January 6, 2005

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State of School Finance
EXECUTIVE SUMMARYFinancing Better Schools
FEATURE STORIES
A look at how state policymakers are looking for new and better ways to finance public education.
• Financial Evolution Historically, states have focused on how to distribute money equitably across districts, but now, states are asking what it would take to raise all students to state standards.
- Chart: Per-Pupil Expenditures
- Chart: Spending Split
- Chart: School Finance Litigation
• Making Every Dollar Count Educators face increased pressure not only to make do with the money they have, but also to do more with that money than ever before.
- Chart: School-Level Data Collection
- Sidebar: Weighty Decisions
- Chart: Weighted Funding
- Sidebar: Salary Adjustments
- Chart: Performance-Pay Pioneers
- Sidebar: Financial Freedom
• The Bottom Line School finance experts may have refined their models for determining how much it should cost to educate students, but that doesn't mean they always agree on the results.
- Sidebar: New York Adequacy Studies
- Sidebar: Kentucky Adequacy Studies
- Sidebar: Maryland Adequacy Studies
- Sidebar: Uncertain Costs
- Chart: Price Check
- Table: Adequacy Studies
• A Level Playing Field One lawsuit set the Garden State on a bold new path for financing schools in the neediest districts. Several years after the key decisions in the landmark case, the results are still being debated.
- Chart: Plaintiff Victory
- Sidebar: Targeted Spending
- Chart: State Strategies
• Elusive Answers The rising demands on public schools, a fluctuating economy, and successful lawsuits are forcing states to search for new ways to make their tax systems fairer and more reliable.
- Chart: Education Lotteries
- Table: Sources of State Revenue
- Sidebar: Revenue Limits
FINANCE SNAPSHOTS
• Overview: No two states finance their public schools exactly alike. The major features of each state's school funding system are highlighted in state-by-state summaries.
- Text Index: Finance Snapshots
State of the States
STATE DATAEducation Week examines how states fare on student achievement, standards and accountability, efforts to improve teacher quality, school climate, and resources.
• Overview: State of the States States are putting in place policies to help meet the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act and to improve the conditions in their schools.
• Table: Summary of Grades by State• Table: Student Achievement
• Table: Standards and Accountability
• Table (Web only): Grade-by-Grade State Testing Policies
• Table: Efforts to Improve Teacher Quality
• Table: School Climate
• Table: Resources: Equity
- Sidebar: Equity: Interpretation
- Sidebar: Spending: Interpretation
• How Education Week Graded the States
STATE REPORT CARDS
Education Week grades the states and the District of Columbia in
key categories.
• Map: State Report Cards (Requires Macromedia Flash Player.)
STATE DATA REPORTS
Reports showing grading-indicator data across key categories for individual states.
• Text Index: State Data Reports
Quality Counts is produced with support from the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Access selected articles, e-newsletters and more!
- Instructional Leadership Director
- ALBANY CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Albany, NY
- Chief Innovation Officer
- The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®), Washington, DC
- Chief Financial Officer
- Hernando County School Board, Brooksville, FL
- Common Core Literacy Assessment Developer - Part Time
- The Equity Project (TEP) Charter School, New York, NY
- Principal - Chicago Metro Area West
- The Menta Group, Hillside, IL


