Summarizes state tax relief legislation that was supported by the Joint State Legislative Committees of the National Retired Teachers Association and the American Association of Retired Persons. Notes that generating public and political support for increased funding for education will be a challenge in the current fiscal climate. (Author/IRT)

The past year witnessed cases involving the constitutionality of tax credits and tax deductions for expenses incurred by parents whose children attend nonpublic schools. The constitutionality of state school finance programs continued to be questioned, and several cases involving funds for the education of handicapped children also were decided.…

Because Louisiana is facing financial difficulties, the impact of reductions in federal aid since 1980 has been severe. With a state economy dependent on gas, oil, and agriculture, Louisiana suffers when oil prices are low and farming costs are high. Reduced tax income for the state lowers state spending, forcing additional enterprises out of…

This chapter of "Principles of School Business Management" provides a basic understanding of the mechanics of the various taxes used to raise money for education, the extent to which these taxes are utilized, the way they interrelate, and the criteria that can be used when judging their relative advantages and disadvantages. The chapter…

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

This publication describes Oregon's current school funding system, and provides some criteria for evaluating alternatives that address issues of equity, balance, and stability. Oregon's school funding system depends primarily on local property taxes (57%) and a state aid program (22%) funded mainly by an income tax. This system permits a great…

The goal of the doctoral dissertation summarized here was to find an equitable school finance plan that applied the same tax rate in all districts and resulted in the smallest variance in the expenditure per weighted pupil unit (WPU) between districts in Arizona for the 1971-72 school year. Six finance plans were developed for analysis and were…

The real property tax is local government's primary source of revenue, providing 48 percent of local governmental revenues nationwide. Of all local government expenditures, 37 percent go to elementary and secondary schools. Therefore, problems with property tax become problems of school finance. Taxes and subsidies generally do not change the…

This chapter deals with 1981 cases involving the financial support of schools. According to the author, challenges to the constitutionality of state supported programs continued, as did litigation dealing with the funding of programs for children with special needs and with the requirements and enforcement of federal regulations. An increase in…

The Tennessee School Finance Equity Study was begun in 1978 to review the equity and adequacy of Tennessee's Public School Finance Program. Changes in the structure of the Tennessee Foundation Program (TFP) did achieve greater equity in the amount of funds local districts obtained from the foundation program even though the residence of the…

This paper outlines school finance issues that have emerged due to litigation on the constitutionality of school funding at the state level. Such funding varies from state to state, ranging from 8 percent in New Hampshire to 74 percent in New Mexico; per-child expenditures range from $1,500 to $15,000. Beginning in the 1970s, poor school districts…

Addition of fiscal response factors to the traditional simulation model of school finance demonstrates that the traditional model underestimates both the costs and impacts of state aid programs at the district level. The study reviews research on fiscal response--defined as school districts' taxing and spending behavior after receipt of state…

Residential areas with low property tax rates are more desirable than those with high tax rates, and school districts that have a high rate of expenditure per pupil are more attractive to parents than those with low rates of expenditure. For these reasons, the financial characteristics of a school district influence the value of housing in the…

The advantages of a voucher system for California's schools are discussed. Desirable consequences of such a system include: (1) equalization of state financial support; (2) financing of religious schools; and (3) parents' ability to choose the school their children will attend. (CJ)

During the past 5 years, Oregon has set in motion a set of fundamental changes in state policy that will radically affect schools. It has: (1) reduced property taxes without increasing other taxes in a way that will reduce state/local taxes as a share of income from 12.1 percent of personal income in 1991 to 10.3 percent in 1996; (2) shifted to…