This article presents the state education finance and governance profile of Alabama. The state is home to 1,538 public schools distributed across 67 county school systems and 64 city school systems. State spending is allocated via two separate budgets, "the general fund" for all noneducation related expenditures and the Education Trust…

This study projects estimates of changes in State tax patterns resulting from the implementation of a modified foundation grant and a percentage equalizing grant. The resulting estimates show increased progressivity of the State tax structure under both types of grants. (Author)

Compares the use of a foundation program approach and a percentage or "power equalizing" approach to state school aid, and discusses typical formulas for calculating state aid under each approach. (JG)

Equity must be viewed in terms of the pupils to be served in the schools, the citizens who support the schools, and general society which reaps the benefits from the public schools. Various sections of this pamphlet address themselves to the philosophical bases of the public schools, some of the directions provided by the courts, current financing…

The rationale of power equalization approaches are explored, and the advantages, shortcomings, and details of operation are examined. A power equalization bill proposed by the Ohio Legislature is analyzed in terms of projected costs, impact on educational programs, and to bring out problems of grafting power equalization programs onto existing…

Presents a proposal for a national support program for public schools that guarantees federal funds to meet one-third of the cost of a basic educational program from early childhood through high school graduation, equalizes states' ability to raise school revenues, and subsidizes high-cost programs of compensatory, vocational, and special…

Proposes a model for evaluating state equalization aid formulas, accounting for municipal overburden and tradeoffs between expenditures and taxes. Tests the model using the Michigan state aid formula. Results relate elasticities to spending and tax levels and suggest that relatively unrestricted guaranteed tax base formulas can work. (PGD)

Critically examines state equalization plans; emphasizes post-Serrano efforts in California. (IRT)

The partial financing of New York State's public schools with a state-mandated tax coupled with state aid based upon county or regional wealth rather than local district wealth would provide greater equalization of both revenues and expenditures of school districts than does the present law. A comparable increase in state aid appropriations under…

This report briefly summarizes the background, the criteria and procedures for evaluation, the findings, and the recommendations of the Tennessee School Finance Equity Study that, during the two year period ending in November, 1979, examined Tennessee's present program for financing the public schools, kindergarten through grade 12. The purpose of…

From the 1920s through the 1950s, most states used average daily attendance (ADA) in state equalization plans. Beginning in the middle of the 1950s, many states began to use average daily membership (ADM) in such plans. The essential features of any equalization aid plan are (1) a measure of need (such as ADA or ADM), (2) a measure of wealth or…

The Texas Foundation School Program, popularly known as the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP), is a very complex approach to school finance. It provides basic assistance in three areas--minimum salaries, operating allowances, and transportation--and additional assistance in two others--vocational education and special education. The state pays…

The U.S. District Court ruling in Rodriguez vs San Antonio Independent School District, which struck down Texas' school finance system as inequitable and unconstitutional, provided the impetus for publishing this interim report. The report documents the growing cost of State-supported public school programs--the primary concern prior to the…

The increasing tendency in North Carolina to support school expenditures from local revenues may be leading to greater disparities in financing from one school district to another. (Author/IRT)

This article presents a case study of the school finance controversy in Texas with special emphasis on the results of two school finance bills enacted in successive sessions of the legislature. (Author/IRT)