Private schools receive differential treatment in Canada because of the dominant viewpoint that parents sending their children to private schools do not deserve government assistance. Examination of entitlement to human rights can contribute to developing a more sympathetic view of the funding of private schools. (Author/JAZ)

This document contains the 10 issues of the IDRA Newsletter published in 2002. The newsletter disseminates research findings, descriptions of successful programs and reforms, and other information related to equality of educational opportunity, focusing on Hispanic students, bilingual education, and Texas. Articles are: "Successful Bilingual…

Because school systems throughout America depend on local property taxes for much of their revenue, districts with poor property valuations, especially rural districts, are facing fiscal crises. In response to a lawsuit filed in 1991, the Ohio Supreme Court twice decided that the state's heavy reliance on local property taxes for school funding…

Because many school funding studies are seriously flawed, valid conclusions cannot be reached concerning the effects of school funding in the United States. New evidence from the National Assessment of Educational Progress and two international achievement tests shows that differences among U.S. public school districts (and states) in funding and…

The Association for Women in Science (AWIS), in conjunction with the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education (NCWGE), published a report card on how women have fared over the past 25 years since the passage of Title IX. The report card gave mathematics and science a C+. Recommends ways of encouraging active participation of women in…

Explores equity issues related to the funding of urban schools. Data suggest that poverty level is more closely tied to spending differences than minority status. Federal and state funding formulas have brought per-student spending in most schools close to the national average, although high-income areas continue to enjoy higher per-pupil…

The importance and urgency of rural education to each state was assessed using seven and nine indicators, respectively. The Mid-South Delta, central Appalachia, coastal Southeast, the north Plains, and northern New England emerged as priority rural education regions. The most important urgency indicators were teacher salaries, computer use, school…

Examines a policy providing for the differential distribution of educational resources in urban Toronto, Canada. Although this policy addressed systemic social inequality through schooling by placing increased resources in the hands of innercity school staff, it also reaffirmed a normative relationship between mass compulsory schooling and the…

Asserts that both efficiency and equity have been used as rationales for governmental support of postsecondary vocational education, but research has been hampered by inadequate data. Finds that postsecondary vocational education has positive effects on individual economic outcomes, but these effects are not found in all target groups. (CFR)

Examines school-funding equity litigation concerning rural schools, effects of political power on rural funding, rural and urban competition for funding, unique funding problems of rural schools, the growing threat to equity posed by sales-tax funding schemes, and future funding-litigation strategies for rural schools. Tables list relevant federal…

Points out that bringing technology into the schools illuminates, and perhaps exacerbates, the advantage that students from wealthy families have over students from poorer families. Notes that advocates for technology often have an agenda that has nothing to do with students' learning. Discusses what educators can do in the face of all this. (SR)

Using data from Virginia school districts, this paper concludes that a district's educational-resource level is associated with its socioeconomic characteristics and that interdistrict variations in educational resources are associated with two kinds of student outcomes (attainments and aspiration), but not math and reading test scores. (Contains…

The witness argues that the state of Missouri has discriminated against black children in St. Louis, and that losing the desegregation funding given through the state would have detrimental effects on the quality of education in the city. Calculations are offered in support of this argument. (SLD)

Discusses worldwide economic and sociological dimensions of children's policy. Economic instability, budgetary policy changes, and social shifts have impoverished many children and severely constrained their life prospects. Proposes a New Ethic providing a "first call for children" in national and international policy, modeled after the…

Alternative high schools whose power emanates from variety, choice, and personal relationships are hindered from succeeding by sending schools' practices. Alternatives lack control over who attends, student diversity, time of entry, who teaches, program definition, and graduation policies. They often have inferior facilities and insufficient…