This research investigates state finance policies for public elementary and secondary education using survey methodology. The purpose is to update the existing knowledge base in the field as well as to provide a compendium of finance and policy options that are being used across the states to finance school for lawmakers, educators and others.…

This overview provides a synthesis of a comprehensive survey of school finance programs in the 50 states conducted in 2006-07. Information was provided by chief state school finance officers or persons with expertise in a state's public school funding-allocation system. Brief descriptions of the major Pre-K-12 funding formulae, district-based…

This article presents the authors' response to a response to their research on Illinois in which the authors analyze the equity, adequacy, and legal issues related to school finance. The Responders' quarrel with that portion of the authors' research that addresses equity and create a "de novo" analysis, by treating unequals equally--an invalid…

This is a watershed era in education as the states and the nation move from the old equity and adequacy of minimums and basic skills to the new equity and adequacy of excellence in education and proficiency outcomes for all children and at all schools. This is being driven by the requirements of the knowledge society, global economy, and…

This article discusses the methods and results of a study designed to determine the cost of education under the curriculum frameworks and state laws in a northeastern state after major education reform and a judicial decision finding the system inadequate and unconstitutional. The study is designed to determine the funding levels necessary for…

Researchers have long searched for a relationship between school resources and student achievement. The search for this relationship has relied heavily on the use of education production functions. Despite years of research on this topic, there has been little agreement concerning which resources are the most essential variables to increase…

Adequacy is a key issue propelled by high court decisions across the states. Initially the equity of funding systems that resulted in "savage inequalities" between school districts within a state based on property wealth was at issue. However, just since 1989, with the state supreme court decision in Kentucky finding the system unconstitutional…

Discusses need for reinventing state education finance systems to provide adequacy and equity aligned to standards-based reform. Provides initial specifications for "The New Finance." Examines in depth approaches for determining a base spending level considered adequate for the average child to reach high educational standards. (Contains 87…

Chief state finance officers of 24 states were surveyed to discover state legislatures' response to school-finance litigation affecting small and rural school districts. In 17 of 21 states with final constitutionality rulings, funding formulas for rural districts did not change as a result. (Contains 25 references.) (MLH)

Discusses research that addresses court decisions emerging during the third wave of school-finance litigation as related to children with special needs. Recent state supreme court decisions in Alabama, Wyoming, and Ohio address the constitutionality of the general and special-education finance systems. All systems were judged inequitable. Contains…

Clear funding/achievement relationships are emerging from the recent body of production-function research. Money does matter in producing educational outcomes. Factors such as small class size and teacher experience can drive up instructional costs. Schools cannot operate efficiently with scanty resources. Equalizing quality resource inputs is a…

An analysis of recent judicial decisions shows that the adequacy concept emerging from state courts' invalidation of school finance systems transcends minimalist education standards and focuses on "world-class" standards and ambitious, universal student outcomes. Instead of challenging per-pupil expenditures, courts are questioning whether…

Measures equity of per-pupil revenue distribution across jurisdictions in Alabama, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, and Virginia, using conventional equity statistics and alternative measures (an Index for the upper half of the revenue distribution and the "Angle of Inequity"). The study, including state and local revenues only, showed that disparity…

Chapter 2 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA) reduced and redistributed federal aid to education, moving funds from targeted areas of need to all areas regardless of need. States were unable to make up for significant losses in aid sustained by local districts. (TE)

A decade after "San Antonio v Rodriguez" (1973), a historic ruling on the unjust Texas educational finance system, the state's Education Opportunity Act (1984) finally replaced existing statutory formulas with a weighted pupil average system and committed $2.8 billion to education over the next three years. A statistical analysis shows improvement…