Improving the quality of public education is high on the policy agenda in Washington and in state capitals throughout the country. Despite disagreement over specific policies, policymakers appear to recognize that an important element in any plan to improve educational quality is the measurement of student performance. Here, it is argued that most…

This report presents an overview of the revised preschool funding formula under the 1997 amendments of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and perceptions of some state education agencies (SEA) staff on the initial impact of the funding changes. New features include a hold harmless base amount that is equal to the preschool grant…

The problem of allocating increasingly limited funds appropriately in higher education is discussed in an introductory manner. The article describes the development of an allocation process that was developed and used in a college of education in making allocations of library/media funds to departments and program.

Analyzes two new state funding programs for low-wealth and small-enrollment schools in North Carolina, compared with funding distribution provided under the already existing Basic Education Program. The distribution of low-wealth funds among counties is erratic, and the small-school funding program benefits some small-enrollment counties with…

The Madison, Perry, and Painesville Township school districts in northeastern Ohio pooled their resources and ran a joint tax levy campaign in 1990. The districts also developed a formula to distribute new tax revenues on an equalized per pupil basis. The Perry nuclear power plant was the key to the financing district's success. (MLH)

Recently, monies allocated to the additional educational needs (AEN) component of (Britain's) standard spending assessment (SSA) have decreased markedly. The strategy for determining the AEN weighting (to aid socially deprived and ethnic-minority students) is undermined by central-government spending constraints. Weighting should be determined by…

The decade from 1987 to 1997 saw two unsuccessful attempts to reform Illinois's school finance system from a constitutional perspective. In 1997, prospective reforms will probably be limited by partisanship, revenues and anti-tax sentiment, regional antipathies, fragmentation, and pressures for property tax relief. (MLH)

"Open Doors" is a long-standing, comprehensive information resource on over 565,000 international students in the United States in 2004/05 and on over 191,000 U.S. students who studied abroad for academic credit in 2003/04. The Institute of International Education, the largest and most experienced U.S. higher education exchange agency,…

This report identifies and analyzes legal, regulatory, and policy barriers to redesigning high schools in California. In an effort to identify legal, regulatory, and policy barriers to the creation and successful operation of redesigned high schools in California, the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) staff interviewed high school…

Although 6 million adults in Britain are studying at any one time, survey findings confirm continuing underrepresentation of people in lower socioeconomic levels. This paper suggests that widened participation in education and training is necessary to improve competitiveness and economic success and to enable all to have an equal opportunity of…

The Legislature requested a study of the student-faculty ratio workload measure used by the University of California (UC) to determine if it results in excess instructional resources for the University. Following a statement of the purpose of the report, information on the background of the University's instructional resources formula is provided.…

A study was conducted of state funding methods, practices and trends in the states covered by the Southern Regional Education Board. The use of funding formulas was found to be about as prevalent as in the late 1970s. A detailed profile is presented for each of the 15 states studied. The profiles provide such information as: state agency name;…

This policy brief summarizes the full report [ED468840], which describes a study that evaluated whether smaller school districts, as a result of their higher costs per pupil, experienced greater hardship in the areas of infrastructure, resources, and staffing. The policy brief reports on the results of a survey that was administered to the…

Alberta Education provides funding to school authorities to support the development and implementation of programming for students with severe disabilities. The Handbook for the Identification and Review of Students with Severe Disabilities presents case studies to assist school authorities in identifying students who may be eligible for special…

This policy brief on the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is based on March 2002, discussions involving chief state school officers and state directors of special education from five Western states and staff of Western educational research and policy organizations. It focuses on those issues that are…