A major shortcoming of macro-spatial research undertaken to date in Israel pertains to the neglect of state investment-related measures and the extent to which they mediate unequal opportunities to learn (OTL) and educational opportunities between localities. In the present study, OTL refer to class size and high-school tracking patterns.…

This article introduces the issue of articles on research assessments and rankings. It focuses on the British Research Assessment Exercises (RAEs) and New Zealand's Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF). It contrasts these with systems that are not tied to funding formulas and emphasise quality enhancement rather than quality assurance. It…

This paper examines the level and inequality of annual per pupil expenditure in the public school systems of the United States and Canada as a function of the centralization of financing. The effect of centralized revenue collection was tested empirically using a sample consisting of the American states and Canadian provinces, while controlling…

To determine adequate, fair, and efficient methods of public school finance for the state of Illinois, this study collected and synthesized data on state revenues collected in 1980-81 and distributed to school districts in 1981-82. Researchers examined current alternative methods of distributing state and federal funds to Illinois public schools…

Vermont's Equal Educational Opportunity Act of 1997 (Act 60) has attracted attention because of its funding and quality components, and the highly publicized responses to its implementation. A key feature is its "recapture" provision in which property-wealthy towns contribute to a state educational fund that helps support education in…

This study focuses on contemporary issues of educational financing in developing countries and on available research findings as these relate, or can be related, to these issues. The first two chapters are analytical, examining common educational finance issues and testing the conventional wisdom of certain usual proposals. Chapter 1, "Issues in…

This paper describes funding formulas for the new Foundation School Program in Texas enacted under the Education Opportunity Act (H.B. 72), raises issues that have accompanied its first year of implementation, and provides preliminary data to compare prior and existing law. The state finance system, which previously distributed state aid according…

Educational reform depends more on clearly defined missions and operational efficiency than on improved teacher quality. This article defines adequacy, equality, equity, and efficiency; examines numerous production function studies of teacher characteristics and policy and administrative structures; and summarizes seven policy implications.…

This report is an overview of events that have taken place over the last 4 years to further efforts to make the arts part of what every schoolchild learns in every grade. The report recounts how the Arts in Schools Basic Education Grants (AISBEG), a targeted federal pilot project of the National Endowment for the Arts, has stimulated change at the…

Replicating Success, a school improvement program in Philadelphia, is designed to raise the achievement level of all students in 30 selected, racially isolated, low achieving schools. Each school undertakes an extensive needs assessment process and then develops an individualized schoolwide plan which takes into account the characteristics of…

This paper's goal is to redefine fiscal health by broadening its predictive function and to determine which fiscal indicators are useful for forecasting fiscal health for one, two, and three years. Results indicate that school district fiscal health forecasts are potentially great planning tools for local for local decision makers. Includes 11…

Research into voters' reasons for supporting or opposing Proposition 2 1/2, Massachusetts's 1980 property tax limitation measure, revealed that educational issues were of moderate importance and that voters were more interested in restructuring educational finance and governance than in reducing school budgets. Still the passage of the measure…

The bonding authority and bond bank concepts have evolved as effective and efficient methods of assisting local education agencies in financing school facility construction and other capital improvement programs. This discussion defines bonding corporations and reviews their historical development, current status, and potential. (TE)

Analysis of forces affecting reform in Papua New Guinea's higher education financing looks at reasons reform has not succeeded. Research on cost effectiveness of higher education expenditures is examined, policy implementation is discussed, and it is concluded that more emphasis should be placed on investment financing and student contributions.…

Because current fiscal constraints call for inexpensive approaches to achieving equity, school finance research should, in addition to engaging in traditional analysis, address the relationship of curriculum and instruction to equity and economic efficiency. Problems of equity are posed by curriculum decisions and classroom management techniques…