Summarizes educational reform initiatives in Michigan, highlighting legislative actions such as the 1990 Public Act 25 ("the Quality Education Package"), professional certification reforms, experiments with school choice and charter schools, the Michigan Partnership for New Education; and abolition of property taxes to fund education.…

This interview with Milton Friedman addresses his economic policies and how they might improve American public education. Highlights include teachers' unions and their negative impact on education, private schools and tax relief, the Edison Project, privatization of educational services, special needs students, California's Educational Freedom…

With scant resources but boundless commitment, Charles Johnson, superintendent in a rural Mississippi district, takes pride in stretching school funds. The district has never run a deficit or borrowed to make ends meet. (MLF)

The choice debate has seriously neglected an important variable: the welfare costs (between 50 to 80 cents per marginal dollar raised) associated with tax collection necessary to finance public schools. Once corrected for the omitted variable, the balance is swung unambiguously in favor of private schools, even when revenue-financed vouchers are…

Examines one Pennsylvania school district's efforts to upkeep and improve its 30- to 40-year-old school facilities that required no tax increases for six years. Highlighted are the district's use of the Federal Land Reuse Authority to transform abandoned government property to private use and utilize the help of the community to provide mutually…

Pay-as-you-go funding (via local option sales taxes or earmarked property taxes) is superior to floating expensive bond issues to resolve school construction crises. Districts can plan projects more thoughtfully, focus on project priorities, avoid arbitrage problems and high insurance costs, and address socioeconomic considerations more equitably.…

Describes the use of cost effectiveness analysis of educational productivity in Phase I and II of the Regents Study of Organizational Change. Twenty school districts were selected for the study based on declining enrollment, high noninstructional expenses, high state aid, and high local tax burdens. (MMU)

Schools have been criticized perennially for their profligate waste of taxpayer money. Currently, there are two separate myths about schools and money: the United States spends more than any other country; and money doesn't matter. U.S. schools have many nonteaching school employees because they provide services that other nations do not. (MLH)

The system that finances Michigan's schools from kindergarten through 12th grade is a perennial topic of conversation among policymakers, parents, taxpayers and voters. A constructive discussion of this issue, however, requires a sound knowledge of the financial workings of Michigan's elementary and secondary school system. This knowledge is…

The reluctance of the Southeast to increase educational spending is closely linked to the region's lagging behind the rest of the nation in quality of education and hence in overall standard of living. Six "myths" about educational spending, widely held in the Southeast, are here addressed: (1) That educational expenditures, worthwhile…

This analysis is the second of a series of seven reports on the ways that the urban fiscal crisis has affected children. During the 1970s, as a result of general public disenchantment with government, 39 states (78 percent of the 50 states) appear to have enacted tax limitations that affected children's services. Of these states, 37 imposed…

This publication describes Oregon's current school funding system, and provides some criteria for evaluating alternatives that address issues of equity, balance, and stability. Oregon's school funding system depends primarily on local property taxes (57%) and a state aid program (22%) funded mainly by an income tax. This system permits a great…

This document reports the findings of a study assessing the status of school finance in Wisconsin and recommending preferred methods for funding the public schools. Seventy-nine topics were considered in five areas: state support, general aid, categorical aid, factors affecting school costs, and other topics. The study's recommendations regarding…

The education service districts (ESDs) in Oregon have been a strong force for staff development since 1849, a decade before statehood. This report outlines the organization of Oregon school systems over the past century, highlighting the creation of county superintendents, rural school districts, special education programs, and tax standards…

This publication is a statistical report that presents a variety of school district cost data for the purpose of giving the California Legislature information to use in adjusting the state foundation program for public school support. Following a brief section that summarizes the major trends identified in the study, separate sections focus in…