This study is the first to empirically examine how school districts allocate resources in response to capital investment revenue from statewide penny sales taxes (called SAVE funds), and whether SAVE funds affect student outputs (i.e., educational achievement). We found evidence that school districts do not use SAVE funds to increase capital…

A major feature of the school finance landscape over the last two decades has been the reform of state school finance systems. Using the case of Maryland's Bridge to Excellence in Public Schools Act, this paper extends the current literature by developing a conceptual framework for residential bidding and sorting and using it to estimate housing…

Why school? The 48th Annual PDK Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools included questions about the purpose of schooling, standards, homework, school funding, and parents' relationships with their schools. The 2016 poll, which was conducted by Langer Research Associates, was based on a telephone poll of 1,221 adults during April…

Superintendents and other school administrators live with tensions in political economy. The voting public believes school funding is fixed when the economy expands and new state programs are introduced. Administrators are publicly criticized when, strained for resources, their schools cannot perform within the "do more with less" paradigm. This…

Public school advocates have argued that homeschooling "costs" the school system money through lost per-pupil taxpayer funding whenever a child is homeschooled rather than public schooled. In fact, home school students benefit school districts in the long run by relieving them of the far greater total costs of educating them. In Nevada,…

The California Supreme Court catalyzed school finance litigation with its rulings in the "Serrano v. Priest" cases. The court's required that wealth-related spending differences essentially be eliminated, the legislation required to implement that decision, and the passage of Proposition 13's property tax limitation has resulted in…

Given the lean times in education today, a coordinated fund-raising effort could highly benefit public K-12 education. An office of development could coordinate grant writing, interaction with foundations, corporate partnerships, the development of endowed chairs, and individual fund raising and manage local fund raisers. Development follows three…

Concludes that those who view the sixteenth annual Gallup Poll of public attitudes toward public schools as indicating a general willingness to finance school improvements may be right, but that if public's attention is not quickly called to the fact that more dollars are needed to improve schools, the urgency generated by the poll may be lost.…

Flaws in the tax structures supporting public schools are pointed out and suggestions are made for changes. (JD)

This article discusses the inspiring achievements of Zavala and Ortega Elementary Schools. These two schools are examples of "smart money," public dollars that are invested and generate a high societal return, measurable in real, quantifiable results for workers, businesses and society. The author explores ways in improving school…

Discusses Milwaukee's (Wisconsin) use of public tax dollars to finance private education and what the implications are for public schools. Examines how the controversial concept got started, its support in the courts, and the pros and cons of its implementation on public schools relative to the school-choice debate. (GR)

One of the most elusive problems confronted in designing state aid programs for the public schools has been the determination of equitable measures of local fiscal capacity. (Author)

Presents the arguments, pro and con, on the use of the local property tax to finance the schools. A bibliography is appended. (SJL)

The position is presented that state funding of public education would provide greater equality in the allocation of educational resources within each state; provide a broader, more reliable, and expansive revenue base; and revitalize local influence in educational policy. (Author/CTM)