In this policy brief, the author contends that there are four other principal causes of the collective poor showing on reaching state equity goals in the United States. These are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the school finance world. The first horseman rides an economic horse, the second a sociological horse, the third a political horse,…

This monograph examines several proposed school finance formulas addressing funding and/or taxation disparities produced by the current Illinois system. The analysis is conceptual, as each model is either in the developmental stage or has not been simulated to demonstrate actual impact. Specific algebraic formulations are ignored when discussing…

The equity of public school funding in Illinois is investigated in this report. A longitudinal, cartographic methodology examines the county as the unit of analysis for the school years 1972-73 through 1990-91. Findings indicate that Illinois school districts are currently more unequal than when the state equalization aid formula state was adopted…

This publication contains testimony, given by personnel at the Center for the Study of Educational Finance, initially intended for legislators at the federal and state levels to help them deal with public policy matters in K-12 finance. The first document is testimony given before the United States Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources,…

Empirical studies of the school finance reforms of the 1970s have not indicated that equity has been satisfactorily achieved in all cases. The methods of equity analysis used and the data bases analyzed in those studies have differed enough to prevent ready comparison or the formulation of overall assessments of the effects of school finance…

Advocacy for drastic change in the governance and structure of Illinois educational finance is the theme of this collection of oral presentations. Section 1 contains testimonies by G. Alan Hickrod and Lawrence E. Frank delivered to the Citizens Council on School Problems, focusing on K-12 educational funding problems and solutions. Section 2…

This paper examines the impact of Illinois' present system of state aid to education in light of the rationale for its adoption, and argues that the stated purposes of the present system would be better realized through the adoption of a "two-tiered" finance system. The present Illinois system consists of the Strayer-Haig system of…

Discusses the Illinois grant-in-aid formula for school finance and argues that an income factor needs to be included in the measurement of fiscal effort if the state wants to retain its concept of "equal expenditure for equal effort." (JG)

This monograph evaluates the equity, adequacy, and efficiency of the Illinois system of school finance. After a brief introduction outlining the purpose and limitations of the study, it first develops two operational definitions of equity, based on disparity measurements and on the association between district spending and local wealth. The…

It is asserted that conventional school finance analysis must address itself to the social realities of politics and dealing with state legislatures, thus disputing some of the theses offered by Daniel C. Morgan in a previous article. (EH)

Recent legal action and research raise doubts about the advisability of measuring fiscal effort in the Illinois general grant-in-aid program by using the simple school district tax rate for operational purposes. Various logical, and perhaps legal, considerations might be sufficient to compel adjustment of the measurement of effort. Beyond these…

This paper examines the challenges and problems involved in studying the Illinois school finance system, based on the experience of the Center for the Study of Educational Finance in studying the 1973 Illinois school finance reform. The first major section of the paper outlines the major variables in the 1973 Illinois reform and discusses problems…

This paper reviews previous research on school finance reform in Illinois and examines the impact of various types of finance reform on suburban school districts as compared to urban and rural districts. The paper is divided into two parts. Part 1 reviews data from three previous annual evaluations of the results of the Illinois school finance…

Based on a definition of equity that includes both equality in expenditure per pupil and fiscal neutrality, this paper examines equity in Illinois school finance and makes recommendations for its improvement. Following a brief introduction outlining deterioration of equity since 1977, part 2 describes further reasons for this deterioration. The…

Eight matters relative to the Illinois general purpose educational grant-in-aid that might be subjected to further research and development are discussed. The eight matters are (1) the use of a notational system based on the concept of a guaranteed expenditure for each cent of tax effort, (2) the possibility of adding a curvature to the present…