This article describes opinions about what ails U.S. schools. The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation has a lot to say about education in the United States--what's wrong with it and how to fix it. A national authority on charters and an unabashed champion of the idea, the Fordham Foundation is getting a grounding in reality and appears to be the only…

Interviews involving 58 Ohio stakeholders focused on detailing state K-12 education goals, identifying the current system's strengths and weaknesses, and discussing the financial/political viability of potential school funding strategies. Consensus emerged regarding the role of property taxes, local control, the foundation formula rationale, and…

In 1997, the Ohio Supreme Court declared the state's educational finance system unconstitutional, allowing 1 year to enact a systemic overhaul. After 3 years of public controversy, plaintiffs and the state are contesting the sufficiency of the state's response. A court-supervised remedial process may be necessary. (86 footnotes) (MLH)

An analysis of the relationship between district wealth and tax effort concludes that, while state aid is generally equalizing, the school funding structure is a dual system in which state aid is almost randomly spent in outlier districts. It is inferred that outliers translate guaranteed state aid into lower local taxes. (MJL)