Recent court decisions and legislation show that an adequate school finance formula must provide sufficient money so public schools can teach all students. Four different approaches for determining school finance adequacy are: (1) determining the economic cost of various educational functions; (2) linking spending to performance benchmarks; (3)…

In this article, the author discusses the impact brought about by the "No Child Left Behind" Act (NCLB) on school funding. Because of changes in the funding formulas, most of the increased funding will go to districts in which the highest number of poor children reside. Districts which are less impacted by poverty will lose funding. The…

This study examines Utah's funding system for public education and provides an analysis of the fiscal impact of allowing parents to use a portion of their child's state education funding to attend a school of their choice, public or private. Like many states, Utah is facing pressure to improve its system of public education funding. The state's…

Adequacy lawsuits have, with little fanfare, emerged as a major alternative strategy in the pursuit of improved public education in the United States. Plaintiffs allege insufficient resources to provide students with the quality of education promised in their state's constitution, hoping the courts will step in and order the state to increase…

To evaluate the adequacy and efficiency of preschool education, the RAND Corporation has undertaken the California Preschool Study to improve understanding of achievement gaps in the early elementary grades, the adequacy of preschool education currently given, and what efficiencies or additional resources might be brought to bear in early care and…

Perhaps the most ambitious example of the way in which flexibility and accountability have been brought together can be found in the State Flex and Local Flex demonstration programs. Although no additional resources are provided to participating states and districts, the enhanced flexibility granted under State Flex and Local Flex allows…

The System Funding Task Force (SFTF) of the Illinois Community College Board was formed to review the recommendations and framework for modifying the state's funding plan developed by the Board's President's Council. This report presents the SFTF's review of the Council's findings and presents the Task Force's own recommendations for funding.…

This report examines the financial ability of West Virginia's 55 county school boards to balance their budgets for fiscal years 1990-95. Data were gathered from annual financial statements of the county boards, annual state budgets, various state reports on education, and a survey of districts that did not incur any deficits. An overview of West…

The basic formula used by the Chapter 1 Migrant Education Program to allocate funds to state agencies includes an adjustment to help defray the cost of summer services for migrant children, which can be particularly expensive. In recent years, policymakers have questioned whether the current funding formula unfairly rewards states with modest…

This paper explores the impact of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) of 1990 on the funding and allocation of resources to special education. Overall, the results indicate that the revenues generated for the special education system by KERA are approximately equal to marginal costs of special education services statewide. However, there is…

Background information on a new general studies curriculum at Southwest Texas State University is presented, along with faculty views about the new curriculum. The proposed three-level program covers essential skills, disciplinary perspectives, and integrative courses. Specific skills and content are outlined, along with the number of credit hours…

The papers presented at this conference review current research on effective educational practices for low-achieving students and identify those that might be applied to programs funded under Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981. A function assumed by several conference participants was to act as reactor to papers…

This report details a project to develop a system to distribute federal funds under the Education Amendments of 1976 to all eligible recipients on the basis of annual applications. The first section describes the pertinent federal and state legislation, project scope, and guidelines used to develop the new system. Data sources and the criteria…

Formula budgeting for college and university facilities maintenance is recommended because: (1) formulas inject objectivity into the budgeting process by using quantified data; (2) formulas tend to improve the equitability of treatment of comparable institutions; (3) formulas are intended to provide adequate but economical budgets; and (4)…

Evaluates estimates of full-value-equalization rates, using a study of 20 New York cities and their school districts to (1) show that these estimates contain significant errors, (2) discuss how these errors affect intergovernmental relations, and (3) analyze how they affect equity in financing local schools. (MCG)