As the United States prepares for the 21st century, questions regarding the high cost of education have increased in volume. Many of these questions and issues are addressed in this textbook. The text is intended for a beginning course in school finance, but school administrators, teachers, school board members, legislators, and others interested in school finance should find its information useful. The central themes of the book address the adequate financing of urban school districts, legal ways to keep public schools operating in the face of rapidly accelerating costs, and the condemnation leveled at the property tax by many people--in spite of its fundamental role in providing local school revenue. The specific issues covered in the text's 16 chapters focus on the economics of education; financing education equitably; patterns for developing school finance systems; sources of revenue for education; the erosion of local control in districts; the state's and the federal government's roles in education; the influence and the climate of the courts; public funds and nonpublic schools; strategies for financing school facilities; administering the school budget; accounting and auditing; risk management and insurance; personnel administration's effect on school finance; and the road ahead. (Contains an index.) (RJM)