Helping Children Left Behind: State Aid and the Pursuit of Educational Equity

Federal reform legislation declares, through its title, that no childshould be left behind. Despite this, the sad truth is that many children are beingleft behind, particularly in large, poor, urban school districts. Because of thisinequity, state supreme courts have thrown out the education finance systems ineighteen states, and many states have implemented major educatio

Federal reform legislation declares, through its title, that no childshould be left behind. Despite this, the sad truth is that many children are beingleft behind, particularly in large, poor, urban school districts. Because of thisinequity, state supreme courts have thrown out the education finance systems ineighteen states, and many states have implemented major education finance reforms.These reforms have lessened disparities in educational spending but appear to havehad little impact on disparities in educational performance. Helping Children LeftBehind explores both the general issues in education finance reform and theexperiences of five states to understand why these disparities persist and to designpolicies that address them. The book is a valuable resource for scholars, publicofficials, and others interested in education finance reform.The first part of thebook addresses the general issues involved in reform of state aid to education.After a comprehensive introductory chapter that outlines such issues as selectingaid formulas, adjusting for disadvantaged students, district accountability, andschool choice, the chapters in part I examine these issues in more depth, discussingcourt cases involving school finance reform, the relationship between funding andaccountability, and the consequences and feedback effects of school aid reformpolicies, including the effect on residential patterns. The second part of the bookconsists of detailed case studies of recent ambitious school finance reform effortsin Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Texas, and Vermont. Three appendixes offer valuablereference material, describing significant state court decisions on school financesystems (through June 2003), state operating aid programs, and state building aidformulas.