The passage of the Kentucky Educational Reform Act (KERA) in 1990 had a dramatic impact on the funding of primary and secondary education in the state. The amount of money spent on education increased significantly with the passage of KERA with districts in rural areas of the state experiencing the largest growth in spending (Hoyt, 1999). This has…

This report, third in a series on education finance, examines U.S. education budgets recently passed by state legislatures and contrasts them with proposed gubernatorial budgets. The generally strong economy allowed state legislatures to increase total state FY 1998 education spending by over $2 billion (1.5 percent) from governors' own proposed…

This analysis is the second of a series of seven reports on the ways that the urban fiscal crisis has affected children. During the 1970s, as a result of general public disenchantment with government, 39 states (78 percent of the 50 states) appear to have enacted tax limitations that affected children's services. Of these states, 37 imposed…

This report analyzes the impact of California's 1972 Senate Bill 90 and 1973 Assembly Bill 1267 as they have affected public school finance in California. The portions of SB 90 and AB 1267 that pertain to operating school districts contain general property tax rollback and revenue limit features, as well as mechanisms designed to lessen the…

Adequate revenue is essential to the existence of good schools. Recognizing this truth, numerous governors have proposed and many states have adopted tax increases to enhance school funding. The real question is whether education spending increased more than it would have if taxes had not been increased. To answer these questions, the booklet was…

Recent analyses of the fiscal impact of New Jersey's Public School Education Act of 1975 have demonstrated that the manner in which education revenues are raised and distributed continues to favor wealthier school districts. While many people believe that most state aid to education funds were allocated to major cities, including Newark, the…

This report describes and evaluates the record of reform in several states that have revised their school finance systems since 1971. The introductory chapter provides an overview of reform's recent successes, shortcomings, and prospects. Six subsequent chapters offer a close look at its main features. Chapters 2 and 3 analyze new school aid…

The system for financing education in Illinois fails to deliver sufficient resources to the school districts that need them most. Although no individual or administrative unit acts to deprive particular groups, the system as a whole does. Using Census figures, state and local tax records and information from the Illinois Board of Education, this…

In the wake of court decisions in the cases of "Serrano v. Priest,""San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez," and "Robinson v. Cahill," Congress set aside funds as part of Public Law 93-380 for state departments of education to study the equitability of current educational funding arrangements. This…