This study attempted to determine the knowledge of Tennessee public school finance on the part of teachers, businessmen, school administrators, elected officials, and industrial workers. Students in a class on public school finance administered the questionnaire to over 1,000 subjects. Results revealed that respondents feel that public education…

Ways of measuring the fiscal capacity of school systems are examined in this paper, which presents a representative tax system model. Fiscal capacity is influenced by factors other than tax base size; the "ideal" model should address adjustments for variations in cost across communities and school systems. The first section examines the…

In 1988, 66 of Tennessee's rural school districts brought suit against the state government claiming that the school funding system of a local option sales tax discriminates against rural areas. This study examines the effects of increased reliance on local sales tax revenue on Tennessee's school expenditures. Not every county can support a major…

Based on the view that the tax structure in Tennessee is inadequate and produces chronic problems, especially for the state's children, this Kids Count report identifies unmet education, health care, and resource needs of the children in Tennessee. Following introductory remarks discussing the current tax structure and state spending, Section 1 of…