State takeovers of school districts typically involve dramatic changes to the workforce in the targeted school system and are often undertaken for the express purpose of improving a school system's finances. However, little is known about how takeover affects education spending, particularly the distribution of funds across schools within…

After more than a decade of dedicated investment, state funding to assist local California school districts in the construction, modernization, and maintenance of their school facilities has come to a halt. As the Governor, the legislature, and other stakeholders debate the future of the state's K-12 school facility funding role, a big unknown…

After decades of dedicated investment, state funding to assist local California school districts in the construction, modernization, and maintenance of their school facilities has come to a halt. As the Governor, the legislature, and other stakeholders debate the future of the state's K-12 school facility funding role, a big unknown exists:…

The goal of this study is to simultaneously explore resource allocation across schools within large urban school districts and across all schools within major metropolitan areas that include those urban districts in the state of Texas. This study uses a three-year panel, from 2005 to 2007, for Texas elementary schools in the Houston, Dallas,…

State and local funding for general operating budgets for Kansas public schools will be at a five-year low this school year, yet total Kansas school district spending will reach an all-time high of $5.67 billion according to estimates released by the Kansas State Department of Education. Total per pupil spending is projected to reach $12,454 per…

Preserving existing revenues is an essential component of the work of school business officials. The broad ranges of activities that can affect school district revenues make identifying potential threats difficult. By understanding the issues that affect school district revenue, school business officials are better able to diminish its erosion--a…

School districts and states have begun to receive education funds doled out from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA, and many have a simple plan for the money--prevent teacher layoffs and restore current programs that were heading for the chopping block. This plan aligns with the legislation's intent to address the acute financial…

With passage of S-1516, the new school aid law on which State support for local school districts is supposed to be apportioned for 1976-77, the deadlines described in this timetable now apply to each school district's local budgetmaking process. (Author/RK)

The purpose of this paper is to outline some policy options that might be considered by decision-makers in Illinois as they struggle with school finance in adequately funding the public schools, but also bringing about property tax relief. First the report looks at ways of attaining property tax relief through the distributive side by discussing…

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…

The purpose of this report is to identify the use of North Carolina's dropout prevention funds by local school systems and to define the types of services provided to students. Part I of the report contains a summary of funding by program type. A chart lists the total amount of funds obligated from state dropout prevention and other program…

A Nevada study provides information on the following: (1) 1987-88 general fund budget allocations for all 17 school districts; (2) Nevada's school district costs compared with those from a national sample of comparable districts; and (3) district-by-district trends in the number of teachers, administrators, and auxiliary staff employed over a…

This paper reviews a descriptive model that attempts to build a relationship between funding and school effectiveness. The model describes schools in terms of their component parts. The model allows policymakers to make assumptions about how much improvement in student performance should be expected as a result of changes in funding. It also…

The Center for the Study of Educational Finance at Illinois State University has been monitoring the progress toward or away from equity in Illinois since the state finance reform of 1973. The two main areas of concern are (1) wealth neutrality, or to what extent a district's expenditures are a function of its wealth and (2) permissible variance,…

This paper summarizes the main provisions of Kansas' School District Finance and Quality Performance Act (SDFQP). The paper discusses state financial aid and how this is affected by decreasing enrollment, program weight, low-enrollment weight, correlation weight, transportation weight, at-risk pupil weight, school-facilities weight, and ancillary…