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 report presents findings from an investigation into relationships between academic achievement and the distribution of fiscal resources among rural school districts in Oregon. The investigation was prompted by earlier-reported findings suggesting the critical nature of both achievement gaps and resource gaps among rural school districts in…

Ever since the publication of "A Nation At Risk" in 1983, Americans have been preoccupied with two problems regarding public education: (1) student performance is unsatisfactory to most Americans despite large increases in real spending per student; and despite several attempts at reforming curricula, teacher training, testing, and other…

When publications are used in the evaluation of research performance, tensions between the simplifying, standardizing approaches of evaluations and the communication practices of scientific communities are likely to arise. An analysis of data gathered in an evaluation at the Australian National University demonstrates that many academic…

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)

Post-secondary systems throughout Canada and the United States have struggled with funding issues during most of the last decade of the 20th Century, and the new millennium did not open with great enthusiasm for change. This article examines the impact of post-secondary education funding changes in Alberta, Canada, by tracing the historical…