The use of tax-exempt and taxable bonds by colleges and universities to raise capital is discussed. Currently, the most common tax-exempt instrument issued by higher education institutions is the revenue bond. Until the early 1980s the most common form of tax-exempt financing was long-term fixed-rate debt. Variable or floating rate debt became…

This report, third in a series on education finance, examines U.S. education budgets recently passed by state legislatures and contrasts them with proposed gubernatorial budgets. The generally strong economy allowed state legislatures to increase total state FY 1998 education spending by over $2 billion (1.5 percent) from governors' own proposed…

This report offers an analysis of school finance litigation during 1998. It summarizes cases in New Jersey, Ohio, Arizona, Texas, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and New York. These states were sued due to failure to provide a thorough and efficient system of common schools, ineffective efforts to provide equitable financing to poorer school…

Findings of a national survey of educational committee chairs to identify and rank the top five issues in education are summarized in this report. The top five issues, in order of importance, are the following: K-12 school finance; accountability; at-risk youth; higher education finance; and early childhood education. Effectiveness is identified…

Providing pre-college teachers with an analysis of tax reform is the primary goal of this publication. The present tax system is both inefficient and inequitable. Three goals of tax reform proposals are detailed: (1) fairness--the dimensions of horizontal equity, or equal treatment of equals however defined, and vertical equity, reflecting the…

If taxes are higher in one town than in another it does not necessarily mean that residents of the low-tax town are better off; they may have had to pay high property prices to live in the more desirable low-tax town. It is incorrect to believe that property wealth differences are the only reason for spending disparities across towns. A more…

This paper, number 18 in a series, chronicles the politics of school finance reform in the state of California from the mid-sixties to the passage of Proposition 13. It provides a description of the school finance setting prior to the consideration of Assembly Bill 65, including such events as the Serrano I and II decisions and the state…

Educational issues of concern to southwestern state legislatures are reviewed in this educational policy bulletin. Information from a survey of legislative education committee members and legislative aides in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas is used to develop profiles of each state's unique educational concerns and political…

Discusses changes in the state steering of universities and the impact of these changes on internal university management in Finland, where some unique university management procedures are in use. Of particular interest is the impact of the increase in external funding and the increasing competition for state funds. (SLD)

Thirteen cases involving state school-finance litigation were decided in 1994. Of these 13 decisions, 6 state systems were found to be unconstitutional. This document describes state litigation involving school finance for 1994-95. A review of cases finds that states have manifested a variety of responses to court decisions. Most suits turn on the…

Capital finance in institutions of higher education is analyzed in light of changes in the Tax Reform Act of 1986 affecting the ability of institutions to finance capital projects and the likelihood of changes in the government's view of tax-exempt financing. The options for colleges and universities are analyzed in the following areas: (1)…

This paper analyzes Texas Senate Bill 351 that reforms public school funding. The bill provides for additional state funding and significant increases in local property taxes. The bill creates county education taxing units to neutralize the enormous property wealth differences found among the state's 1,056 school districts. It also provides a…

This newsletter summarizes the debate on the use of state-level initiatives as levers to effect fundamental changes in higher education. It provides several perspectives on the use of incentive/enhancement programs to achieve state higher education goals. The concept of budgetary leverage is outlined, and the growth in enhancement programs…

The goal of the doctoral dissertation summarized here was to find an equitable school finance plan that applied the same tax rate in all districts and resulted in the smallest variance in the expenditure per weighted pupil unit (WPU) between districts in Arizona for the 1971-72 school year. Six finance plans were developed for analysis and were…

In 1997, an active year for school-finance legislation, states responded in a variety of ways to court decisions. This report provides an overview of school-finance legislation for that year. Historically, school-finance suits have focused on the equity and adequacy of state funding, and the decisions handed down in 1997, for the most part,…