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 a case study of the school finance controversy in Texas with special emphasis on the results of two school finance bills enacted in successive sessions of the legislature. (Author/IRT)

Uses a foundation-equalizing model to develop a number of indicators measuring the extent to which states utilize the full range of equalization tools at its disposal. Illustrates the utility of these indicators through an evaluation of the school finance reform instituted by Rhode Island between 1992 and 1996. (Contains 25 references.)…

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…

Following a touch-and-go struggle in the California legislature, a school finance reform law, known as the Property Tax Relief Act of 1972, was passed. The contents of this act were affected in part by the California Supreme Court decision--Serrano vs Priest. The new law includes boosts in foundation programs, expressed in dollar amounts per pupil…

State officials attempting school finance reform are faced with the three interlocking problems of school finance, property taxation, and the crisis of central cities. The three basic issues to be considered in dealing with these problems are equity, adequacy, and efficiency. This report examines these school finance problems and critiques…

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…

Three conference papers on school finance reform in Tennessee are presented in this document, with a focus on the disparities between rural and urban public school funding. The first paper examines the nature and size of contributions of various funding sources to the per-pupil revenue in local school districts, analyzes specific problems of the…

New Jersey's school funding reform initiative, the Quality Education Act of 1990 and its 1991 amendments, are described in this booklet. The amendments attempt to equalize the tax burden of all districts, provide property relief, and impose stricter spending limitations. In the new foundation funding system, the state provides aid based on a…

The format of this monograph follows essentially the arrangement of the day-long conference on Serrano vs. Priest: a major paper presentation, followed by a panel of three respondents, and subsequent general discussion involving the audience and conference participants. The editors have attempted to provide both the formal and the extemporaneous…

This document compiles several studies on educational finance, including "Federal Aid to Education: Who Benefits?""The Financial Aspects of Equality of Educational Opportunity," and "Legislator's Guide for School Finance." Also included are two briefs filed in the San Antonio vs Rodriguez case and a listing of current…

This paper traces the development of school reform pressures in Kansas from the implementation of the foundation program in 1965 to the passage of substitute Senate Bill 92 during the 1973 legislative session. Bill 92 is designed to produce equalization of school district expenditures and tax levies by a formula based on the concept of funding the…

This summary provides an overview of developments in school finance litigation since the United States Supreme Court's historic and lamentable 1973 ruling in "San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez" that wealth-based discrimination in educational expenditures does not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to…

The Serrano case controversy raises the fundamental question: Do differences in school district per pupil expenditures represent cost differences incurred in providing essentially equivalent programs, or do they represent substantial differences in educational offerings? Although the answer is debatable, the California legislature increased…