New Service Will Help Compare Districts' Spending With Results

By Lynn Olson

A Wall Street company that provides independent financial analyses and credit ratings for businesses and school districts is offering a service that will enable states to link data about financial expenditures with academic results and compare performance across districts.

Standard & Poor's, a division of the McGraw-Hill Cos., announced the introduction of its School Evaluation Services earlier this month. In an address to the Pennsylvania legislature last week, Gov. Tom Ridge announced plans to use the system in his state. Gov. John Engler of Michigan made a similar commitment in his State of the State Address in January.

"Until now, many states and school systems have had no consistent and independent way to link academic and financial-performance indicators," said William J. Cox, a managing director at Standard & Poor's in New York City. "SES fills that void by assembling and clarifying disparate data, analyzing academic and financial trends, and offering our independent view of the comparative...