A Maintenance of Effort (MOE) provision for higher education was first adopted in the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 and was included as a requirement for states to participate in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The information in this article was presented before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on…

Throughout the history of publicly-funded voucher programs--enacted and proposed--the impact on taxpayers has been a recurring issue. As the nation's longest-running program, the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) provides an important case study. The fiscal impact of Milwaukee's program has evolved in very significant ways over its 18-year…

Presents arguments against the use of incentives that provide additional state aid for districts that exert additional tax effort, with particular reference to the new school finance plan in Utah. (Author/IRT)

Report of research on consequence of introducing an income variable into a district power equalizing formula for state aid grants for education in Vermont. (PKP)

It is often suggested that measuring local fiscal ability by full valuation of property per public school pupil is inaccurate and inequitable. One substitute measure proposed is district income per pupil or a combination of district income and property value per pupil. However, using this measure would result in a rise in the aid ratios in only…

This paper traces the changing concepts in school finance that have implemented equality of education in New York State. Some financing methods are reviewed such as the foundation program approach -- State and locally financed minimum dollar level; State financing of schools; and a voucher system with its variations. The paper also considers the…

The court's finding invalidates New York State's system of financing schools because of problems including municipal overburden. (Author/IRT)

Proposes a model for evaluating state equalization aid formulas, accounting for municipal overburden and tradeoffs between expenditures and taxes. Tests the model using the Michigan state aid formula. Results relate elasticities to spending and tax levels and suggest that relatively unrestricted guaranteed tax base formulas can work. (PGD)

This paper examines the impact of Illinois' present system of state aid to education in light of the rationale for its adoption, and argues that the stated purposes of the present system would be better realized through the adoption of a "two-tiered" finance system. The present Illinois system consists of the Strayer-Haig system of…

Assesses the impact of state school finance reform legislation in the seventies on state and local distribution of educational funds, and concludes that expenditure disparities (between rich and poor districts) has increased nationally. (PKP)

Asserts that high wealth districts pay less and receive more while citizens of low wealth districts are strapped with a high tax rate that yields a low return of education, and that it is not the case that low wealth districts are mainly high income, white suburbs. (Author/IRT)

The equalization formula used by 81 percent of Illinois school districts to compute their state aid was designed to meet the requirement of fiscal neutrality established in Serrano v. Priest. However, the inclusion of the operating tax rate in the resource equalizer formula tends to help income-rich school districts more than income-poor…

The Texas Foundation School Program, popularly known as the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP), is a very complex approach to school finance. It provides basic assistance in three areas--minimum salaries, operating allowances, and transportation--and additional assistance in two others--vocational education and special education. The state pays…

This document, part of the NEFP series, explores the school financing issues raised by the necessity for bringing about educational equality in America. The report analyzes the impossibility of true equality in educational services while such gross variation exists in school districts' fiscal capacities, educational needs, and program costs. This…