Briefly outlines the history of using public funds for private education and examines the development of related judicial doctrine, using several illustrative cases. In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court's concern about "excessive entanglement" has weakened, sparking a heated, unresolved debate about the original intent of the…

Outlines how the state of North Dakota is developing a system for incorporating the revenue from the coal and petroleum industries into the tax base for local school support as part of an equalization plan for supporting basic services during a depressed economic period. (MD)

Presents the findings from an Illinois study of the relationship between voter referenda outcomes, election date, and passage of referenda. Whether the relationships among the variables reported in this study will hold for future elections is uncertain. (MD)

Presents a policy analysis of the recent effects of centralized funding formulas on school districts in British Columbia. Includes 12 tables. (MD)

Reviews the history of the budgetary procedures of the New Jersey Department of Higher Education and outlines the development of the grant program budgeting as a major source of revenue since 1984. (MD)

Presents a study of cost analysis of the Frederick County Public Schools (Maryland) special education programs and services. The Larson IPSEC Model was used as the basis for the cost analysis. The modified Larson model provides a valuable tool to determine the per pupil cost of special education. (Author/MD)

Outlines the background of the Illinois school finance reform effort and provides an analysis of the legislative situation in reference to school finance reform in early 1987. Includes three tables. (Author/MD)

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…

Despite their eroding fiscal positions, state governments are responsible for establishing budget policy for both public elementary/secondary and higher education. As a Utah case study shows, the current political structure creates pressures for both competition and cooperation in optimizing scarce resources. This study advocates limited…

While the due process provisions within PL 94-142 are designed to protect the rights of handicapped children and their parents regardless of costs, this study suggests that Congress' original intentions are not being realized. Findings disclosed enormous cost differences (especially person hour costs) among due process hearings. Includes two…

Educational reforms rest on a true need and a fiscal capacity to finance them. Poorer states already making a substantial tax effort are especially vulnerable. Maine's reform package is based not on across-the-board teacher salary increases, but on increase in year-round professional earnings. Includes 2 tables, 2 figures, and 10 references. (MLH)

Reports an improved methodology for estimating teacher salary costs well in advance of the fiscal year. The Markov approach, based on probabilistic techniques, provided a more accurate prediction of school district personnel costs than did the traditional deterministic technique for the budget year studied. Includes four tables and nine…

Identifies the political forces affecting state decision making during four Minnesota legislative sessions--1955, 1971, 1976, and 1981--that either passed or retained measures for private school tax deductions. The study focuses on the central features of the legislative process and the implications of those features for education policymaking.…

Pennsylvania's mathematical modeling technique to evaluate tax reform proposals requires the following data: personal income at the local level and measures of the breakdown of property tax payment by land use classification. The simulation technique could be readily adapted in reorganizing educational finance systems. (MLF)

Data concerning state-local systems of financing public education in Illinois reveal inequities across districts of different types as well as between districts of the same type. The procedure should be of value in appraising school finance inequities in states with diverse patterns of school district organization. (MLF)