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ERIC Number: ED275025
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1986-Aug
Pages: 14
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Equity and Diversity: A Challenge for the Allocation of Financial Resources.
Walters, Donald L.
This paper discusses selected techniques for measuring equity in a state school finance system and focuses on the distribution of fiscal outcomes among school districts in Pennsylvania. Measures of dispersion, measures of relationship, and winners-losers ratios are demonstrated with data from a small sample of school districts. Data from a statewide study of Pennsylvania for the 1983-1984 school year show a full-scale application. Two equity themes are analyzed. Equalization of fiscal outcomes calls for equal expenditures among all students; fiscal neutrality holds that the quality of education may not be a function of wealth and that fiscal outcomes may vary according to local willingness to pay. The goal of "ex ante" fiscal neutrality is equalization in districts' earning ability. "Ex post" fiscal neutrality concerns making the funding of poorer districts equal to that of wealthier districts. Measures of equity among the 10 school districts are presented in 5 tables of data. Variables are revenue per pupil, instructional expense per pupil, tax rate, and wealth per pupil. Results indicate that neither "ex ante" fiscal neutrality nor "ex post" fiscal neutrality demonstrates a relationship to tax effort or to tax base wealth. In assessing the equity of Pennsylvania's finance system, variables considered included size, population density, percent of white population, and percent of poverty level students. Differences in expenditures per pupil are associated slightly with differences in achievement. (CJH)
Publication Type: Opinion Papers; Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Researchers; Administrators; Practitioners
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Pennsylvania
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A