Alternative methods for taxing the mineral industry at the State level include four types of taxes: the ad valorem tax, severance tax, gross production tax, and net production tax. An ad valorem tax is a property tax levied on a mineral deposit's assessed value and due whether the deposit is being worked or not. The severance tax is usually an…

Outlines educational, personnel, legal, and political considerations facing the Los Angeles Community College District contingency planning committee in their efforts to develop plans to meet budgetary limitations foreseen in the passage of the Jarvis-Gann property tax limitation initiative. (TP)

Offers insights into the effects of federal and state unemployment compensation laws on child care operations, including for-profit centers, nonprofit agencies, and family home care. (BB)

This paper focuses on the identification and implementation of an adequate and appropriate funding mechanism or mechanisms for the funding of rural library services in Idaho. It is noted that the data for the report were taken primarily from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, with additional data from a 1990 survey of state library officials. The…

Utah's school districts receive equalization aid under the state's school finance program. Funds are distributed on the basis of weighted pupil units and are allocated among a number of specific programs. This document consists of tables and graphs displaying the allocation of these funds to Utah's 40 school districts during the 1982-83 school…

This paper highlights the major federal and state public policy issues that will affect higher education in 2001 and 2002. Its purpose is to provide board members and other higher education officials with brief descriptions of the most important public policy issues. Each issue is defined, with a brief summary and a discussion in greater depth.…

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…

Public school funding in Florida differs from other states in a number of important ways. First, Florida has a highly equalized resource-distribution formula resulting in a high degree of interdistrict equity. Second, concerns for quality, while constant, have had to compete with the state's phenomenal growth. Third, the state exercises a much…

This final report of the Nebraska School Financing Review Commission includes the following items: (1) an examination of the role of income as a revenue source and indicator of wealth; (2) investigation of ways to reduce reliance on property tax for school support; and (3) consideration of alternate state aid distribution formulas. Also included…

Contemplation by the Illinois General Assembly of a new grant-in-aid system for school finance has suggested a review of educational finance in that state. Taxation maintaining support of public education since 1825 and the establishment of the first free schools are examined. The issue of local funding, the inequities caused by such funding due…

State legislation on libraries in Ohio is presented in this report. An introductory chapter covers some of the major characteristics and provisions of these laws, in historical perspective and in the current state of public library organization, tax support, and financing. Federal library laws are reviewed, as is the role of the state library, and…

This report examines the current school finance system in Oregon and recommends changes to make the system more equitable and less subject to variations in local property wealth. After briefly describing the inequities of the present system, most of the report discusses the committee's legislative recommendations and their probable impact. The…

This report is designed to familiarize the reader with current changes in State systems of public school finance. It describes in summary form the major school finance changes made in 1973 by Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Utah, and Wisconsin. State legislative sessions in these States produced…

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 educational funding system in Massachusetts has become less equitable than before, since the passage of Proposition Two and a Half. A decision-making process driven by zero-sum economics, rather than educational needs, is particularly harmful to urban youth; failure to educate every young American threatens the nation's social and economic…