Outlines trends in school finance litigation. Examines definitions of fiscal equity, reviews 20 years of litigation, and analyzes recent legal activity. Recent litigation has challenged some states' school finance systems. Court decisions have split evenly regarding permissible disparities in per-pupil operating expenditures, a measure of…

This report provides an overview of education in Louisiana. The study on which the report is based on detailed examinations of financial and statistical data in nine individual school districts, covering the years 1996 to 1999. The study found that some key financial data were inaccurate and, in some cases, not even available. It examined the cost…

District-level fiscal equity, when achieved, will not necessarily result in a fairer distribution of educational resources. School-level inequities generally exceed those found at the district level in most states. If districts were required to distribute funds to schools on a per-pupil basis, school-level equalization could be accomplished…

Findings of a review of school district administrative spending conducted by the Mississippi Legislature's Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) Committee are presented in this report. Findings indicate that Mississippi school districts paid $94 million in salaries to central office administrators and principals in fiscal year 1992.…

This congressional hearing on the school lunch program dealt with the question of what would happen in those school districts that wanted to exercise an option to either take cash in lieu of commodities from the Department of Agriculture, or commodity letters of credit. Prepared statements are presented from Gene Miller, school food service…

This paper summarizes the main provisions of Kansas' School District Finance and Quality Performance Act (SDFQP). The paper discusses state financial aid and how this is affected by decreasing enrollment, program weight, low-enrollment weight, correlation weight, transportation weight, at-risk pupil weight, school-facilities weight, and ancillary…

This report, which focuses on education in Louisiana, gives the results of research on various education issues in Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states and provides information on how southern states collect and use different education-related data. The article discusses education costs and revenues, as well as how financial, student,…

Reviews the general provisions of the sex discrimination section of the Education Act of 1972 (Title IX) as they pertain to the funding of women's athletics and describes the phases by which the Florida comparability plan equalizes the cost of athletic programs for male and female athletes. (JW)

The "municipal overburden" argument alleges that cities lack adequate funding for their schools because they are unable to levy high enough tax rates. Examines support for the hypothesis held by jurists and legal commentators and then inquires why economists commonly find that position unacceptable. (MLF)

Constitutional challenges to state statutory schema for distributing education dollars to local school districts has provided a study course of litigation in state court systems since the early 1970s. This paper is an analysis of 10 of these cases, which were ruled upon in the first half of the 1990s. The focus is on constitutional deficiency and…

Describes a lawsuit filed in January 1982 by New Hampshire students, parents, and school districts charging that the state's elementary and secondary education system's heavy reliance on local property taxes violates the state constitution by creating substantial inequities in the funds available per pupil in each district. (Author/RW)

Describes the history, rules and regulations, organizational chart, and accomplishments of Maryland's full state funding of school construction. Recommendations are made for other states. (MLF)

The supreme courts of Montana, New Jersey, and Texas have overturned their respective educational finance systems. Provides analyses of the three cases and a discussion of the implications for other states. (MLF)

An analysis of recent judicial decisions shows that the adequacy concept emerging from state courts' invalidation of school finance systems transcends minimalist education standards and focuses on "world-class" standards and ambitious, universal student outcomes. Instead of challenging per-pupil expenditures, courts are questioning…

Successfully educating at-risk populations depends in part upon adequate and equitable funding. This General Accounting Office (GAO) report examines the current status of and trends in public-education spending. National and state trends in education spending and revenues were examined using data from the Department of Education's National Center…