This article introduces educational human resource researchers to Minnesota's unique tax-base sharing program in the Twin Cities metro region. It also introduces a social justice methodology called cooperation analysis for school finance research, and specifically its concept of structural justice. The article applies cooperation analysis to…

In November 2020, Duval County voters will decide on a half-penny sales tax to fund upgrades to public school buildings across the district. Revenue will be spent to improve public school buildings for traditional and charter schools. Following the 2020 passage of House Bill 7097, revenue from the sales tax will be allocated to charter school…

Given that private schools are institutionally divided into the binary structure of for profit and nonprofit, the existing tax laws and policies aimed at private education feature obvious flaws. Reforms to the taxation system for private education should bring it in line with the state's binary structure for the division of private schools,…

Over the past seven years, New York's cap on local property tax levies has generated billions of dollars in savings for homeowners and businesses, compared to previous trends. The cap has been especially effective in restraining school property taxes, which have long been the largest and fastest-growing component of New York's tax burden. The cap…

This project attempted to answer the following question: what are the impacts of school spending on student outcomes? The Texas education system provides a unique opportunity to examine this question and make a large and significant contribution to the school finance literature. Over the last two decades, Texas made two large changes to school…

The purpose of this article was to present the results of a study that analyzed Pennsylvania local school boards' taxing authority, pre- and post-enactment of Special Session Act 1, "The Taxpayer Relief Act," in 2006, in terms of its percent share of school districts' total budget in order to better understand the impact of the new…

This article examines voting results for school district budgets in New York from 2003-2010. Despite annual local property tax increases, 91.9% of proposed school district budgets were approved by voters during the period examined. Using data from the New York State Education Department (NYSED) and the American Community Survey (ACS), several…

Applying a Multiple Streams framework, the article documents the development and ultimate undoing of what became known as the national sales tax plan for education. The authors identify four factors that coalesced to lead the Nixon administration to propose replacing local property taxes with a federal value-added tax to finance K-12 education.…

This study investigates what factors are associated with the likelihood of passing school facility construction bonds by local district election. It uses statewide data from Michigan, 1998-2006, to examine the outcome of 789 bond elections in terms of the following ten variables: amount of the bond request; district enrollment; district locale;…

Passing property tax issues is an increasing challenge for many school districts. This article examines 21 school levy strategies identified through a literature review associated with successful school levy campaigns. These strategies were then used as a framework to evaluate one district's attempts to pass a school bond levy. Whereas the study…

This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) paper, which was prepared at the request of the Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, compares athletic departments' share of revenue from commercial sources with that of the rest of the schools' activities to assess the degree of their commercialization. It also discusses the benefits of…

Confronted by last fall's budget crunch, President Bush and the Congress agreed to ignore the deficit, revise the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings budget reduction process, and focus attention on capping total spending. Domestic programs will be allowed a $12 billion increase. Education's position is unclear, because it must compete with farms, bridges, and…

The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibilities Act (1982) (TEFRA) was designed to increase federal government revenues by closing certain tax loopholes. This article explains the law's requirements, effects on local government (via bearer and other bonds), legal challenges, and implications for school districts. Includes 22 footnotes. (MLH)

In order to make financial management of Ohio schools simpler and more understandable to the public, this Citizens' Council report recommends structural changes in school district budgeting that would necessitate changes in state law. The major problem areas identified are the districts' use of the calendar year as fiscal year, the requirement…

Examines Michigan's attempt to abolish the school property tax and implications for New York State policymakers. Michigan substantially reduced the local property tax for local school operations, adopted a permanent set of tax and revenue limits, and devised a problematic assessment cap. Totally eliminating the local school property tax may be…