This inspiring account of bipartisan political success delivers an expert breakdown of how and why Kansas--a politically conservative state--was able to craft a stable, balanced, and equitable system of funding for its public schools. Beyond a chronicle of one state's achievements, "School Finance and Education Equity" provides…

State education finance sets the stage for what is possible in schools. Too many state education finance systems today are inequitable, outdated, and inadequate, and there are often significant political barriers to change. Advocates for educational equity can and should play an essential role in shaping the allocation and structure of state…

Conservative governors and legislators across America are angry at the third branch of government. Some of these lawmakers are pushing legislation that could throw judges off the bench, while others are pushing to limit judicial authority. In one state, a governor unilaterally removed a justice of the state supreme court. Another Republican…

Pennsylvania has historically operated one of the nation's least equitable state school finance systems, and within that system exist some of the nation's most fiscally disadvantaged public school districts. The persistent inequalities of Pennsylvania's school finance system are not entirely a result of simple lack of effort, as policies intended…

The growing numbers of English language learners across the country provide an opportunity for state policymakers and education leaders to invest in and reap the benefits of a well-educated, culturally competent workforce. In this article, the authors review state-level ELL funding for the ten states experiencing the highest ELL population growth…

This article addresses the design and application of cost adjustments in state school finance policies intended to compensate local public school districts for differences in the costs of recruiting and retaining teachers. Broadly speaking, the state policy objective for including cost adjustments to state aid for such things as teacher cost…

Part of a three-volume report on the effects of school finance reform, this volume summarizes principal findings of the studies presented in the other volumes. The report summarizes school finance reforms enacted between 1972 and 1974 in California, Florida, Kansas, Michigan, and New Mexico. It recounts what happened to school taxing and spending…

Interest in general school finance reform escalated in the 1970s, with many court decisions ruling state educational finance systems unconstitutional because of extreme variations in local wealth. Many state systems of educational financing were realigned. While the remedies utilized generally served to placate reformers, a resurgence of…

Capital outlay for school facilities is receiving interest as focus is turned toward all facets of education, including the condition of the physical learning environment. Recent court decisions have brought about some equity in school financing, but the potential exists for future lawsuits for equity in educational facilities. There is a concern…

Part of a three-volume report on the effects of school finance reform, this volume examines reform efforts in California, Florida, Kansas, Michigan, and New Mexico. Data on districts' tax rates, wealth, and number of pupils were obtained from state sources. Data on household income, percent urban, percent white, and percent poverty were obtained…

The financial plan presented in this paper removes some of the current inequities of the property tax through the following basic features: a per pupil expenditure lid up to which the State provides aid; an equalized assessment rate which is enforced; State aid distributed on the basis of the wealth of the district in comparison to the wealth of…

A project was undertaken to review funding practices for vocational education in Kansas and to present some alternative funding methods for consideration. During the course of the project, a research specialist interviewed various state-level educational staff and an area vocational and technical school director in order to obtain a general…

This report provides data on the academic achievement gap that separates low-income and minority students from other students, examining how well different groups of students perform in Kansas and noting inequities in teacher quality, course offerings, and funding. Included are tables and data that provide: a frontier gap analysis (a comparison of…

This report compares Kansas's reading and mathematics performance on the most recent administrations of the state assessment with performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). To indicate how Kansas is doing in narrowing the academic achievement gap between African American, Latino, or low-income students and their white,…