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 presents the state education finance and governance profile of North Carolina. The state has 214 school districts and a total enrollment of 1,461,740 students in 2,513 public elementary and secondary schools. The current expenditures per pupil in 2007-2008 added up to $8,521, equaling 19.8% of the median state household income. As in…

The primary purpose of the education article of the Pennsylvania constitution is to maintain and support substantive education as a state function by offering free and equal educational opportunities. This book interprets and evaluates the mandates of the article and explains the dual subsidy funding formula prescribed by the legislature. In order…

Colorado has been experiencing the efforts by local property tax groups to reduce the dependence for educational revenue by moving away from local property taxes to wider based taxation plans. Paralleling these efforts have been attempts by various groups, through the courts, to change the method of financing education to provide more equality of…

On June 26, 1973, the system for financing elementary and secondary education in Florida was radically altered when the Florida legislature passed the Florida Education Finance Program Act of 1973. Significant features of this act include (1) substantially increased fiscal equalization; (2) a systematic plan and substantial State commitment to…

Today local control over education seems to face the most serious challenge in its history. The movement to reform school finance raises the specter of the State assuming its formal consitutional powers and removing autonomy from the communities. Hence, it is argued, as the State takes over control of taxation and expenditures it will want to…

This paper analyzes Texas Senate Bill 351 that reforms public school funding. The bill provides for additional state funding and significant increases in local property taxes. The bill creates county education taxing units to neutralize the enormous property wealth differences found among the state's 1,056 school districts. It also provides a…

The special report reviews Washington's 1965 Apportionment Formula, which authorized the superintendent of public instruction to develop a weighting factor that would provide additional state funds for costs resulting from the operation of small districts judged by the state board of education as "remote and necessary." Actions on the…

Utah and its school districts share the responsibility for providing adequate school facilities, including developing feasible alternatives to new construction. School facilities are financed primarily with local property taxes supplemented with limited state aid. During summer 1982, Utah's 40 school districts projected their highest priority…

Recent court decisions requiring changes in State educational finance systems have not invalidated the use of local property taxes as a revenue source for education, nor have they dictated that the same amount of dollars must be spent on every pupil. In short, these decisions have left with the State legislatures the responsibility to fashion new…

Utah's school districts receive equalization aid under the state's school finance program. Funds are distributed on the basis of weighted pupil units and are allocated among a number of specific programs. This document consists of tables and graphs displaying the allocation of these funds to Utah's 40 school districts during the 1982-83 school…

This publication will provide the general public and the educational community with a summary of interpretations, policies, and procedures established by the Pennsylvania Department of Education for the administration of the basic instructional subsidy. Pennsylvania schools are funded by a complicated state and local financial partnership spelled…

In 1992, economic recession and the resulting drop in anticipated revenues placed the Illinois educational system in a state of financial crisis. Two related developments included delayed state aid payment and a 3-percent budget recision. This paper presents findings of a study that examined the effect of the decline in funding on Illinois public…

In the first section of this study, arguments for and against reward for local effort are presented along with brief summaries of some previous empirical studies on the subject. The second and third sections describe the methodology and the findings of a new empirical study that investigated the determinates of tax rate change in Illinois before…

Intended to answer questions regarding public schools in Washington, this handbook provides an overview of the organization and financing of the state's public school system, grades K-12. Included are brief descriptions of the Basic Education Act, the basic education allocation formula, how state and local funds are included in this formula, and…