Examines the dispersion of assessed valuation per pupil in Illinois and evaluates some proposals that might reduce this dispersion. The major proposal considered by the author is removal of industrial and commercial property (I & C) from local rolls. The conclusion is drawn that removing I & C from the property tax base has little or no…

Findings of a study that determined the relationship between property taxes and individual adjusted gross income and that examined the feasibility of using these data to define an "income wealth" measure by school district are presented in this paper. Illinois Department of Revenue computer tapes for the tax years 1986-88 were analyzed;…

The current Illinois school finance formula fails to bring very wealthy districts within acceptable equalization bounds. Manipulating tax rates of wealthy and other districts is unacceptable or financially unfeasible. This paper proposes a two-stage process requiring state equalization at the county level, followed by equalization within each…

The decade from 1987 to 1997 saw two unsuccessful attempts to reform Illinois's school finance system from a constitutional perspective. In 1997, prospective reforms will probably be limited by partisanship, revenues and anti-tax sentiment, regional antipathies, fragmentation, and pressures for property tax relief. (MLH)

lllinois's school finance reform goals may be achieved by providing property tax relief and increasing state funding out of income tax receipts, relying primarily on the state's growth dividend. Distributing the largesse of growth to poor districts over time minimizes richer citizens' sense of fiscal loss, making reform more politically palatable.…

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…

Although the Illinois Farmland Assessment Act is not an educational finance reform but is designed to ease the increasing tax burden on the state's farmland and provide a uniform, state-wide method of farmland tax valuation, it has a significant impact on K-12 public school financing because of the relationship between property and public school…

This document consists of a series of papers by different authors on the subject of school finance and equal educational opportunity. One group of papers studies the effect of State aid on the scope of the educational program, reports on the status of capital assistance financing for the Illinois Public Schools, and illustrates the method of…

This study examines the relationships between various elements of property wealth and operating expenditures per pupil by types of school district--elementary (K-8), high (9-12), and unit (K-12). Elements of property wealth were defined as the equalized assessed valuation per pupil for each of the following property tax classifications:…

This publication provides information on the sources and amounts of funds available for prekindergarten through postsecondary education in Illinois common schools for 1996-97. The guidebook contains a summary of fiscal-year 1997 appropriations to the Illinois State Board of Education, as well as appropriations for educationally related purposes…

Prospects for Illinois public school revenues and school district reorganization in the 1980's, considered in the context of prospects for the Great Lakes region as a whole, are affected by fundamental demographic and economic changes. The region has had a lower population growth rate since 1970 than the rest of the country, and a slower growth in…

This report provides an analysis of current inequities in school finance in Illinois, the historical roots of those inequities, and an analysis of alternative options for funding primary and secondary education. An introduction briefly describes the basis for the constitutional challenge to the current funding system. The next section describes…

An essential prerequisite to reform of present methods of financing elementary and secondary schools and the development of an equitable, adequate, and workable system of school finance is a precise understanding of how the existing system works and its impact on different school districts and population groups. This report documents the existing…

A reform in the grant-in-aid system passed in Illinois in the summer of 1973 was evaluated. The State Changed on that date from a foundation system to a district power equalization system. Operational definitions of fiscal policy goals, such as fiscal neutrality and permissible variance of expenditures, were established and measurements taken…