Congress has recently focused on the complex relationship between federal student aid, states' funding appropriations for higher education, and institutional tuition and fee levels. Fueling this focus is the ongoing cost shit in public higher education, from states to students and families, as well as to the federal government via student aid…

While there is a wealth of research on school finance equity and adequacy, and school finance theory clearly documents differences between the two concepts, no study has examined whether the reforms engendered by each approach actually differ in terms of resource distribution. This study examines the issues using district level data on expenditure…

Finance reform in education is discussed with emphasis on state, local, and federal funding and court litigation. The focus is on equal education for poor communities. (DS)

The effect of the School District Equalization Act (SDEA) on school financing in Kansas is analyzed in this report. Included is a discussion of the context of the present legal action, a description of the present statutory scheme and evaluation framework, a longitudinal statistical assessment of the SDEA in relation to the entire state and…

This report describes and summarizes the final report of a 1976-77 study of Vermont's system of raising and distributing educational resources. In this study, Vermont's school finance system was analyzed, several alternative school finance formulas were simulated, and an extensive school finance data set and data set documentation were compiled.…

School financing generally has five goals: (1) substantial equalization of educational opportunity throughout a state, (2) fiscal neutrality--educational quantity and quality should not be dependent on local wealth, (3) equitable taxation, (4) efficient use of school funds, and (5) preservation of local control of education. No state has attained…

This publication is intended to provide policy-makers, educators, and concerned citizens with a practical introduction to pupil weighting systems--what they can accomplish, what factors must be taken into account as they are developed, and what problems can hamper their implementation. Pupil weighting systems are alternative approaches to funding…

Through an examination of the economic and ethical implications of additional redistribution, the author shows that the massive redistribution currently taking place each year makes it very costly to attempt to move still further toward equality. (Author/AM)

It is asserted that conventional school finance analysis must address itself to the social realities of politics and dealing with state legislatures, thus disputing some of the theses offered by Daniel C. Morgan in a previous article. (EH)

The authors outline the school finance reform process in Ohio, emphasizing the groups that played central roles in the process. The major group was the state legislature and its policy study group, the Educational Review Committee, but the state department of education, the various educational associations, and the executive branch were also…

This practicum report describes a step-by-step plan followed by the author and his employer, the Massachusetts Teachers' Association (MTA), to correct the fiscal disparities that existed in the Massachusetts school finance system and to provide property tax relief to Massachusetts taxpayers. The plan included assessing the existing Massachusetts…

Suggests that freedom for parents to choose their children's education (a kind of educational voucher system) would improve the quality of education in states where equality of per-pupil expenditures has been mandated. (PKP)

Discusses the conflicting goals of school finance reform--educational equity, equality, and excellence--and their effects on the district power equalizing (DPE) method of achieving school equity. Describes the experiences with DPE in California, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan. (RW)

This study examines various factors that influence school district spending and spending from locally raised taxes in Colorado and Minnesota. The factors include the levels of state and federal aid; the nature of the state general aid formula; local fiscal characteristics including the average market value of residential housing, the percent of…

Because of the comprehensiveness and complexity of the numerous reports on financing postsecondary education, appropriate dissemination to decisionmakers and educators at all levels was crucial. To assist in the dissemination process, the Education Commission of the States (ECS) conducted a series of regional conferences, concluding with a…