Purpose: The unanticipated changes in state legislation in Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee, and Wisconsin in 2011-12 significantly restricted or entirely prohibited the collective bargaining rights of teachers. Considering these institutional changes as a natural experiment, we examine the causal impact of weakening teacher unionization on…

This meta-analysis found a minimal relationship between student achievement and educational expenditures except for direct instructional expenditures such as teachers' salaries and supplies. The amount spent is less vital than how the money is spent. (Compare gymnasium renovation with purchasing a new math program.) Nonschool factors may also be…

Critics argue that No Child Left Behind's requirement that states bring all students up to academic proficiency by the year 2014 represents a massive unfunded mandate. These critics reason that unless the feds put a lot more money on the table, financially strapped state and local governments will be forced to raise taxes sharply. Otherwise, the…

School-site budgeting puts the burden of responsibility directly on the local school and allows for more public involvement; however, it increases responsibilities and demands on time for administrators and teachers. (MLF)

This article analyzes education and finance in Texas. It reports that Texas spends less per pupil on education than many other states in the nation--despite a greater than 10 percent increase in state appropriations for education since 1996. There is also high variance in per-pupil expenditures from one district to the next, with some school…

The LACE (Local Authority Current Expenditure) report on comparable local education expenditure in Scotland, England, and Wales, 1993-95, found that Scottish expenditure was 23% higher than in England, largely from the higher incidence of local authority-educated children in Scotland. However, the LACE report excludes several important variables…

This volume addresses issues of interest to the education-finance community. Its five articles are intended to promote the exchange of ideas among researchers and policymakers. The papers address advances in measuring education inflation and adjusting for it; the emergence of a new focus upon spending at the school level; new, private sources of…

Public opinion polls show that most Americans (including a majority of teachers) favor merit pay for teachers. Teachers' and administrators' organizations generally oppose merit pay because there is no fair way to evaluate teachers and because the merit pay issue diverts attention from the fact that all teachers are underpaid. A review of recent…

The paper reviews state categorical funding programs to serve special need populations among school age children (including handicapped, educationally disadvantaged, bilingual, and vocational education students); examines the literature on costs of categorical programs; and presents an alternative framework for addressing the problem. A cost based…

Based on a review of the general features and findings of 40 published works, some estimates of the impact on educational spending of categorical grants, matching grants, block grants, and general revenue sharing grants are provided. Some conceptual and statistical issues are discussed. (Author/BW)

Reviews cases involving school districts' obligation to pay tuition or reimburse parents for placing children in private special education programs. Discusses state constitutions and statutes, tuition payment ceilings, limiting of options for services, unilateral placements by parents, and placements made before administrative or judicial…

Education researchers have moved beyond asking whether money matters to school performance. They are now investigating how money matters to student learning and achievement. There are three questions that policymakers and citizens must address: How much money are they willing to spend on the education of the young? How should it be fairly spent?…

Addition of fiscal response factors to the traditional simulation model of school finance demonstrates that the traditional model underestimates both the costs and impacts of state aid programs at the district level. The study reviews research on fiscal response--defined as school districts' taxing and spending behavior after receipt of state…

The Center for the Study of Evaluation's project, Evaluation and School Districts, used questionnaires to survey the heads of evaluation offices in metropolitan public school systems. This paper presents the preliminary findings of the survey. Most school systems have established a centralized program evaluation unit organized around three…

In this paper a review of the Wisconsin declining enrollment trend is presented and implications are noted for Wisconsin districts involved in school closing efforts. The author suggests that districts can best meet the challenge of declining enrollment by considering local enrollment projections, taking a facilities and program inventory,…