Reviews the literature on local school management, especially the latter's potential for influencing school efficiency and effectiveness. Explores three areas: formula funding effects, resource allocation, and changing patterns of influence in school decision making. Local school management may enhance efficiency or economy without substantially…

Provides a further examination of nonresidential expanded tax base (ETB) approaches to school finance. Disagrees with Townsend's optimism that more equitable distribution formulas can be found in existing state aid systems, and with Townsend's concern that the specification of distribution formulas will be subject to political manipulation.…

The U.S. Department of Education is sponsoring the first national special-education expenditure study in nearly 15 years. A nationally representative sample including all states and 250 school districts will provide comprehensive and comparable data. Nine states will provide additional representative data to get a handle on their expenses. (MLH)

Indiana's school funding formula was developed in response to a lawsuit challenging the state's educational system's constitutionality. A reward-for-effort formula sets each school corporation's per-pupil noncategorical revenue, general fund property tax rate, and percentage of state aid. Funding for alternative education is planned for 1997. (MLH)

The first of two sections discusses two major factors compelling a rethinking of school finance: standards-based education and the shift from equity to adequacy in school-finance litigation. The second section summarizes five compilations of research findings related to these two factors. (PKP)

Since contemporary school finance litigation began in the 1960s, almost every state has experienced school finance litigation or the threat of litigation. To date, 45 states have encountered lawsuits challenging their funding of public schools. Delaware, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, and Utah are the five states that have had no school funding…

To give states the information they need to sustain hard-fought education reform effectively, Achieve conducted research on state education reforms that have been sustained successfully for over a decade or more. Funded by the GE Foundation, Achieve hopes this work will help other state leaders, wherever they may be on their road to reform,…

This brief provides a summary and analysis of a survey taken in the fall of 2005. The survey was conducted with a distribution of questionnaires to all of the district superintendents in the state of Arizona. Responses were received from 116 individuals out of a population of 227. These superintendents represented all three types of school…

This paper presents the annual report of the Association for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) for 2007. In 2007, ACNJ made the future better for children by: (1) Successfully advocating for an expansion of high-quality preschool through increased funding in the FY 2008 state budget and inclusion of a major preschool expansion in the new school…

The Department of Defense (DoD) is committed to meeting the need for child care among military families. DoD supports the largest employer-sponsored system of high-quality child care in the country. Through accredited child development centers (CDCs), family child care (FCC) homes, youth centers, and other after-school programs, DoD currently…

Most states have experimented with performance accountability as a way to drive improvement in public higher education institutions and systems. However, efforts to implement performance funding in the United States have yielded mixed results. This policy brief describes the reforms that dramatically changed the policy landscape in England and…

The 27 institutions damaged by hurricanes Katrina or Rita--there were 14 in Mississippi, 12 in Louisiana and one in Alabama--estimate their combined physical damages at $1.4 billion. But rather than providing aid, the Louisiana Legislature was forced to call for $77 million in cuts in November, leading to a wrenching gut-check on many campuses.…

Along with the efforts to increase the competitiveness of universities in Korea, one of the foci of higher education reforms initiated by the Korean government in 1995 was to diversify its higher education system. However, it is commonly believed that its attempts to diversify its universities system have not been successful. By examining the…

Prepared in response to Section 3602 of New York State Education Law, this report analyzes the relationship between approved operating expense (AOE) and instructional expense (IE) for 1990-91. Originally defined as a net aidable expense for dispensing operating aid to school districts, AOE's definition and use have been considerably modified over…

Over the past 2 years, nearly half the states have been debating the fairness and/or constitutionality of their school financing systems. Renewed interest can be traced to changing demographic and economic contexts since the 1970s and a decade of reform calling for qualitative school improvements. Although school revenue more than doubled between…