The Oregon educational system confronts a set of legislative challenges similar to, yet different from, the rest of the nation. Like the rest of the nation, distrust of government runs high, politicians are wary of raising or restructuring taxes, the economy is expanding, and the November 1994 state election shook up the political leadership of…

In 1988, 66 of Tennessee's rural school districts brought suit against the state government claiming that the school funding system of a local option sales tax discriminates against rural areas. This study examines the effects of increased reliance on local sales tax revenue on Tennessee's school expenditures. Not every county can support a major…

Indiana public policy has frozen local property tax levies for public education funding since the early 1970s, which has resulted in an educational system largely supported by state fiscal aid. A statistical analysis of the fiscal equity of Indiana's school operating expenditures for the latest school year preceding the freeze (1972-73) and the…

Concentrating on states' needs for programs offered by institutions of higher education (IHE) and the manner in which these needs can be met and financed, the 3-part paper analyzes the elements included by "The Chronicle of Higher Education" in its ranking of states' suppoort of higher education based on the results of the Chambers…

This paper uses data obtained by a large statewide survey of Massachusetts residents to measure the relative importance of certain motivations in influencing the overall statewide vote on Proposition 2 1/2. Proposition 2 1/2 severely restricts the ability of Massachusetts cities and towns to raise tax revenue for local services. Interviews were…

The court decision in the case of "Alma v. Dupree," finding the Arkansas School Finance System unconstitutional, ordered the State of Arkansas to establish a valid school finance system. Subsequently, the State's General Assembly created a 15-member commission to develop a plan for implementing an adequate and equitable school finance…

This document contains papers on: (1) proposals for national foundation programs; (2) state support of education; (3) tax reform at Federal, state, and local levels; and (4) contemporary problems in school finance, including equal educational opportunity, urban school finance, grants-in-aid, Federal income tax rebates to the States, voter behavior…

This report concentrates on the equity problem in Illinois public school finance. Central to this report is the thesis that there are three basic strategies for attacking the equity problem: make adjustments in the existing "foundation level" grant-in-aid system, abandon the "foundation" idea for a grant-in-aid system, and…

Three basic issues were examined in this study: (1) the variance in the purchasing power of the dollar among Texas school districts, (2) the variance in local property tax burden among Texas school districts, and (3) consideration of alternative Texas school finance formulas. Data used were from the data banks of the Texas Education Agency and…

To provoke public discussion about the role state aid should play in Vermont public education and to make a case for a state aid system structured on the broad principles of equal opportunity, fair tax burdens, and adequate funding levels, this booklet examines Vermont's system of school finance, attempting to highlight its history and its present…

This summary provides an overview of developments in school finance litigation since the United States Supreme Court's historic and lamentable 1973 ruling in "San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez" that wealth-based discrimination in educational expenditures does not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to…

This study examines the current Texas school finance plan, the finance plans and proposals of other states, national school finance research, and the results of a survey of Texas leaders and educators before presenting alternative revenue and distribution plans, their effects and costs, and possible revenue sources. The study was conducted under…

California is under court order (Serrano v. Priest) to revise the system of financing public elementary and secondary education. Initial analysis had predicted that a shift to statewide taxation would result in greater educational resources at a lower tax cost for lower income families and fewer resources at a higher tax cost for wealthier…

This document examines the effect that alternative ways of reforming school finance would have on major city school districts. Using census data, the authors attempt to show that parity between tax effort and revenue yield will not in itself insure fiscal justice for most major city schools. The paper considers the higher costs of educational…

This report provides an analysis of current inequities in school finance in Illinois, the historical roots of those inequities, and an analysis of alternative options for funding primary and secondary education. An introduction briefly describes the basis for the constitutional challenge to the current funding system. The next section describes…