Explores the recent status of funding formula use among the states, focusing on changes over the last eight years. Determines how guidelines or formulas drive usage and discusses innovations in formula design. Funding formulas are becoming more complex and are used to protect base budgets and achieve equity. Although formula usage will not…

Confronting state funding problems and the federal government's decreasing fiscal responsibility for education, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Elementary and Secondary Education heard compelling testimony last fall from Kern Alexander, who described the "coming apart of America." Pointing to profound inequalities within states, he urged…

During 1995 to 1996, a state-appointed task force examined historical information about New Mexico's school funding, the context of K-12 education, major funding-formula changes since 1974, data from interviews and surveys of school personnel, and data on fiscal capacity, tax effort, equity, and costs. Funding formula changes were recommended. (21…

Under the 1950 federal Impact Aid law, school districts can receive federal assistance to meet financial burdens due to acquisition of real property by the United States, and to educate children who reside on federal property and whose parents work on federal property. Congress is to reauthorize or extend Impact Aid in 1999. (MLH)

The "65 percent solution," developed by First Class Education, a national advocacy group, states that 65 percent of a school's operating budget be devoted to "in-class instruction" as opposed to "out-of-classroom" purposes. One of the unintended consequences of this "solution," according to this author, is that it provides another basis for…

This article discusses the city of Denver's poll on a new teacher-compensation plan. The poll showed those who had made up their minds to be about evenly divided, leaving more than 20 percent undecided. Proponents have been making the rounds at schools in recent weeks to try winning teachers over to their side. If members of the Denver Classroom…

Policy makers and educators in the U.S. have recently shown considerable interest in the concept of weighted student funding (WSF) as a means of financing primary and secondary schools. WSF appeals both to conservatives, who see it as a way to promote parental choice and school autonomy, and to progressives, who are attracted by the call of extra…

In its recent report, the Governor's Committee on Education Excellence proposes a major restructuring of California's school finance system, replacing most of the separate programs through which revenue now flows from the state to local school districts with a base program and a targeted program. The base program would serve the educational needs…

This study investigates whether Australian multi-campus universities are distinctive in terms of their student profile by field of education (FOE), funding and expenditure profiles, and learning and teaching outcomes, and identifies the implications for higher education policy and funding. Both parametric and non-parametric techniques are used to…

Since 2002, some of the federal funds provided to local school districts under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act have been distributed through "weighted" grant formulas intended to better target funding to districts with the highest concentrations of poverty. These weighted grant formulas have produced some perverse…

This memorandum describes the calculations used to figure the instructional subsidy for postsecondary education in Ohio, focusing on why the model operates as it does and the implications of the current funding model. The two principle factors in the instructional subsidy model are institutional enrollments and actual costs. The model begins with…

The system used in Illinois for financing public education underwent major reform in 1973. At that time four alternative formulas for determining equalization aid levels were established. In 1980 three of these formulas were eliminated and only a modified version of the Resource Equalizer formula remains in use. This report provides an overview of…

State-level funding formulas should be changed from enrollment-based to fixed cost-based, using standards such as those of the Association of Research Libraries. Funding linked with programmatic changes encourages quality of the institution and rewards effective library management. (CDD)

Unlike in the K?12 education sector, where state and local spending eclipses national participation, the federal government has become the primary source of postsecondary education support for U.S. college students. In this Washington-centric context, accentuated by recent steep rises in tuition and other education-related costs, this report seeks…

Currently, state aid for education in New York State is distributed through over 50 separate and unnecessarily complex formulas and grants-in-aid. The approach recommended in this proposal consolidates 39 of these current categories into a single foundation allocation, while increasing the percentage of the state share and providing districts with…