until September 1, 1980 to reduce wealth-based expenditure differences to substantially less than $100 per pupil. The courts found three features of the state's system to be particularly onerous--the failure of the state to…

In 1971 the author conducted a study of the provincial government policies affecting the provision of grants to school divisions to assist in meeting the operating costs of education. The study was jointly sponsored by the provincial department of education and the Manitoba Association of School Trustees (MAST). During the subsequent five years,…

This paper describes funding formulas for the new Foundation School Program in Texas enacted under the Education Opportunity Act (H.B. 72), raises issues that have accompanied its first year of implementation, and provides preliminary data to compare prior and existing law. The state finance system, which previously distributed state aid according…

Part I of a two-part series examines various approaches currently used by states to provide aid to local school districts, including flat grants, foundation grants, matching systems, the multitier approach, categorical aid, transportation aid, and capital outlay/debt service support systems. Related issues and special features are then discussed.…

This study examines the current Texas school finance plan, the finance plans and proposals of other states, national school finance research, and the results of a survey of Texas leaders and educators before presenting alternative revenue and distribution plans, their effects and costs, and possible revenue sources. The study was conducted under…

Wide scale reform in Texas education financing was enacted in 1984 under the Equal Education Opportunity Act (Texas House Bill 72). This paper examines the reform through an analysis of the newly enacted weighted pupil Foundation School Program (FSP) during the 1985-86 school year. Two modes of inquiry were used: correlational analysis between…

This paper evaluates the equity dimensions of a grant-in-aid system based on the Resource Cost Model (RCM), as proposed by the Illinois State Board of Education. The first section is an independent evaluation of the conceptual and legal aspects of the RCM, focusing on both the weaknesses and the strengths of the model. In the second section, an…

California Assembly Bill 65 (AB 65) attempts to equalize California school finance and improve school programs. The school finance portion of the bill arose as a response to the 1976 Serrano v. Priest decision in which the California Supreme Court said that the existing school finance system was unfair to both students and taxpayers. AB 65…