The need for reform in school financing is crucial and urgent. The regressive and anachronistic practice of financing schools through local property taxes perpetuates inequities detrimental to students and unfair to parents and taxpayers. Although it is the students in the inner cities that require special, more costly educational approaches,…

This paper discusses alternative methods for financing education including sales and compensating taxes, mineral leasing, and land income. The author discusses the problem of local control under a full State funding system. He warns that merely allocating money to school districts on an equal basis will fail to accomplish equal education unless…

The constitutionally erected wall of separation between church and state is the only viable foundation for maintaining religious freedom and for preserving our public school system. The patchwork of recent court decisions and State and Federal legislation concerning aid to parochial schools threatens to erode that wall. Justifications for such aid…

This document compiles several studies on educational finance, including "Federal Aid to Education: Who Benefits?""The Financial Aspects of Equality of Educational Opportunity," and "Legislator's Guide for School Finance." Also included are two briefs filed in the San Antonio vs Rodriguez case and a listing of current…

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 authors, after discussing the St. Louis school system and its financial history, survey both traditional and innovative construction finance alternatives that have been used across the country. These alternatives, which fall into two categories, include: (1) conventional financing through tax incomes including State and Federal aid, and (2)…

This publication provides information on the sources and amounts of funds available for prekindergarten through postsecondary education in Illinois common schools for 1996-97. The guidebook contains a summary of fiscal-year 1997 appropriations to the Illinois State Board of Education, as well as appropriations for educationally related purposes…

The United States Supreme Court decided two cases in the area of school finance in 1986. It addressed student financial assistance under a vocational rehabilitation program for tuition at a sectarian postsecondary institution in Washington; it also decided a case challenging a state finance program. Cases were heard by other courts in an attempt…

One Supreme Court decision, seven federal appellate decisions, and two district court decisions were published in the area of school finance in 1990. The Supreme Court reviewed a case concerning allegations of school district segregation, along with an ensuing tax assessment issue. Federal appellate courts handed down decisions involving alleged…

In 1989, federal appellate courts ruled on issues regarding a state's role in financing a court-ordered desegregation plan, and the use of federal funds for vocational rehabilitation and Title I programs. State supreme courts decided on the constitutionality of four states' school financing schemes and, in a fifth state, on distribution of federal…

There were no United States Supreme Court decisions in 1987 on either public or private school finance. Cases discussed in this chapter fall under three major topics: (1) public funds for private schools; (2) sources and allocations of public school funds; and (3) school tax issues. Federal appellate court cases included decisions on the…

In 1988, there were two United States Supreme Court decisions regarding school finance. One decision upheld the constitutionality of a North Dakota statute regarding transportation fees, and the other decision ruled that interest from state and local government bearer bonds was subject to federal income taxation. Cases discussed in this chapter…

The Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA) of 1981 is intended to provide opportunities for states and local governments to have more control of their educational programs and to deregulate the administration of federal programs. Introduced at a time when state funding and revenue systems are in flux and severely depleted, it presents…