As states consider increases to K-12 spending amid better economic conditions, governors on opposite sides of the partisan divide are proposing significantly different plans and arguments for the best ways to use new education aid. Two prime examples: Minnesota and Ohio, a pair of Midwestern states with chief executives intent on pumping more…

Examines several schemes that include income (as well as property wealth) to measure school district fiscal capacity. (Author/JM)

Data on 431 Minnesota school districts' use of the "referendum levy" (above the regular tax rate) and the "discretionary levy" (extending state aided taxes) indicate wealthier districts use the referendum levy more, yielding higher tax rates and more revenue. Referendum levies adjusted through district power equalizing should…

In October 1988, 48 suburban and greater Minnesota school districts, representing approximately 20 percent of the state's public elementary and secondary school students, filed a lawsuit claiming that Minnesota's school financing system violates the state's constitutional mandate for equality of educational opportunity. (A ruling in the case is…

In less than 2 years after the publication of the national report "A Nation at Risk," an overwhelming majority of states adopted many of the educational reform measures advocated in the report. The rapid adoption of the reforms among states with different political cultures, policy traditions, and partisan control raises the question of…

This report attempts to provide a useful statistical profile of Oregon's educational system as of 1970 by comparing a number of commonly accepted indicators across a population of comparable states. Many of the tables present data on educational expenditures and fiscal effort for education, but other tables provide statistics on such educational…

This document presents findings of a General Accounting Office (GAO) study that reviewed the experiences of three states that had recently reformed their school-finance systems to make them more equitable. Case studies of Tennessee, Texas, and Minnesota were conducted. Methodology included a review of school finance documents and legislative…

The primary sources of capital funds in Minnesota are the local capital expenditure levy and school district bond sales. The state provides assistance to low-wealth districts by providing a capital expenditure equalization aid program and two types of loans under the Maximum Effort School Aid Law. It has been argued that the concepts of equal…