Eight years of school finance under New Jersey governor Brendan Byrne is analyzed. The author suggests the new governor will face the same problems Byrne faced eight years ago: a legal challenge to the state's system of funding schools, and a large hole in the state budget. (KC)

New directions in federal educational policy in the 1980s have had clear and consistent implications for state education finance systems. This study reviews the financing arrangements that have emerged during the 1980s at the state level, discusses the costs of new legislative mandates and state programs, and assesses the extent to which federal…