The history of and issues involved in the implementation of a tax appraisal program in West Virginia are highlighted in this paper, with a focus on taxation litigation since 1975. Efforts of the state legislature to implement a uniform tax system since the 1982 "Recht Decision," which found the state school funding system to be…

Critical issues concerning the state takeover of local school districts are outlined in this paper. Three major topics are addressed: situational factors leading to intervention; the legitimacy of state power; and appropriate beneficial conditions of state takeover. The most frequent reasons for state intervention involve concerns about equity,…

An examination of the issues in the debate over federal tuition tax credits for private elementary and secondary education involves the context of the debate, pros and cons, costs, beneficiaries, legal questions, and the public interest. Proponents of tuition tax credits object to paying both school taxes and private tuition; they wish to deduct…

This report reviews local tax reform and describes an approach to simulating the effects of proposed tax reform on local school districts in Pennsylvania. The microcomputer spreadsheet simulation led to the development of a model able to meet the feasibility criteria established for such a simulation model. The model was designed to input…

The Science Assessment and Research Project conducted an assessment of the opportunities for computer learning in the nation's schools. As part of this study, 15,847 junior and senior high school students (13 and 17 years old) responded to a questionnaire regarding computers and computer usage. This is a summary of the findings: Opportunities for…

Taken together, recent national education reports imply that public resources should be refocused toward students with acceptable in-school skills, technological head starts, and higher than average incomes. Implementation of such policies will result in further educational inequities, disenfranchisement, and discontent among disadvantaged groups.…

This brief provides an overview of the No Child Left Behind Act and how it may be implemented in states and local communities. The brief discusses what policymakers must do to ensure that this legislation enhances rather than limits opportunities to learn, especially for Latino children. It begins with a short, recent history of the standard-based…

The 2002 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act mandates that schools receiving federal funding must desegregate their student performance data by race, gender, and socioeconomic status in order to provide progress information to the community and state. Data-driven decision making is particularly important in urban schools…

"Pocket Projections" provide National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) information on projected enrollments at all education levels, numbers of high school graduates, earned degrees conferred, teachers, and expenditures. In addition, there is a state-level figure on public elementary and secondary enrollment. Each year, NCES…

For 10 years the Public School Forum has conducted an annual study of local school finance in North Carolina. The results of the 1997 study are presented in this report. It is intended to enable policymakers and the public at large to compare communities' ability and relative effort to provide financial support for their public schools. The report…

Reviews the impact on education of the first year's application of Massachusetts' Proposition 2-1/2, examines local factors linked to retrenchment policies, and considers the law's distributive impact among variously sized population centers. Analyzes projections of the law's second-year urban impact and its implications for educational equity in…

Tennessee's Project STAR (Student Teacher Achievement Ratio), a large longitudinal project involving students in kindergarten through third grade, has provided important information about class-size effects on pupil achievement and development. The project showed that small classes provided higher student outcomes and better student behaviors than…

After four months of work, a national panel studying why colleges cost so much has reached the conclusion that American higher education is, for the most part, a bargain. Republicans originally asked the commission to focus on cost containment. The commission's membership is dominated by educators. Panel recommendations emphasize explaining to…

The last decade in Florida has seen an increase in reform efforts and public scrutiny, but no evidence of across-the-board achievement gains. The state's capacity for forging coalitions and funding reforms is threatened by continuing political volatility, ideological and partisan cleavages, and increasing competition for tax dollars. (38…

Analyzes South African education's labor market productivity by race and compares it to investment levels. Investment highly favored whites, with interesting variations. Per capita and total investment in general secondary education of blacks is neglected relative to the same group's university and technical education. University subsidies appear…