Schools face the dual challenge of tighter education budgets and demands to raise achievement levels. Can this be done? The author argues that it can and has been achieved. The successful districts in some cases have transformed their strategic approach by focusing on costs; developing a new, more powerful school vision; identifying and allocating…

This article estimates the costs of school finance adequacy in each of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. by applying the recommendations from an evidence-based model to the student characteristics of each individual state. Using two different prices, (a) the national average teacher salaries adjusted by a comparable wage index and (b) individual…

This study estimates the costs of providing a high-quality PreK-3rd education approach in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. Relying on an Evidence-Based approach to school finance adequacy, it identifies the staffing resources needed to offer high-quality integrated PreK-3rd programs and then estimates the costs of those resources. By…

Describes development of the Oregon Quality Education model, an adequacy-funding model. Explores the rationale behind its development as well as the political and economic realities policymakers face in attempting to determine how much money Oregon's schools would need to meet state education reform goals and provide a quality education to all…

Whereas equity generally focuses on relative levels or distributions of funds, adequacy stresses providing sufficient and absolute funding levels to produce desired student outcomes. Adequacy underlies many recent court decisions. Estimating costs of an adequate education is extremely difficult. School business officials must develop better…