This article presents the state education finance and governance profile of West Virginia. West Virginia is the 41st largest state in the United States, with an area of 24,231 square miles. The total population of West Virginia in 2008 was 1,814,468, making it the 37th most populous state in the United States. Current expenditures per pupil are…

This overview provides a synthesis of a comprehensive survey of school finance programs in the 50 states conducted in 2006-07. Information was provided by chief state school finance officers or persons with expertise in a state's public school funding-allocation system. Brief descriptions of the major Pre-K-12 funding formulae, district-based…

This article presents Louisiana's education finance and governance profile. Louisiana witnessed a 3.9% decline in population during the period from 2000 to 2007. Poverty persists both in urban and rural areas of the state, as demonstrated by visible poverty both in the agricultural parishes and in major cities such as New Orleans and Shreveport…

This article presents the state education finance and governance profile of Alabama. The state is home to 1,538 public schools distributed across 67 county school systems and 64 city school systems. State spending is allocated via two separate budgets, "the general fund" for all noneducation related expenditures and the Education Trust…

This article provides information on Maryland's state education finance and governance. The state provides a foundation funding program, which guarantees a minimum or foundation level of per-pupil expenditures for children in all the state's school systems; this is done through a combination of state aid and local revenue. In 2002, Maryland…

According to the weighted pupil philosophy, the essence of equal educational opportunity is not in providing equal amounts of funds for the education of each child, but in providing the varying amounts of funds needed to insure a financial basis for giving each child an equal opportunity to obtain an education which meets his needs. This paper…

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the cost-of-living allowance used in the Alaska Public School Foundation Program (PSFP) to the actual cost of providing educational services in different regions of the state. The focus of this examination is on "instructional unit allotments," the factor in the…

In 1997, the American Association of Community Colleges conducted a survey was conducted to determine the extent to which community colleges have established foundations and to identify factors that lead to foundation success. For this survey, a foundation was defined as a financial vehicle comprising multiple sources of income, such as…

School finance reform plans have not been accompanied by research demonstrating that they will result in fundamental changes in educational quality. The objective of this study was to quantify school district quality measures and to assess the effects of expenditure levels on these factors. The source of data was the New York State Department of…

A description of a possible new minimum foundation program for public education in North Dakota is contained in this document. The State Foundation Program, suggested in 1967, is the financial instrument whereby the state guarantees each child an opportunity to acquire an appropriate and adequate public education. Elements of the desired new…

THE STATE AID TO EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN KENTUCKY, MISSOURI, AND TENNESSEE ARE INVESTIGATED WITH RESPECT TO THEIR COMPENSATION FOR DIFFERENCES IN THE ABILITY OF LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO SUPPORT EDUCATION. A HYPOTHETICAL AID FORMULA WAS USED AS A STANDARD AGAINST WHICH TO MEASURE THE PRESENT EQUALIZATION SCHEMA IN EACH OF THE THREE STATES. KENTUCKY…

This paper describes funding formulas for the new Foundation School Program in Texas enacted under the Education Opportunity Act (H.B. 72), raises issues that have accompanied its first year of implementation, and provides preliminary data to compare prior and existing law. The state finance system, which previously distributed state aid according…

Wide scale reform in Texas education financing was enacted in 1984 under the Equal Education Opportunity Act (Texas House Bill 72). This paper examines the reform through an analysis of the newly enacted weighted pupil Foundation School Program (FSP) during the 1985-86 school year. Two modes of inquiry were used: correlational analysis between…

IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEARLY 90 PERCENT OF THE LOCAL SCHOOL BUDGET IS RAISED THROUGH LOCAL TAXES. BECAUSE OF THIS HIGH DEGREE OF DEPENDENCE ON LOCAL EFFORT, EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY VARIES WITH PREVAILING ECONOMIC CONDITIONS AMONG THE 154 SCHOOL DISTRICTS WHICH HAVE A PUPIL ENROLLMENT OF LESS THAN 2,500. COSTS PER PUPIL IN THESE DISTRICTS DECLINE AS…