School Finance: Many Questions, Elusive Solutions.

This brief reviews and analyzes issues surrounding public school financing, particularly for Latino communities and elementary school and secondary school education. A review of the current legal debate notes that there have been legal challenges to school financing since 1967, and that rulings have indicated that government has a responsibility in appropriating funds to education. A section on how schools are funded explains that generally 40 percent of funding comes from local revenue, 54 percent from state revenue, and 7 percent from the Federal Government. The brief goes on to look at school finance equalization, variations among states in funding levels and systems, and disparities between school districts. A further section discusses the significance of funding disparities and then their particular significance for Latinos who are one-tenth of the school population and heavily concentrated in urban areas. Later discussion reviews current school reform strategies and monetary reform approaches, including three recommendations for promoting educational equity in urban school districts: (1) more money for urban district schools; (2) better ways of calculating student needs; and (3) greater autonomy for poor schools given better financial support. This section also lists and discusses four considerations for funding formulas. (JB)