This study examines patterns of state financing in public community colleges. The focus of the study is to not only show the disparities that exist across the 50 states in terms of fiscal capacity to provide funding for community colleges, but also in the effort that is exerted to fund community colleges. The study combines the Bureau of Economic…

A Maintenance of Effort (MOE) provision for higher education was first adopted in the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 and was included as a requirement for states to participate in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The information in this article was presented before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on…

A shortcoming of the conventional ordinary least squares (OLS) approaches for estimating median voter models of education demand is the inability to more fully explain the spatial relationships between neighboring school districts. Consequently, two school districts that appear to be descriptively similar in terms of conventional measures of…

This study investigates what factors are associated with the likelihood of passing school facility construction bonds by local district election. It uses statewide data from Michigan, 1998-2006, to examine the outcome of 789 bond elections in terms of the following ten variables: amount of the bond request; district enrollment; district locale;…

Examines the finding of the Southern Regional Education Board study in which state-local tax potential (ability) is estimated and compared with actual collections (effort). Also discusses the current and future adequacy and equity of the state-local tax revenue structure. (Author/IRT)

Report of research on consequence of introducing an income variable into a district power equalizing formula for state aid grants for education in Vermont. (PKP)

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

Traces the presence of tax burden equity and educational funding equity interests in recent court rulings in order to place Connecticut's Horton vs Meskill in context. Also describes the California and New Jersey state legislatures' responses to similar state Supreme Court rulings on school finance. (Author/IRT)

Examines the fiscal environment surrounding New York's use of property taxes to raise local education revenue. The property tax should not be abandoned. The recent statewide increased burden stems from a cyclical slowing in personal income growth and a shift in funding responsibility from state to local governments. Application of the property tax…

Proposes a method for finding the appropriate level of teacher salaries in different states, based on states' and regions' average fiscal capacities and efforts for instructional salary costs. Applies the method to salary data from all states and compares it to methods based on actual salary levels. (RW)

The annual survey by the Southern Regional Education Board compiled data for all 50 states on their utilization of taxable resources in fiscal 1979. It analyzed state and local governments' relative ability to collect taxes, their efforts to realize this taxing ability, and the recent tax trends. (Author/RW)

Discusses the Texas Supreme Court's upholding of a 1987 trial court decision that declared the Texas public school finance system unconstitutional. Summarizes remedies and requirements for equalizing resources, providing adequate resources to spur productivity, and structuring the system to conserve the considerable dollars required for equity and…

Discusses the Texas Supreme Court's upholding of a 1987 trial court decision that declared the Texas public school finance system unconstitutional. Summarizes remedies and requirements for equalizing resources, providing adequate resources to spur productivity, and structuring the system to conserve the considerable dollars required for equity and…

Summarizes American public school finance history from the post World War II period to the present, focusing on the work of R.L. Johns, Edgar Morphet, and numerous colleagues. Discusses the conflict and schism in school finance during the 1970's resulting from demands for greater equity in the face of diminishing local financing choices. (MLH)

Assesses the impact of state school finance reform legislation in the seventies on state and local distribution of educational funds, and concludes that expenditure disparities (between rich and poor districts) has increased nationally. (PKP)