In Sheffield, England, a budget crisis and the growing demands of the National Curriculum sparked a campaign for improved contact ratios and class sizes. The local education authority established an independent inquiry to determine existing resourcing patterns and create the framework for a new curriculum-led funding rationale. This paper…

Reviews research on the association between school size and educational outcomes and considers policy implications of that research. Suggests a shift of value from large size to small size. Describes current state finance formulas, with an emphasis on sparsity and geographical isolation factors. Identifies policy considerations relative to the use…

Shifts in state funding, improved school facilities, and changes in other measurable resources do not lead directly to improved student achievement. Choice may be exacerbating existing disparities. School business officials can expect increased pressures to provide more parental choice opportunities and innovative funding solutions. (MLH)

Mixed messages--a legislature intending to repair school finance system inequities and a governor claiming the problem is "fixed" by a $100 million construction grant--characterized the beginning of Arizona's 1997 legislative session. Charter schools, school-based management, vouchers, and property-tax reforms are also discussed. (MLH)

This article studies the effects of earmarking state lottery profits for education. Because educational expenditures generally exceed the funds earmarked for education by a wide margin, nothing prevents state legislators from using earmarked funds to replace rather than augment funds that would have gone to education in the absence of earmarking.…

Special education as a percentage of total enrollment has risen significantly across the nation, increasing from 8% of the school-age population in 1975-76 to 12% in 2001-02. These growing numbers have garnered increased public attention and have raised questions as to whether the type of special education funding formula used by states may be…

Flexibility is a lever for change that occupies an increasingly prominent place in federal strategies for educational improvement. Flexibility assumes that local actors are in the best position to identify the most serious problems facing schools and students and to determine how to solve them. Consequently, these actors should be given greater…

America's higher education system is among the best in the world. Nevertheless, there is scope for improvement. In particular, there appear to be substantial financial barriers to higher education despite large government expenditures aimed at promoting access. Policy makers have proposed addressing these barriers by increasing student grants.…

This article presents findings from a national study on doctoral education undertaken at a time of new government policies on funding of higher education and doctoral research in particular. The article discusses the overall policy developments in Australia and then examines the impact of policy on practice in doctoral education. Particular focus…

This paper offers criteria for states attempting to develop more effective special education funding formulas. It notes that balancing criteria to meet program objectives is difficult, with a major focus on one criterion often coming at the expense of other criteria. An effective formula should be: understandable, equitable, adequate, predictable,…

The ways in which governments in different countries determine the amounts of money to be provided to individual institutions of higher education institutions vary considerably. This paper explains how government funds are allocated in Canada, focusing on grants in support of core operations to universities located in Nova Scotia. It examines how…

Administrative costs and efficiency have become public policy concerns over the past several years as significant amounts of new state and local tax revenue have been infused into Texas's education system. Current trends and state law favor fewer centralized administrative functions at the school district level and greater autonomy at the campus…

Policy suggestions for achieving the equitable and effective funding of Maryland public schools are offered in this document. The ideas presented draw upon papers presented and discussions held at a statewide conference entitled "Setting the Agenda for Funding Equity." Purposes of the conference were to develop the policy elements of a…

Despite a decade of reform efforts, important policy questions concerning the efficiency and equity of the current financing system remain unanswered. This paper examines New York State fiscal and educational outcome data for 1985/86 through 1989/90. Data are presented for school district expenditures and teacher salaries; local revenue bases and…

Two papers on the funding formula of the Alabama Commission for Higher Education are presented. The first paper, by John F. Porter, Jr., "The Origins and Evolutions of the Funding Formula Model Utilized by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, 1973-82," presents the historical antecedents for the existing formula elements and notes…