In this policy brief, the author contends that there are four other principal causes of the collective poor showing on reaching state equity goals in the United States. These are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the school finance world. The first horseman rides an economic horse, the second a sociological horse, the third a political horse,…

Describes the political values operating to allow the Illinois finance reform legislation to be passed in 1973, outlines the legislation and subsequent amendments to the reform, and discusses evaluative research done on the reform. (Author/IRT)

Discusses the Illinois grant-in-aid formula for school finance and argues that an income factor needs to be included in the measurement of fiscal effort if the state wants to retain its concept of "equal expenditure for equal effort." (JG)

Examines a "Forbes" cover story on educational expenditures that poses questions related to three current research guidelines for educational finance: adequacy, equity, and efficiency. Different "production functions" must be sought for children of differing family backgrounds. Without adequate education, the world's armies, trade, currency, and…

Longitudinal data for 1973-81 for Illinois elementary school districts indicate that the higher the percentage of state aid to K-12 education, the greater the degree of wealth neutrality or equity in educational finance. Further longitudinal studies are needed, however, before the relationship can be considered proven. (RW)

Concludes that a state may make very uneven progress toward some general equity goal if that equity goal is operationalized in different ways. A preference for tax disparity, expenditure disparity reduction, or wealth neutrality gains may have to be expressed. (Author/IRT)