The goal of this study is to simultaneously explore resource allocation across schools within large urban school districts and across all schools within major metropolitan areas that include those urban districts in the state of Texas. This study uses a three-year panel, from 2005 to 2007, for Texas elementary schools in the Houston, Dallas,…

The purpose of this research was to address the public policy of adequacy by the creation of a Florida state-wide poverty index model to assist in the distribution of state and local dollars in funding public education. This poverty index model would measure the amount and severity of poverty in every public school within the state each year and…

This study considers the relationship between federal academic earmarks and state appropriations for higher education. Often referred to as "pork," federal academic earmarks are both controversial and understudied. Using a unique panel dataset which spans 1990-2006, this study conducts a panel analysis with two-way state and year-fixed effects. It…

A spate of school shootings in the U.S. has prompted policymakers to address the public's growing perception that our schools are unsafe. As education policymakers continue to press for additional security initiatives, it is important to understand the costs borne by school systems for these programs. Thus far, the scholarly literature is silent…

This article considers the role of higher education in state budgets. It empirically models and tests the balance wheel hypothesis in a robust framework. The balance wheel model posits that in good economic times, higher education is an attractive area for states to fund and tends to be funded at a higher rate than other state budget categories.…

Previous empirical literature finds that government expenditure on higher education has a negative, or null, effect on U.S. economic growth rates. This empirical result may be driven by omission of an important variable--the privatization of higher education. Using state-level panel data from 1970 to 2005, this analysis investigates whether the…

Beginning in 1997, a series of Ohio Supreme Court decisions ruled that Ohio's school foundation-based funding system was unconstitutional. Despite judicially mandated reform directives, little change was made until recently when Ohio adopted a modified Evidence-Based Model (EBM) into its statutory funding scheme. Ohio's EBM is intended to remedy…

Fiscal disparities within school districts may be the next area "ripe" for litigation. Equity and adequacy litigation have largely focused on between-district fiscal disparities. Research suggests that within-district disparities may be as unfair to high poverty schools. When the school funding pie is not growing, remedying within-district fiscal…

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 quantitative study investigated the degree to which financial resources supporting teachers was equitably distributed in Oklahoma. Teachers are an important resource and their importance is being increasingly emphasized as educators attempt to increase student achievement. Every student educated in Oklahoma should have an equal right to…

School finance adequacy litigation has become a widely-used means in the efforts to improve educational outcomes for children. This form of litigation has been attempted in nearly every state over the past two decades. Despite its prevalence, its effectiveness remains questionable due to a lack of study relating finance litigation to student…

The goal of this study is to apply a conventional education cost-function approach for estimating the sensitivity of cost models and predicted education costs to the inclusion of school district level racial composition variables and further to test whether race neutral alternatives sufficiently capture the additional costs associated with school…

Traditionally, financing the construction of school facilities has been a local responsibility. In the past several decades, states have increased their support for school facilities. Using data collected from various sources, this study first classifies the design of capital aid programs in all 50 states into various categories based on the scope…

No empirical studies have attempted to explain why states invest differentially in their research and in their non-research universities, although these differences hold important implications for students, postsecondary systems, and society. Deploying a form of hierarchical-linear modeling, our study examines across-state variation in state…

A cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted of Gordon, Kane, and Staiger's (2006) proposal to raise student achievement by identifying and replacing the bottom quartile of novice teachers, using value-added assessment of teacher performance. The cost effectiveness of this proposal was compared to the cost effectiveness of voucher programs, charter…