In the United States, researchers have documented persistent racial disparities in school funding for decades. Drawing on evidence from a recent policy change in Pennsylvania, this article contributes to research on the role of state governments in limiting or expanding racial disparities in K-12 education funding by examining differences in the…

We estimate the impact of school finance reform on adequate and equitable district spending, school resources and student achievement in Pennsylvania. From the 2008-09 to the 2010-11 school years, amid the Great Recession, Pennsylvania's "Act 61" increased aid to school districts spending below state-determined adequacy targets…

Sixty-seven school finance reforms (SFRs) in 26 states have taken place since 1990; however, there is little empirical evidence on the heterogeneity of SFR effects. We provide a comprehensive description of how individual reforms affected resource allocation to low- and high-income districts within states, including both financial and…

This brief examines braiding, blending, and layering funding streams as possible strategies for supporting and sustaining high quality preschool programs. Interviews across three states with school district administrators, a Head Start director, and the director of a child care program illustrate how some leaders at the local level combine…

In Pennsylvania as in many other states, employee pension costs are a significant source of financial pressure for school districts (Zeehandelaar and Northern 2013, Pennsylvania Public Employees' Retirement Commission 2013). In order to gain greater insight into the nature of Pennsylvania school districts' financial burden related to pension…

The purpose of this article was to present the results of a study that analyzed Pennsylvania local school boards' taxing authority, pre- and post-enactment of Special Session Act 1, "The Taxpayer Relief Act," in 2006, in terms of its percent share of school districts' total budget in order to better understand the impact of the new…

The Farm Financial Analysis Training (FFAT) course covers fundamental skills and concepts in liquidity, profitability, solvency, and efficiency. The research reported here identifies and measures the impacts of FFAT on participants including: 1) perceived gains in knowledge, 2) changes in management behavior, 3) changes in specific farm assets and…

A growing number of American school systems are experimenting with innovative and varied methods of tying educators' salaries more closely to their work through differential pay. Differential pay means paying teachers differently based on their performance, their responsibilities, and/or their teaching assignments. For instance, it can mean…

Very little progress has taken place in achieving greater fiscal neutrality. The change in definition of local school district wealth produced a significant redistribution of basic subsidies with the relatively poorer districts receiving less funds. (Author/IRT)

Kansas's nonadjudicative process, which yielded a speedy finance reform package, may have several weaknesses. Judicial guidance is beneficial, but speed may result in an imprecise final reform product and come at the expense of power, substance, and permanence. Pennsylvania's slower supreme court adjudication process may set finance reform…

Uses Pennsylvania census-derived variables to show that state, district, and school comparisons of National Assessment of Educational Progress scores often reveal little about program effectiveness. Differences in test results are attributable to differences in difficulty of educational task, which is related to populations served by different…

To provide for its public education system, the state of Pennsylvania pays an Equalized Subsidy for Basic Education (ESBE) to school districts. More than 85 percent of the basic ESBE is distributed inversely to districts on the basis of their wealth. The rest of the ESBE is comprised of numerous supplements addressing the particular needs of…

With tuition on the rise, Auxiliary Services departments at a variety of colleges and universities are proving that they can innovate and still save their parent institutions cash. Primary areas of innovation include: (1) With advancements in technology, institutions are moving campus purchasing programs into the wireless space; (2) As junk mail …

Analyzes the financial impact of Pennsylvania's Act 125, which distributed $132.5 million in additional state aid among the state's public school districts. (JG)

This handbook is designed to assist school board members and school administrators in dealing with school management issues and problems. The first chapter provides a historical review of public school finance. The next three chapters deal with the source of public education funding, the general nature of local taxing authority, and the manner in…