The Potential Revenue Index (PRI) emphasizes the per cent of current school revenues that are derived from unequalized local taxation. Its purpose is to measure the extent to which potential school per pupil revenues are equalized by various State school support programs. One can also ask how much additional tax revenue people in low wealth school…

Details the 1989 funding proposals for research and development. Describes trends in federal spending. Discusses proportions of funding for the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and other basic research agencies. Includes tables that detail money spent and proposed for many research agencies. (CW)

Challenges facing school transportation programs include pressure from community groups for extended service, austerity imposed by conservative county commissions, increasing driver militancy, declining district purchasing power, rapid turnover of drivers, and growing disciplinary problems aboard buses. (MCG)

This report presents the results of a 1998 study of endowment assets of 509 higher education institutions, and is intended to allow administrators and trustees to evaluate the performance of their endowments and to acquaint them with the investment policies and practices of other higher education institutions. A brief abstract notes some…

Discusses factors affecting both school funding demand (including demographic changes and student needs) and the supply of educational funds (such as fiscal capacity and effort, state and local expenditures, and federal aid). Classifies states with favorable, average, and unfavorable funding prospects, based on state rankings for each factor. (RW)

Changes in the National Education Association's new edition of "Budget Handbook for College Faculty and Staff," reflecting new rules for institutional accounting, are summarized and implications for faculty and staff are highlighted. Budget terminology, sources of budget information, and budget components are detailed as well as changes…

Describes the potential perils of corporate tax incentives for communities. Discusses practices that drain funding from public schools--tax abatements, tax-increment financing, and industrial bonds. Three sidebars are included. (LMI)

Inequality in school facilities is emerging as a pivotal factor in court decisions that have ruled state school-funding systems unconstitutional. This report examines cases in three states--Arizona, Ohio, and Texas--where courts considered school facilities paramount in ruling the funding system unconstitutional. Arizona's school funding system…

Designed to provide information on the Iowa community colleges' overall financial performance for fiscal year (FY) 1996, this report reviews individual budgets for the state's 16 community colleges and provides a compilation of statewide budget data. Following an introduction, data are presented on the colleges' fund balances, or the sum of…

This paper discusses the current role of the property tax as a revenue source for state and local governments. It is written for state and local policymakers and others interested in property taxes, including those who lack an indepth knowledge of tax systems. The purposes of the paper are to: (1) explain the current role of property taxes in…

This report examines states' appropriations to institutions of higher education, and reveals that there had been an aggregate reduction in state dollar support for higher education spending as the 1992 fiscal year began, with some respondents reporting reductions from the previous year's rate. It is noted that a deteriorating economy has resulted…

Three conference papers on school finance reform in Tennessee are presented in this document, with a focus on the disparities between rural and urban public school funding. The first paper examines the nature and size of contributions of various funding sources to the per-pupil revenue in local school districts, analyzes specific problems of the…

New Jersey's school funding reform initiative, the Quality Education Act of 1990 and its 1991 amendments, are described in this booklet. The amendments attempt to equalize the tax burden of all districts, provide property relief, and impose stricter spending limitations. In the new foundation funding system, the state provides aid based on a…

Updated information is provided in this addendum to an original report that assessed the equity of the Kansas School District Equalization Act (SDEA) from 1973 to 1988. This consultants' analysis on behalf of Turner School District in "Mock v. State of Kansas" consists of five parts. Following an introduction, section 2 reviews the…

This report provides an extensive discussion of the use of criterion referenced, mathematical modeling procedures to determine which budget reductions minimize reduction in the quality of educational programs. Part I, "Evaluation of Potential Budgeting Roll-backs under Educational Fiscal Crisis," explains the basic design of multiple…