This paper examines the impact of Illinois' present system of state aid to education in light of the rationale for its adoption, and argues that the stated purposes of the present system would be better realized through the adoption of a "two-tiered" finance system. The present Illinois system consists of the Strayer-Haig system of…

Discusses the Illinois grant-in-aid formula for school finance and argues that an income factor needs to be included in the measurement of fiscal effort if the state wants to retain its concept of "equal expenditure for equal effort." (JG)

Recent legal action and research raise doubts about the advisability of measuring fiscal effort in the Illinois general grant-in-aid program by using the simple school district tax rate for operational purposes. Various logical, and perhaps legal, considerations might be sufficient to compel adjustment of the measurement of effort. Beyond these…

Eight matters relative to the Illinois general purpose educational grant-in-aid that might be subjected to further research and development are discussed. The eight matters are (1) the use of a notational system based on the concept of a guaranteed expenditure for each cent of tax effort, (2) the possibility of adding a curvature to the present…

This publication contains testimony, given by personnel at the Center for the Study of Educational Finance, initially intended for legislators at the federal and state levels to help them deal with public policy matters in K-12 finance. The first document is testimony given before the United States Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources,…

A 1973 Illinois school finance reform program initiated a guaranteed tax yield system that can also be considered a district power equalization system. This paper evaluates this reform according to four criteria: permissable variance, fiscal neutrality, reward for effort, and aid to urban areas. Emphasis is given to a discussion of legal and…

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…

This study is divided into three chapters. In the first chapter the historical background essential for an understanding of the Illinois situation is presented and the various provisions of the new allocation system are described. In Chapter 2 a body of scholarly and professional literature concerning criteria for evaluation of state education…