Children's Investment Trust is a proposed trust fund for children's services (nutrition, health, education, and social services) similar in design to Social Security fund. The trust would be funded by a small, progressive payroll tax levied on both employer and employee on wages greater than $5 per hour. The tax would raise $25 billion more every…

Diverse economic, social, and legal concerns have brought renewed attention to the problem of financing public schools. The primary economic concern is preparing students to compete successfully in the international marketplace. The change in demographics of the United States also is a major social concern for education. Legal concerns focus on…

Alaska's public schools cost $1.2 billion in the 1992-93 school year. That included both operating and capital spending and amounted to about $10,000 for each of the state's 119,000 elementary and secondary students. Roughly one-quarter of the state government's general fund budget went to the schools, covering 64 percent of costs. About 30…

After summarizing the philosophy behind the financing of public schools, this document reviews the division of legal responsibility for education between the state and federal governments; outlines the state's responsibility for providing an equal educational opportunity for its residents; and summarizes the use of federal revenues, state…

After being placed on the back burner during the 1980s, school finance is again a major issue. In the 1970s, reliance on property taxes created school district disparities because of unequal tax bases. Legislative reforms enacted between 1971 and 1985 had the following characteristics: school finance formulas were revamped; the state role in…

The role of equity in determining how higher education should be supported is considered, along with several approaches for measuring benefits and costs of public subsidies, and conclusions from the literature. Attention is directed to equity in financing higher education because higher education is often advocated as a mechanism for providing…

Cases related to school finance, in which decisions were handed down in 1982, are reviewed in this chapter. It is observed that the constitutionality of existing state school finance programs was upheld in New York, Colorado, and Georgia, and that litigation was prevalent in the areas of taxation for schools and uses of school revenue. Issues…

The purpose of this paper is to explore funding issues related to charter districts. It begins with definitions of charter school and charter district. It continues with a brief discussion of public-school finance and some of the policy issues associated with distributing state funds to school districts, allowing school districts to generate…

This paper, presented at an international conference, tries to put the unique problems of providing access to postsecondary education in the context of the social, economic, and political climate of the United States. The paper notes that since 1979 students are assuming a growing share while taxpayers have reduced their relative contributions to…

Argues that recent federal education legislation will not eliminate unequal funding, school performance inequities, and student achievement gaps that have persisted in the poorest school districts. Asserts that adequate, equitable, and targeted human and financial resources and standards are necessary, and that the slight increases in federal…

Offers statistics showing community colleges to be one of the most cost-effective segments of higher education. Compares figures for public and private two- and four-year colleges with respect to tuition; federal, state, and local revenues; appropriations and grants; student financial aid; tax support; per capita government assistance; and…

This report is an annual collection of school district financial data. Specifically, this report presents analyses of school district revenues from the 1997-98 school year. The report is designed to address the following questions about the financing of public elementary and secondary education at the state and district levels: How much money per…