The 1,000-student Allegheny Valley district in Pennsylvania boasts generations of alumni and a community so involved with the schools that high school graduation becomes an open celebration in downtown Springdale Borough. Yet the district hasn't asked for a tax increase in three years, and it is pushing out a message to older residents about…

Texas has had its Robin Hood school financing system in place since 1993, when the legislature adopted the system in response to a state supreme court order to equalize state spending on public schools. Under the arrangement, any district that has taxable property values exceeding $305,000 per student is not allowed to keep all of its property-tax…

Idaho's patchwork-quilt way of financing schools does not provide enough stable financial resources for many rural schools. Tax levies are sometimes unsuccessful. Some rural districts have depended on forest revenues, but this source dwindled following new environmental policies. Federal legislation may return a portion of forest revenues, but…