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…

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 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…

The current method of financing education in Illinois is explained and reasons are advanced for changing it to afford property tax relief by a more equitable formula. The proposed plan and the arguments supporting it are then offered. The plan increases the state basic support level per student to $1,400, and the state assumes the full cost of the…

In response to the likelihood of some form of tax limitation in Illinois in the near future, this study discusses a tax limitation measure that was proposed to the 81st Illinois General Assembly, the Taxpayer's Rights Amendment (also known as the Totten Bill), and compares it with measures recently passed in other states, with emphasis on…

This study is divided into three chapters. In the first chapter the historical background essential for an understanding of the Illinois situation is presented and the various provisions of the new allocation system are described. In Chapter 2 a body of scholarly and professional literature concerning criteria for evaluation of state education…

This paper evaluates the equity dimensions of a grant-in-aid system based on the Resource Cost Model (RCM), as proposed by the Illinois State Board of Education. The first section is an independent evaluation of the conceptual and legal aspects of the RCM, focusing on both the weaknesses and the strengths of the model. In the second section, an…