This document proposes a model for operating state aid that provides a more equitable and rational system of state aid appropriations that would primarily benefit rural and low socioeconomic area community colleges. Operating state aid is appropriated on the basis of a statutory formula that uses the previous year's appropriation and growth in…

This report addresses the relationship between the school accountability measures required for Title I schools and those put in place by state and local jurisdictions. The document's main focus is on the degree of coherence and compatibility among the multiple accountability systems, as well as the level and coordination of support provided to…

This report is based on surveys of unified school districts, elementary school districts, high school districts, county offices of education, and state special schools in California. Performed by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC), the document provides the state legislature an assessment of the facility and personnel needs facing…

This brief examines two components of Colorado's school-finance act: state aid and local property taxes. It describes how the Department of Education accounts for about 41 percent of the state General Fund appropriations, the vast majority of which is used for the school-finance act. Roughly 10 years ago, the General Assembly set property taxes…

This paper provides a history and analysis of educational finance in Wyoming. It offers a summary of the funding model that is currently in place and that has been challenged in court--the fourth such challenge in the past 30 years. The article focuses on the current litigation. It discusses the funding formula that was adopted by the state…

To help close gaps between employee skills and employer needs, both federal- and state-funded programs are providing training and helping employers find qualified employees. In 2002, states raised revenues from taxes levied on employers to fund their own programs. This study examined how many states used employer taxes to fund their own employment…

There are many different agencies and organizations which provide funding for those involved in research, community development, education, the provision of health and social services, and other activities. This publication is designed to serve as an introduction for counselors to sources of grant funding and particular grant programs, and to the…

Some groups that are pressing for changes in the state's school funding system represent the interests of a small number of school districts that see themselves as somehow "unfairly" impacted by the state's recapture provisions. Recapture is the part of the funding system that re-allocates state resources that are concentrated in a small number of…

An attorney who has represented school interests in recent U.S. Supreme Court cases dealing with State aid to parochial schools gives his interpretation of the Court's rulings in those cases. (JF)

Discusses recent United States Supreme Court rulings on aid to parochial schools and suggests how these rulings might affect education voucher plans that include parochial schools. (JF)

Describes how Massachusetts is overhauling its approach to the education of handicapped children. Discusses how things used to be, the push for change, and a new Massachusetts law that assigns to local school districts the responsibility for special education. Explains how to get education legislation drafted and enacted. (Author/DN)

Presents a case study of the more salient difficulties in developing a subsidy program that is responsive to the complexities of the private college problem, on the one hand, while conforming to political sensibilities and legal constraints on the other. Focuses on a 10-year effort in the Commonwealth of Virginia to establish a subsidy program for…

Educators, legislators, and school chiefs register their reactions to the Rodriguez case and the Supreme Court's decision regarding it. (Author/JN)

While revenue sharing is a unique and masterful windfall to local districts over the nation, if proposed cuts in current education programs are made and a special education revenue sharing bill not funded, the Wisconsin State Department of Public Instruction will be unable to guarantee the State's fundamental interest in education. (Author/JN)

The common school system in New York evolved from the free charity schools, rather than from the common pay schools. In first allocating public financial assistance, the City Common Council made a distinction between teachers hired on salary by the inhabitants of a defined area, and nonsalaried teachers competing on a free market. (Author/WM)