In 1991, the Florida State Legislature created "Blueprint 2000," a plan for school improvement and accountability. This handbook presents findings of an evaluation conducted by the Office of Program Policy and Government Accountability (OPPAGA), which gathered information about the improvement initiatives that schools implemented, the…

This report examines educational expenditures for all Minnesota public schools for the 1997-98 school year and finds that the cost of educating children in smaller schools was higher than in larger schools. Empirical evidence is presented to demonstrate that a more precise relationship between enrollment and expenditures is log-linear, rather than…

A 1996 U.S. General Accounting Office report indicates one-third of the nation's schools need $111 billion worth of repairs or partial replacement. Local school districts cannot keep up with enrollment increases or construction costs and will receive little help from federal or state governments. Capital improvement funding inequities are heating…

Examines three decades of school finance legislation, highlighting emerging judicial constructs of equity and adequacy. Generally, court decisions have turned on adequacy, rather than equity considerations. There is a broad movement under way to secure, in law and practice, poor children's rights to equal opportunity and nondiscrimination. This…

A critical issue is restoring education's central role--preparing people to live in a democracy, not a "government-industrial complex." Education should not be a training ground for business and industry. Common schools should be championed, not demeaned. Choice and charter school options must be more objectively evaluated. Better…

Analyzes two new state funding programs for low-wealth and small-enrollment schools in North Carolina, compared with funding distribution provided under the already existing Basic Education Program. The distribution of low-wealth funds among counties is erratic, and the small-school funding program benefits some small-enrollment counties with…

Unsatisfactory results from 1980s reforms stressing equalized funding, higher standards, and testing have prompted educators to reinvestigate inequality-producing mechanisms and consider program equity and adequacy. However, the problem is not solely within schools. Output goals must be tied to explicit programs and standards to raise up the…

Suggests some consequences of program equity for educational policy and practice. Stakes go up because program equity demands support for high minimum performance outcomes and coordination of implementation decisions and actions across a fragmented education system. Teacher networks are one way to link top-down and bottom-up change strategies…

Definitions of equal educational opportunity have evolved from access to schooling, to equal spending per pupil, to variable spending per pupil depending on individual need. Although the quest for funding equity has dominated recent legal and political actions, funding adequacy deserves great attention. A single-minded pursuit of equity may lead…

Despite high costs, bringing fiber optics telecommunications to every doorstep would be as revolutionary as the rise of printing technology. School leaders concerned with costs, equity, and instructional effectiveness should understand the roles of two key players: the telephone industry and state governments. Sidebars advise about planning…

National standards and assessments (President Clinton's Goals 2000 Act) are being proposed to improve schools. This article reviews the bill and examines equity issues, including disparities in instructional conditions among racial/ethnic groups. Using tests to change teaching and learning reflects overreliance on top-down policy, distrust of…

Since the U.S. Supreme Court's 1972 landmark "Rodriguez" decision (constitutionally challenging Texas's school-finance system), courts have increasingly used student assessments as evidence of educational adequacy and focused more on educational quality than fiscal equity. Despite pitched battles, a consensus of adequacy and quality may…

Explores differences between analyses of instructional resource allocation at district and school levels in Florida's 67 counties, concentrating on possible effects of noneducational student characteristics on deprivation of educational opportunity. Results revealed clear evidence of inequality for schools with high percentages of low…

Examines distance education's efficacy in nine New York school districts affiliated with Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). Distance education enables small rural schools to expand their curriculum. Districts vary in utilizing distance education. Distance-education courses cost considerably more to offer than traditional courses.…

Arguing that the politicisation of decentralisation appreciably reduces educational quality and efficient resource allocation and negatively affects matters of equity in and delivery of education, the present study provides a critique of decentralisation and privatisation in education in Africa with special reference to Nigeria. On the basis of…