Issues surrounding costs and financing of education in developing countries are examined. The focus is primarily on Sub-Saharan Africa and within Francophone West Africa. International comparative data are used to evaluate educational cost issues, including total expenditures, expenditures per pupil, cost of teachers, student aid, other current…

A sample of teachers, principals, supervisors, superintendents, school board members, and county commissioners across Tennessee responded to questionnaires concerning funding patterns and revenue sources for public education. Except for the commissioners, who are the funding agents for school systems in Tennessee and are responsible for setting…

This publication presents model state educational legislation prepared by the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR) for consideration by individual state legislatures. The ACIR is concerned with improving relationships between federal, state, and local governments; the ACIR legislative program places considerable emphasis on…

Recent court decisions requiring changes in State educational finance systems have not invalidated the use of local property taxes as a revenue source for education, nor have they dictated that the same amount of dollars must be spent on every pupil. In short, these decisions have left with the State legislatures the responsibility to fashion new…

A reply is offered to Joseph Pechman and Ira Sharkansky, who have refuted the contentions of the authors in their book, "Benefits, Costs, and Finance of Public Higher Education," which deals with the size and distribution of costs and benefits. Pechman and Sharkansky's critique, "The Distributional Effects of Public Higher Education…

Evaluates estimates of full-value-equalization rates, using a study of 20 New York cities and their school districts to (1) show that these estimates contain significant errors, (2) discuss how these errors affect intergovernmental relations, and (3) analyze how they affect equity in financing local schools. (MCG)

Nebraska's small schools have been shortchanged by recently enacted school finance policies. LB 1114, which limited property tax levy rates, and LB 806, which changed the state aid distribution formula, were first implemented for the 1998-99 school year. These measures were intended to force cuts in school expenditures, especially among smaller,…

Provides an exploratory assessment of financial support levels in districts with different proportions of Black children in seven southern states. The range of support varied considerably among the states. (IRT)

Analyzes 1990-91 school finance data for six New England states. Examines state support for local education, distribution of state aid in relation to local wealth differences, these policies' effect on funding equity for local taxpayers, and the relationship between taxpayer equity and per-pupil spending disparities. Only Maine and Vermont have…

Explores voting behavior of African Americans and whites in local school and tax referenda to determine whether racial conflict is still a primal factor in noncandidate elections. Results for voters in 5 counties in Florida (over 1,699,000 voters) reveal African-American underregistration and the continuing importance of racial cleavage. (SLD)

Discussion of inequity in funding of Pennsylvania schools has tended to focus on differences between wealthy and poor school districts. In Pennsylvania, 180 school districts have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the existing public school funding scheme. A study of the state's 500 school districts, grouped by market value of…

On October 2, 1989, the Texas Supreme Court, in the "Edgewood v. Kirby" decision, found the current school-finance system unconstitutional. The evolution of this decision, through its early origins, the establishment of the current structure (1949-81), House Bill 72 (1984), and Senate Bill 1019 (1989), is described. Also described are…

The study described in this report was designed to measure the attitudes of Virginians towards higher education in Virginia and towards some environmental problems facing the Commonwealth. The survey questioned 517 Virginia citizens over age 18 whose households were chosen through random-digit-telephone dialing. Among the findings of the survey…

Addition of fiscal response factors to the traditional simulation model of school finance demonstrates that the traditional model underestimates both the costs and impacts of state aid programs at the district level. The study reviews research on fiscal response--defined as school districts' taxing and spending behavior after receipt of state…

This report is designed to help the average school district voter, the new school board member, the PTA participant, and the civic organization member understand the operation of State aid distribution to the school districts of New York State. The publication provides a simplified version of the Educational Finance Task Force Proposal that was…