This booklet contains a brief analysis of four "real life" alternatives (Minnesota, Michigan, Kansas, and New York) for State systems of funding schools, along with a concise conceptual framework for approaching the study of school finance reform. Because the booklet was prepared as a practical guide for State legislators, the authors avoid highly…

This paper discusses alternative methods for financing education including sales and compensating taxes, mineral leasing, and land income. The author discusses the problem of local control under a full State funding system. He warns that merely allocating money to school districts on an equal basis will fail to accomplish equal education unless…

The increased need for state funded construction projects in Illinois has created problems due to lack of funding. To reconcile this problem, the Capital Task Force convened to review, analyze, and assess all aspects of the current capital budgeting process, including the recommendations of the System Funding Task Force. The Task Force recommended…

Many states have found that financing public schools through local property taxes is unlawful under their state constitutions; as a result, they must consider using state tax revenue as the primary source of local school-district funding. The recent California experience provides a sample of political economic behaviors used to respond to the…

Using examples from California, the author analyzes the increasing trend for states to assume a guiding or dominant role over local school districts in important aspects of American education. He considers the main reasons for this trend to be public concern over academic standards and the increasing cost of education. (Editor/SJL)

There appears to be growing concern that state systems of financing capital outlay may be vulnerable to successful legal challenge. Outlines considerations for the development of a defensible conceptual base for allocating scarce capital outlay funds. (Author/MLF)

This paper provides a historical review of equity in funding education in Alberta. It describes government attempts to address fiscal inequities and shows how the introduction of full spending in 1994 addressed many of the equity problems in Alberta. Full provincial funding of education has proved an overall success, but it faces the following…

Today's education governance reform efforts call for new ways of allocating resources to public education to allow for more local control of budgetary decision making. This research begins by exploring the federal, state, and local mechanisms by which public education is supported in California before turning to an examination of how those…

Drawing from the literature on the financing of community colleges, this paper discusses problems associated with state community college funding and examines the relationships that arise between the state, local community college districts, and students when each is an important source of revenue to the community college. In the first section,…

The question of whether the quality improvement rhetoric has led to changes in state funding levels and funding strategies in the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states is considered. The information reported here is based on an extensive review of education finance officers, and on-site visits to about half of education finance officers,…

"Grapevine" presents timely data on state tax legislation, state appropriations for universities, colleges, and junior colleges, and legislation affecting education beyond the high school. This compilation presents issues of "Grapevine," published between 1977 and 1988, containing such articles on community colleges as: (1) "State 2-Year Colleges…

Based on data provided by state directors of community/junior college education, this report reviews state approaches to community college financing. The report includes information from 41 states, representing 96.5% of the total community college enrollments in the country. Section I addresses state-level concerns in community college finance,…

The fourth in a series of analytical studies of the financing of community colleges in the United States, this report provides information for the 38 states which accounted for more than 95% of the total Fall 1978 community college enrollment. Data indicate that allocation of funds to community colleges still follows four traditional patterns and…

This paper attempts both to provide a way of looking at school finance in order to make wiser decisions about it and to discuss some alternative ways to finance the public schools of New York State. The New York school finance system is examined in terms of equity, efficiency, and responsiveness, as are some of the characteristics of the…

A case study of the relationship between governmental funding of public universities and governmental control in one nation, Mexico, is presented. Three factors in the university's autonomy from financial control are discussed: (1) university power to distribute its funds as it sees fit; (2) security against stark income fluctuations; and (3)…