Explores how most states have adopted financing systems that link colleges' appropriations to performance, despite little evidence that the plans produce results. (EV)

Summarizes goals of state education aid, presents a conceptual model of aid's welfare effects, and examines the literature of tax and expenditure effects. Capitalization changes the relative desirability of two goals; equalizing resources across districts becomes less important than equalizing school districts' actual spending levels. (Contains 45…

This article discusses the tricks of the trade that legislatures in formerly de jure segregated states might use to maintain racial funding disparities in existence before Brown and whether such ploys might be vulnerable to legal challenges. The first section provides an overview of modern school finance formulas and explains how legislatures in…

This article proposes a general conception of educational adequacy and draws on a lengthy history of economic theory and emerging empirical evidence to support that conception. The author reviews empirical methods for measuring educational adequacy and synthesizes findings from a number of recent studies of the cost of an adequate education. He…

In this column, Linton provides updates on the various programs of the U.S. Department of Education. Among other things, he discusses the matter of restoring federal financial aide eligibility to certain offender populations, currently under study in Congress, and that Congress also is continuing a rare substantive discussion of issues related to…

An overview of formal government language-in-education planning for community languages (CLs) that has been undertaken in Australia and New South Wales is provided, moving from the more informal programmes provided in the 1980s to school-oriented programmes and training at the turn of the century. These programmes depend on community support; for…

What steps are needed to be taken to rebuild public investment in America's higher education? In this article, the author offers three actions which he believes the US higher education community must collectively embrace and suggests that the higher education community should also learn to speak with a common voice. To help put that idea into…

This is a case study of a state institution granted charter status in 1992 in exchange for capping its request for state funds. St. Mary's College of Maryland received widespread freedom from state procedural controls, including procurement, personnel, and some capital development processes. The state, however, retained its oversight of the…

The article is an historical account of the establishment of a new voluntary aided secondary school, named Nottingham Emmanuel School. The national and local contexts are established and discussed in practical and theological reflective ways by examining four key questions; (1) will the church take risks in education; (2) can the church deliver in…

Despite growing interest in the condition of school facilities as a dimension of school finance adequacy, reliable measures of capital stock for large samples of schools are hard to come by. In this article, we offer new methods for (a) measuring the existing capital stock of public schools, (b) defining adequacy in school facilities, and (c)…

The data presented in this combined report--"Rankings & Estimates"--provide facts about the extent to which local, state, and national governments commit resources to public education. As one might expect in a nation as diverse as the United States--with respect to economics, geography, and politics--the level of commitment to…

In 2008, the Center for Digital Education (CDE) conducted a review of state policy and programs to determine the status of online learning policy and practice across the United States. CDE interviewed state education officials across the nation to evaluate the overall landscape of online learning. The rankings reflect the vision, policies,…

This report summarizes Austin Independent School District's 2007-2008 state-funded program to assist students who are struggling in reading and math.

This study examines the systems of technical assistance and support that Northwest Region states implemented during 2005-2006 for schools in need of improvement. By highlighting key characteristics and differences among state systems, the intent is to stimulate an analysis of what states can do and what issues they might address to move schools…

Funding public education represents a massive state and local effort. Spending on education is second only to Medicaid in terms of the overall state budget and it consumes the largest share of local tax revenues. Between state and local taxes, Massachusetts taxpayers spent nearly $11 billion to operate the Commonwealth's PK-12 education system in…