Compared with the former policies on early childhood education, the policies recently issued in mainland China clearly defined early childhood education as an integral part of education and social public welfare and stipulated the responsibilities of the government in its development, shifting the developmental orientation to promoting social…

Background/Context: School finance litigation has often prompted funding reforms, but what happens as a result is the subject of considerable dispute. Purpose: This article explores design problems encountered in studies examining the nature and effects of those reforms. Analysis: After describing the development and current status of school…

Like many U.S. public libraries, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh faces financial uncertainty. CLP asked RAND to identify critical factors that affect the library's financial stability and to develop a framework to assess how these factors can be managed to provide a more stable financial base. RAND researchers reviewed the literature and…

When resources are scarce, libraries have three basic options, which can be conducted in combination or separately, to bring them into balance: Seek additional funds, reduce expenses, and identify more efficient modes of operation. The authors explore whether, and if so how, the factors that consume or contribute resources--and the tradeoffs…

This paper provides a review of recent policy initiatives to reform teacher compensation systems and evidence regarding the effect of these policies. The first section examines the current structure of teacher compensation in the U.S. K-12 public education system. The compensation "system" for teachers is fragmented and uncoordinated. Teacher…

Failure to achieve equitable access to university studies has contributed to turning the focus to the funding of higher education systems. This paper aims to review critically the literature assessing the effectiveness of existing financing schemes and changes in them as a means for reducing the prevalent under-representation of students from a…

The paper reviews research and experience in human service integration and examines the impact of federal grant consolidation upon services for the disabled. Reasons for the existence of categorical aid are noted. An idealized integrated services system is proposed, and factors such as excessive red tape and lack of coordination which reflect a…

Demographic change in industrial countries will influence educational spending in potentially two ways. On the one hand, the decline in the number of school-age children should alleviate the financial pressure. On the other hand, the theoretical/empirical literature has established that the concomitantly increasing proportion of elderly in the…

The executive editor provides documentation on the widely publicized Kentucky school finance case, focusing events stemming from Lower Circuit Court Judge Ray Corns's decision that the state school financing system was unconstitutional. Barwick summarizes dates and events, beginning with a questionable June 1973 finance plan through adoption of a…

Introducing the fate of school finance reform as the topic of the next two issues of the Journal of Education Finance, the authors note the clash of values at the heart of the equity issue as described by the journal's contributors. They argue for legislative control as the way to resolve conflicts about school finance equity. (JW)

Historically, the primary role of financial aid was to increase educational opportunities for those with inadequate resources, yet more recently institutional aid is increasingly becoming based on criteria unrelated to financial need. Various political forces have reinforced the institutional tendency to redirect dollars from the mission of…

Summarizes state tax relief legislation that was supported by the Joint State Legislative Committees of the National Retired Teachers Association and the American Association of Retired Persons. Notes that generating public and political support for increased funding for education will be a challenge in the current fiscal climate. (Author/IRT)

Variations in public services and tax rates among communities may cause property values to vary, a concept referred to by economists as capitalization. The purpose of this booklet is to describe and evaluate the implications of capitalization primarily for school finance changes and secondarily for property tax changes. Section 1 describes the…

The tax exempt bond market continues to be unsettled, but many issues have been resolved by the Tax Reform Act of 1986. These range from very narrow technical adjustments to sweeping new limits applicable to all issuers, with some restrictions aimed directly at colleges and universities. (Author/MSE)

Examines the literature on capitalization (the relationship among property values, public services, and local taxation) and develops two lines of inference. Asserts that capitalization proves that the determination of educational expenditures is not isolated from other markets, but closely related to a large number of other economic variables.…