Finance Reform Found To Up State Contribution

At least a dozen states have passed major reforms in their school-finance programs in the last five years, often with the result of increasing the share of local school costs borne by state governments, according to an exhaustive new report.

However, in the states that did not pass such reforms, the share of school costs borne by the state declined, according to the two-volume report, "Public School Finance Programs of the United States and Canada, 1993-94."

The report's authors note that revenue growth for K-12 schools has stagnated in the 1990's, growing less than 0.2 percent a year compared with 3 percent...