ECS Policy Alert MS Word PDF - The "Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" contains almost $100 billion in new federal education spending. ECS staff have produced a short summary of the bill to help state policymakers better understand its implications. (Mike Griffith, Education Commission of the States, February 2009)...

Federal Education Budget MS Word - This StateNote contains the appropriations for selected departments and programs within the Department of Education, with a special focus on programs that impact the No Child Left Behind initiative. (Michael Griffith, Education Commission of the States, January 2005)...

International School Finance MS Word PDF - This StateNote shows how America's school funding system compares with other developed countries’ systems from around the world. This information was collected and published by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (Michael Griffith, Education Commission of the States, November 2004)...

21st Century School Finance: How is the Context Changing? MS Word - This paper, the second one of three in a series: Education Finance in the States: Its Past, Present and Future, touches on the following questions: What transformation must the school finance system undergo to improve learning for all students? Do the funds available support an "adequate" education for all children? What new demographic realities are affecting funding support systems? How are the new approaches to providing education challenging school finance policies? (Janet S. Hansen, Education Commission of the States, July 2001)...

The Status of School Finance Today MS Word - One of three in the series, Education Finance in the States: Its Past, Present and Future, this paper provides a summary of the current status of education funding in the United States. Specifically, it describes the scope of the school finance enterprise, explains how schools obtain funding, identifies the factors that influence funding availability, describes strengths and weaknesses of current funding methods, and identifies other issues that have funding implications. (John Augenblick, Education Commission of the States, July 2001)...

1999 State Education Financing Trends MS Word - This is an analysis of major state-level trends in public school financing. Highlighted are gubernatorial agendas, legislation both passed and failed, and court rulings in 1999. (John Myers and Michael Griffith, Education Commission of the States, October 1999)...

20/20 Costs and Funding of Virtual Schools: An Examination of the Costs to Start, Operate and Grow Virtual Schools and a Discussion of Funding Options for States Interested - School finance experts Augenblick, Palaich and Associates (APA) embarked on a year-long project, funded by the BellSouth Foundation, to examine issues related to cost and funding of virtual schools, including the cost of operating and the funding mechanisms to support such schools. This report presents the cost consideration of online programs, a discussion on how schools are funded across the country, and policy issues which must be considered. (Amy Berk Anderson, John Augenblick, Dale DeCesare and Jill Conrad, BellSouth Foundation, October 2006)...

Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education: School Year 2002-03 - Approximately $440 billion in revenue was raised to fund public education for grades pre-kindergarten through 12th in the 2002-03 school year. This report presents data for public elementary and secondary schools on: (1) revenues; (2) percentage distribution of revenue; (3) current expenditures; (4) percentage distribution of current expenditures; (5) student membership and current expenditure per pupil; (6) current expenditures for instruction; and (7) total expenditures. Data are disaggregated for each state and outlying area, and other indicators starting on page 6. (Jason Hill and Frank Johnson, National Center for Education Statistics, April 2005)...

Federal Support for Education: Fiscal Years 1980 to 2003 - This report provides a picture of total federal financial support for education from fiscal year 1980 through fiscal year 2003. A summary of dollar amounts spent on education programs in the U.S. Department of Education and other government agencies is provided. (William C. Sonnenberg, National Center for Education Statistics, August 2004)...

Financial Accounting for Local and State School Systems 2003 Edition - This revised handbook presents a national set of standards and guidance for school system accounting, and is designed to help ensure that education fiscal data are reported comprehensively and uniformly. The handbook is separated into eight chapters; (1) introduction, (2) uses of information, (3) budgeting, (4) governmental accounting, (5) financial reporting, (6) account classification descriptions, (7) cost accounting and reporting for educational programs and (8) activity fund guidelines. A summary of account code changes occurring between 1990 and 2003 is provided. (National Center for Education Statistics, November 2003)...

Selected Papers in School Finance, 2000-01 - The education finance community faces a wide variety of measurement issues. These commissioned papers address how teacher compensation has changed over time; conceptual and methodological approaches for making inflation and geographic cost adjustments in education; tools of the trade for assessing the financial condition of public school districts; and an attempt to devise a synthesis of two divergent approaches to school-level financial reporting. (Dan D. Goldhaber; William J. Fowler, Jr. and David H. Monk; Dean Michael Mead; William T. Hartman, Denny G. Bolton and David H. Monk; NCES, August 2001)...

Schools Become the Focal Point of Finance MS Word - A federally appointed commission suggested the Consumer Price Index has been miscalculated for several decades. Could there be a parallel in education? Are the traditional regulatory reporting mechanisms using district-level data built around average per-pupil expenditures, average daily attendance, or full-time equivalents flawed? (Article by Chris Pipho reprinted with permission from Phi Delta Kappan, February 1997)...