Equity and Adequacy in Education Finance Issues and Perspectives (1999) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
5 The Politics of School Finance in the 1990s
5 The Politics of School Finance in the 1990s
Pages 136-174
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 136... ...
A state's existing school finance system is a product of the legislative process and therefore reflects the state's balance of political power. Changing that system requires a shift of power relationships, and the external stimulus from the courts is often only one of many factors that determine the success of school finance reform efforts within individual states.
|
From page 137... ...
Political and economic analysts, on the other hand, have argued that significant challenges to school finance reform remain in many states (Reed, 1997~. Using a general analysis of the issues and the evidence from these four states, we will argue that although judicial decisions in favor of finance equity are more common and more comprehensive, the political climate can impede efforts to take action based on these decisions.
|
From page 138... ...
Thus, there are strong coalitions with vested interests in maintaining local control of education funds and services. School finance reform, however, is legislated at the state level and reduces the number of financial and, to some extent, programmatic decisions made at the local level.
|
From page 139... ...
Perceptions that equalization aid would be wasted either by bloated administration or on children who are difficult to teach help fuel the opposition to school finance reform. Incentives Considering the inherently controversial nature of school finance, what incentives exist for political actors to get involved in school finance reform and work toward school finance equalization?
|
From page 140... ...
These periods of legislative activity in the sphere of school finance have usually coincided with strong state economies that have decreased the necessity for, or softened the blow of, new taxes (Fuhrman, 1994b:31~. More often than not, however, legislators have been reluctant to promote school finance reform for fear of being associated with the introduction of new taxes.
|
From page 141... ...
They must therefore choose cautiously the issues that they will focus on and must be careful not to use too many of these scarce resources on unpopular or contentious initiatives. As a result, gubernatorial leadership on school finance reform is unlikely without at least one of the following catalysts: outside pressure from the courts, widespread support among the population, or the existence of a fiscal surplus.
|
From page 142... ...
THE POLITICS OF SCHOOL FINANCE IN THE 1970S AND 1980S The 1970s: A Decade of School Finance Reform The 1970s was a decade of great activity in school finance reform in all branches of state governments. During this decade, school finance litigation reached the highest court in 16 states.
|
From page 143... ...
Some even proposed tax increases and new revenue sources to increase the amount of education funding that came from the states. As a consequence of their leadership roles in school finance reforms, state legislatures and governors emerged from this decade as full-fledged education policymakers.
|
From page 144... ...
In other states, the threat of school finance litigation prompted legislatures and governors to take action. Many governors and legislators therefore found school finance reform in their best interest whether out of personal ideological conviction, in response to a court mandate, as a preemptive measure to avoid litigation, or for a combination of these reasons.
|
From page 145... ...
As a result, the states added a total of over $27 billion to their share of education expenditures during the 1970s (Fuhrman, 1982:57~. It is important to note that the reforms of the 1970s were not designed, even on their surface, to fully equalize per-pupil expenditures, much less educational opportunities.8 During the 1970s, the debate surrounding school finance reform in many states was focused on reducing property tax rates as well as equalizing education expenditures.
|
From page 146... ...
Especially after Rodriguez, the 1973 federal court case which upheld Texas's highly inequitable school finance system as constitutional under the federal Constitution, and after the economic downturn in the mid 1970s, reforms became much more diverse in their objectives and, overall, less concerned with pure school finance equity arguments (Brown and Elmore, 1982: 112- 113~.9 In the 1970s, the courts and many legislatures used the standard of fiscal neutrality. New school finance formulas did not require equalized tax rates but were designed so that districts would receive equal revenue for equal tax rates.
|
From page 147... ...
The diffusion of these policy actions across states was significantly faster than the diffusion rates of school finance reform (McDonnell and Fuhrman,1985:48~. To some extent the increased legislative and gubernatorial interest in substantive issues of education was an inevitable result of the increased proportion of resources they were providing to education.
|
From page 148... ...
they supported. Although the reforms in the 1970s had increased the state share of education expenditures to 45 percent in 1979, more than half of school financing remained dependent on local property tax revenues (Fuhrman, 1994a:61~.
|
From page 149... ...
A recent study using data from over 16,000 school districts over the 1972-92 period found that, on average, court-ordered reform reduced within state inequities in per-pupil expenditures by 16 to 38 percent (depending on the measure of inequity used) while legislated reform without successful litigation did not, on average, reduce inequities by a statistically significant amount (Evans et al.,1997: 11, 28~.
|
From page 150... ...
The Fiscal Context of School Finance in the 1990s Without fiscal slack, enacting school finance reform is difficult and often requires new taxes to create revenue sources for leveling-up policies or the redistribution of revenues from other state programs or districts to education. But increasing taxes has been virtually impossible in the anti-tax climate of the 1990s.
|
From page 151... ...
Much of the public support for school finance reform in the 1970s stemmed from dissatisfaction with the local property tax; school finance reform provided tax relief and was therefore politically feasible. In the 1970s, school finance reform often required increases in state taxes, but the existence of fiscal surpluses reduced the amounts that had to come from these tax increases, and reform could be equated with tax relief in the public's minds.
|
From page 152... ...
Less political will exists to reform school finance systems than there was in the 1970s, especially in states that have had extensive school finance litigation and have enacted multiple remedies. Many people feel that the state has made enough of an effort to equalize school funding and that a lack of results is more a reflection of mismanagement of resources or proof that money does not matter in education than a reflection of incomplete or ineffective state policies.
|
From page 153... ...
There is no consensus among politicians, education advocacy groups, parents or educators regarding the merits, risks, and viability of these options but the national debate about market-based reforms does call attention to education improvement methods that are not dependent on greater equity among school districts. Interest Group Politics Now that school finance reform is increasingly viewed as a zero-sum game where the pie from which all groups must draw is not expected to expand, education groups are even more divided on geographic, programmatic, and philosophical lines than they were in the 1970s.
|
From page 154... ...
To the extent that these enrollment increases are concentrated in the poorer districts, they exacerbate disparities in funding and polarize the politics of school finance. Thus, in the l990s, the economic and political contexts imply a changed road for school finance reformers.
|
From page 155... ...
Kentucky is often cited as the example of school finance reform that accomplished equalization and comprehensive reform at the same time. Political incentives for school finance reform in Kentucky included a strong mandate for comprehensive change from the state supreme court, widespread public support, a great need to spark economic development, and relatively low costs.
|
From page 156... ...
, which had three main components finance, curriculum, and governance and a corresponding sales tax increase to fund the bill. KERA created a three-tier system allowing local districts some flexibility in tax rates, capped the wealthiest districts, and leveled-up.
|
From page 157... ...
Alabaman Many parallels can be drawn between Kentucky and Alabama's contexts for school finance reform in the l990s. At the beginning of the decade, these two
|
From page 158... ...
Anti-tax and anti-government sentiments were much stronger in 1993 then they had been in 1990, and by 1993-94 Alabama's political leadership had run into trouble. School finance reform is inextricably tied to the volatile politics of taxes in Alabama during the l990s.
|
From page 159... ...
The bill was passed in the Senate but not in the House and was thus postponed until the next legislative session. The crucial turning point for school finance reform in Alabama was the 1994 election of Governor Fob James.
|
From page 160... ...
Race and class considerations also made school finance reform more politically contentious in Alabama than in Kentucky. Racial minorities in Alabama make up a greater proportion of the population and are concentrated in the poorest sections of the state.
|
From page 161... ...
CARR AND SUSAN H FUHRMAN 161 Texas has enacted school finance reform in the past, but in the 1990s the politics have become more contentious because it involves redistributing existing resources not raising new money.~9 The long battle between the court and the legislature, and the threat of the courts closing down the schools, demonstrate the political difficulty of the issue.
|
From page 162... ...
The study reported that the racial and economic composition of districts was a better predictor of support or opposition to school finance reform than district wealth. Districts with high percentages of blacks and Latinos were most likely to vote in favor of the amendment, probably because they viewed themselves as the prime beneficiaries of the equity-enhancing reforms.
|
From page 163... ...
New Jersey provides an extremely challenging environment for school finance reform. In 1990, at the time of the Abbott decision, the disparities in regular educational spending per student between the richest and the poorest septiles had grown to $2,008 (Firestone, 1997a:5~.
|
From page 164... ...
The QEA provided over $1 billion of state aid to education, most of it targeted to the 30 poorest urban districts that educated one-quarter of the state's public school students. Governor Florio backed the QEA and a $2.8 billion tax package that was designed to fund the QEA, address the projected budget deficit, and provide local property tax relief (Corcoran and Scovronick,1996:6~.
|
From page 165... ...
Some important lessons can be drawn from the attempts to legislate school finance reform made by Governor Florio and the proponents of equal educational opportunity. First, if the bill had included provisions for accountability, educational standards, and programmatic initiatives, it might have inspired more confidence that the money would be well spent and might have had more support.
|
From page 166... ...
In the states we examined, successful litigation, strong political leadership, and extensive public education efforts proved to be necessary, but not automatically sufficient, conditions for overcoming these obstacles. In each of the four states we examined above, litigation played a key role in placing and keeping the issue of school finance reform on the state agenda.
|
From page 167... ...
An activist court and successful litigation are helpful, but political leadership from the governor and key legislators is essential in passing school finance reform to reduce inter-district inequities. In Alabama, where turnover and corruption severely limited consistent political leadership during the period following legislation, school finance reform efforts had very little chance of succeeding.
|
From page 168... ...
The shift in school finance reform from tax equity to equalizing educational opportunity creates complex challenges and intricate politics. Many states are attempting to resolve these challenges through the creation of foundation levels and the use of weights to reflect the higher costs associated with serving large numbers of pupils from low-income families, special education, and other special
|
From page 169... ...
5. Based on the Education Commission of the States count of legislated school finance reforms between 1971 and 1981 (Fuhrman, 1982:53~.
|
From page 170... ...
8. California eventually achieved substantial equality of per-pupil spending and of educational opportunity through school finance reform in response to Serrano combined with state and local tax capping laws such as Proposition 13 and the Gann Amendment.
|
From page 171... ...
REFERENCES Brown, P.R., and R.F. Elmore 1982 Analyzing the impact of school finance reform.
|
From page 172... ...
1978 The politics and process of school finance reform. Journal of Education Finance 4(Fall)
|
From page 173... ...
McUsic, M 1991 The use of education clauses in school finance reform litigation.
|
From page 174... ...
:1639-1679. 1990 The third wave: The impact of the Montana, Kentucky, and Texas decisions on the future of public school finance reform litigation.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.