Purpose: This article examines two questions: (a) How does resource allocation change in school districts experiencing sustained charter school competition? (b) Among districts exposed to charter competition, are there differences in the resource allocation adjustments between those that do and do not succeed in stemming further enrollment loss to…

This research examines the financial profiles of 550 public school districts in Michigan and highlights the association between school district fund balance and the following eleven indicators: enrollment, percent enrollment change, percent of students receive free and reduced lunch (FRL), percent of special education students, percent of English…

Examines the distrubution of the human resources of teacher experience and training, and class size among Detroit's schools, with particular emphasis on relationships between the percentage of black students in a school and the quality of its instructional staff. (Author/JM)

Voters in the State of Michigan reformed K-12 school financing significantly in 1994. The reform largely removed local government from playing a role in the determination of school finance and lodged this authority mainly with state government. In this article we examine the long-term impacts of the reform legislation. We find that although the…

Analysis of resource allocation in Michigan's higher education institutions indicates that spending is not driven by fixed costs, as often assumed. Most functions connected to the fundamental missions of the universities have been given lower priority than ancillary functions. Faculty compensation has lost ground overall, rather than leading…

The objective of this study is to provide partial answers to the question, "What would school districts buy if they were given additional funds?" The answers are potentially relevant to state and federal education policy-makers faced with the task of developing and implementing school finance reforms who must consider whether and under…

To the extent that costs do vary among school districts, neither an equal dollar distribution of funds nor an equal-yield per unit of tax effort can achieve equality of educational inputs or the capacity to acquire them. This document addresses problems relating to the development of guidelines to achieve equality in educational inputs, or…

Research findings from a study of collective bargaining in New York and Michigan school districts indicate that collective bargaining does have a significant impact on the allocation of resources in ways that affect student learning. These findings support hypotheses based on the theory that collective bargaining will make a difference in resource…

Based on data submitted by Michigan's 28 community colleges for 1996-97, this report describes instruction, personnel revenues, and expenditures at the state's colleges and reviews the state funding formula. Section 1 provides historical data from 1986 to 1998 on state appropriations, property tax revenue, tuition and fee revenues, state equalized…

This paper analyzes prevalent methods of comparing schools' performance and recommends alternative measures more helpful toward understanding how schools might be improved. The influence of two factors--resource availability and financial need--on the level of school programming is explained in light of Michigan's system of educational finance.…