The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act is the largest incursion of the federal government into education in American history. More than $12 billion is attached to unprecedented requirements for all students, poor and nonpoor, to reach a level of academic proficiency. Title I and its NCLB reauthorization explicitly allot funds to individual schools…

A decades-long school funding revolution continues in the United States. The litigation sparked by the Supreme Court of California's 1971 decision in "Serrano v. Priest" continues to reshape the legal, political, and educational landscape in the United States, affecting the lives of children, parents, educators, and taxpayers throughout…

Using school-level descriptive data, this study examined the distribution of teachers in the Commonwealth of Kentucky in an attempt to build on previous research concerning the equity of the finance system in the state. Rather than focusing on revenue from the perspective of horizontal equity, this study used human resource data to examine the…

Very little progress has taken place in achieving greater fiscal neutrality. The change in definition of local school district wealth produced a significant redistribution of basic subsidies with the relatively poorer districts receiving less funds. (Author/IRT)

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)

If contributed lottery revenues do not increase education expenditures by the full amount of such revenues, education expenditures are said to be fungible. As Ohio's situation shows, this potential fungibility problem draws into question state officials' primary justification for offering a state-sponsored lottery. (22 footnotes) (MLH)

Adequacy is a key issue propelled by high court decisions across the states. Initially the equity of funding systems that resulted in "savage inequalities" between school districts within a state based on property wealth was at issue. However, just since 1989, with the state supreme court decision in Kentucky finding the system…

A decade after "San Antonio v Rodriguez" (1973), a historic ruling on the unjust Texas educational finance system, the state's Education Opportunity Act (1984) finally replaced existing statutory formulas with a weighted pupil average system and committed $2.8 billion to education over the next three years. A statistical analysis shows…

Examines the implementation of Short-Lived Unanticipated Grants (SLUG) in Connecticut to determine to what extent the political process distorted the reform. Describes the SLUG proposal and its estimation in the median-voter model. Describes evidence of special-interest behavior of the school bureaucracy. Questions use of median-voter model to…

Examines the effectiveness of new funding formula included in major education reform legislation passed by the Tennessee legislature in early 1990s. Finds unanticipated outcomes. For example, while the variance in per-pupil spending among districts is smaller than before the legislation, the gap between the per-pupil spending of one-third of the…

Examines, state-by-state, the decline in assessed property values of electric utilities due to deregulation and the resulting impact on school district revenues. Concludes school revenue shortfall problems are more likely to occur in 12 states. Suggests strategies state governments can employ to respond to lost valuation and revenue. (PKP)

Reviews history of incremental improvements in Iowa's school finance system. Using standards of taxpayer and student equity, reexamines the finance system and test effects of recent reforms. Discusses how Iowa and other legislative-initiated reform states fit into the overall pattern of school finance reform. (Authors/PKP)

Describes Southern involvement in political process leading to enactment of the 1974 amendments to Title I of Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which resulted in formula change, thus ensuring disproportionate allocation of federal funds for education in the South. (PKP)

Reviews the history of finance reform in California beginning with the Serrano decision and ending with an explanation of Assembly Bill 65. It remains to be seen if AB 65 meets the requirements of the Serrano decisions. (Author/IRT)