The document clarifies an originally proposed program to provide Statewide funding for public elementary and secondary education in Rhode Island by reviewing, stepwise, the actual operation of the plan for establishing tax levies and determining grant allocations; examines the anticipated effects of this proposed plan on the tax rates in…

Presents a general methodology that may be used by states in the design of municipal overburden provisions for their educational aid programs. (RLV)

Principles for public school finance are outlined with respect to an equitable allocation of educational resources by the state. The argument is advanced that equal dollars per pupil is a practical, reasonable, acceptable and attainable initial basis for school financing. Objections to the equal dollars scheme are considered, leading to an…

The Serrano decision has caused policy makers in California to search for departures from the current system of public school finance. Citizen and legislative evaluation of alternative finance systems is being confused by the employment of diverse interpretations of Serrano. Although the Court's decision may appear to indicate clear-cut methods of…

This document contains a summary of the recommendations made in 1972 and 1973 by the Commission to the Illinois Legislature. Areas covered in the proposed educational legislation and in the recommendations include the common school fund, adult education, the gifted program, special education, the bilingual program, urban education, pupil…

This report presents a history of the primary objectives, events, personalities, and consequences of the School Finance Study in Rhode Island. The study committee was commissioned with the task of developing a school finance plan that would provide equal educational opportunities to all pupils with similar characteristics and needs, achieve fiscal…

On October 2, 1989, the Texas Supreme Court, in the "Edgewood v. Kirby" decision, found the current school-finance system unconstitutional. The evolution of this decision, through its early origins, the establishment of the current structure (1949-81), House Bill 72 (1984), and Senate Bill 1019 (1989), is described. Also described are…

If the property tax in Alberta becomes more restricted to the financing of property services, educational program budgets can look to federal, provincial, and local sources of incremental and replacement revenues. At the federal level, unconditional grants might be appropriate, similar to the 50-percent of operating costs grants now used for…

Under this plan the State would repeal taxing power granted to school districts, and create new districts that would have elected boards. A Statewide salary scale would be created. Each district would submit budgets that would be reviewed, revised, and submitted to the legislature by the governor. Federal money would be used to supplement State…

A review of the property tax system of financing education in Ontario provides historical background for the consideration of alternative approaches to reform. The problem of declining enrollment lends a sense of immediacy to the discussion. The present system of finance is found to be unsatisfactory because of inequities in property assessment…

This paper reports that most of the States have appropriated more dollars to support local education than would be required to cover inflationary increases. According to the author, the new money is being channeled into equalization and foundation programs, and States are starting to experiment with "district power equalization." In its simple…

This report is one of a series on education finance undertaken to document existing disparities in expenditures for education, to analyze the sources of the disparities, and to describe and evaluate the gains and losses that would occur in differing types of school districts under alternative fiscal policies. This study shows that North Carolina's…

In this report, the author describes and examines some of the policy alternatives available for the implementation of an equitable system of school finance. The author provides statistics that trace the historical disparities in interdistrict school expenditures, describes recent court challenges to school finance systems, and discusses both full…

Fiscal equity and taxation equity in educational finance have been key issues in the United States and Canada over the past 2 decades. Part 1 describes the Province of Alberta's search for a solution to fiscal and taxation equity by looking at the education funding system. The growing disparities in educational resources available to school…