This report is a longevity, simulational study that looks at how the ratio of state support to local support effects the number of school districts that breaks the common school's funding formula which in turns effects the equity of distribution to the common schools. After nearly two decades of adequately supporting the funding formula, Oklahoma…

This paper explains the education price index formulated in 1979 for Canada. It defines a price index as a statistical measure designed to show changes in the price of a commodity or a set of commodities with respect to time. The index calculated for the project covers salaries and wages, instructional supplies, school facilities, supplies and…

The findings of an exploratory study of urban school desegregation costs are reported in this paper. The study examined five cities faced with desegregating their schools: Cleveland, Columbus, Buffalo, Dayton, and Milwaukee. The main body of the report presents descriptive information about desegregation costs. Cost variations among cities are…

In 1983 the California Legislature passed Senate Bill 813, which appropriated an additional one billion dollars yearly for each of 4 years to the schools. Most of the additional money was distributed through the state's general aid formula. However, a portion of the money was offered through eight other new programs designed to encourage specific…

There are two basic ways of cutting a school district budget. The most common way is the wrong way--school board members going in to cut either dollars or activities from a budget that the superintendent and staff support. A school budget should be the educational objectives of a school system translated into financial terms. Once objectives are…

Minnesota's attempt to equalize school spending through state payments to low-expenditure districts succeeded only partially in reducing statewide variation in districts' per-pupil expenditures. To test the effects of the state's 1973 law, and to test a new statistical technique for simultaneous assessment of variability in many factors,…

This report identifies the finance data needs of states facing school finance litigation or seeking to avoid it altogether. The article addresses the following key questions: What issues are prominent in the "new wave" of school finance litigation? and What are the core finance data needs of states seeking to address these issues? The materials…

Findings of a study that examined the relationship between Pennsylvania teachers' salaries and local wealth are presented in this paper. Statistical analyses of 491 Pennsylvania school districts involved regression, t tests, and chi square. Findings indicate that two factors had a statistically significant impact on local teacher salaries: (1) the…

This study documents the differences in school quality-related measures between high-expenditure and low-expenditure school districts, examines the effects of different per-pupil expenditure levels on school quality-related measures, and uses an administrative model to assess the flow of expenditure level into school quality-related measures. The…

All school districts are affected by the stagnant economy, the growing needs of the public sector, the increased burden of transfer payments, and the limited growth of public revenues. Retrenchment is common to all school districts, but it may be more severe in affluent districts. By 1969-70, suburban school systems were the clear-cut expenditure…

This paper offers a look into the future of educational program auditing and presents a detailed discussion of the notion of a districtwide educational audit. To date, virtually all program audit activities have occurred as a result of specially funded State or federal education programs. Once the program ends, or changes its requirements, the…

This paper gives an analysis of receipts and expenditures in a sample Kentucky school district and compares them with receipts and expenditures for the United States and for other school districts in Kentucky. Data have been obtained from the sample school district, the Kentucky Department of Education, and the January 1973 issue of "School…

This report examines tax reform in Vermont. A unanimous state supreme court decision in 1997 ruled that the state's educational finance system was unconstitutional. In response to this ruling, the legislature passed a new statewide property-tax system with two tiers: a block grant of $5,010 per pupil and a guaranteed yield for spending above the…

Under the School Improvement and Accountability Act (SIAA) of 1989, North Carolina school districts developed plans for educational improvement. During the 1989-90 school year, 134 school districts developed responses to the SIAA, and all included differentiated teacher salary/pay plans. These pay plans are analyzed, and several generalizations…

In 1971 the California Supreme Court published America's most significant court decision in recent decades affecting a state's program of funding the operation of its public schools. This was followed by court decisions in Minnesota, Texas, and New Jersey. Lawsuits based on the California case of Serrano v. Priest are being filed in courts…