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Articles 1 - 11 of 11
Full-Text Articles in Education Economics
An Interview With Lawrence Picus, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
An Interview With Lawrence Picus, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
Lawrence O. Picus is a professor at the USC Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. His research focuses on adequacy and equity in school finance. He has published numerous books and articles, including School Finance: A Policy Perspective (with Allen R. Odden), and Where Does the Money Go?: Resource Allocation in Elementary and Secondary Schools (with James L. Wattenbarger). His consulting firm, Picus and Associates has worked closely with the Arkansas General Assembly over the past few years, making several key recommendations that many state legislators believe have been critical in helping the state achieve educational …
Full Interview With Lawrence Picus, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Full Interview With Lawrence Picus, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
Lawrence O. Picus is a professor at the USC Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. His research focuses on adequacy and equity in school finance. He has published numerous books and articles, including School Finance: A Policy Perspective (with Allen R. Odden), and Where Does the Money Go?: Resource Allocation in Elementary and Secondary Schools (with James L. Wattenbarger). His consulting firm, Picus and Associates has worked closely with the Arkansas General Assembly over the past few years, making several key recommendations that many state legislators believe have been critical in helping the state achieve educational …
Comparing Arkansas Students To Their National Peers, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Comparing Arkansas Students To Their National Peers, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
In an attempt to gauge the educational progress of the nation and each state, Education Week has published state report cards since 1997 in its annual Quality Counts series. The 12th annual report, Tapping into Teaching: Unlocking the Key to Student Success, was released in early 2008 and merges the indicators from the shortened 2007 report, which focused on the “cradle-to-career” framework, with previous indicators such as efforts to improve teacher quality and school finance. To compare states across the nation, the Quality Counts series grades and ranks states based on six broad measures: efforts to improve the teacher quality; …
Understanding Arkansas’ Education Funding Formula, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Understanding Arkansas’ Education Funding Formula, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
Over the last two years, Arkansas’ education funding system has undergone a variety of changes. Despite the news coverage and public attention over education funding, there remains general confusion around the state about school spending. We have produced periodic briefs to help explain the changes; however, we believe that a straightforward question and answer style brief could be helpful in sifting through the various documents about education spending in Arkansas. Four specific questions seem to be discussed consistently regarding education funding: • How much money has been allocated for education in Arkansas? • How has education funding changed over the …
Salaries For Arkansas Teachers, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Salaries For Arkansas Teachers, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
Over the last twenty years, teacher salaries have become a prominent topic in state and national education policy circles. Many contend that an earnings gap between teachers and other college graduates has become substantial and widened over the last few decades (American Council on Education Division of Government and Public Affairs, 1997; Henke, Chen, & Geis, 2000; Olson, 2000). The debate over whether teacher salaries are adequate is certainly open as more research appears from those arguing to increase salaries and those arguing that education money should be spent elsewhere (for a discussion of the adequacy and equity of teacher …
Lake View School Funding Update, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Lake View School Funding Update, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
In another landmark decision regarding school finance in Arkansas, the Arkansas Supreme Court has again declared that the state has retreated from its obligation to adequately fund public education, just as it decided in 2004 (Lake View School Dist. No. 25 v. Huckabee, 355 Ark. 617, 142 S.W.3d 643). Earlier this year, 49 school districts had requested the Court to recall its mandate and reappoint Special Masters to reopen the Lake View case and evaluate the state’s efforts to improve the adequacy of Arkansas’ school finance system (see Policy Brief 17). The court granted this request on June 9, 2005, …
Lake View Reopened, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Lake View Reopened, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
Arkansans may have thought that the decades-long fight over school funding was settled in 2002, when the state Supreme Court handed down the Lake View ruling which directed the state to “adequately and equitably” fund the education system. Since the Supreme Court’s decision, state legislators have made some strides in addressing the mandates outlined by the Court, such as increasing the state funding levels for districts and approving a plan to fund improvements to school facilities across the state.
Arkansas School Finance 2005: Finding Funds For Facilities, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Arkansas School Finance 2005: Finding Funds For Facilities, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
For the past half century, Arkansas has spent less per pupil than most other states. However, spurred in part by the State Supreme Court’s 2002 ruling that the state’s school system is “inequitable and inadequate,” the state is now strengthening its commitment to fund better educational opportunities for all students. During 2003, experts have estimated that the state will require nearly $850 million in additional funding to deliver an “adequate education” to all students in the state—a 48% increase in the state’s spending for public schools. In addition, lawmakers spent most of the past year focused on ways to finance …
2005 Legislature Considers School Facilities Improvement, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
2005 Legislature Considers School Facilities Improvement, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
The Arkansas 85th General Assembly is working to address the recommendations of the Arkansas Statewide Education Facilities Assessment. The report is the culmination of 18 months of work commissioned by the 2003 General Assembly to assess the adequacy and equity of public school buildings across the state. In the ongoing effort to address the mandates of the Lake View III decision, made by the Arkansas Supreme Court in November 2002, the legislature’s Joint Committee on Educational Facilities commissioned a task force to conduct a comprehensive survey of facilities, equipment, and technology. The 60-member task force, including legislators, school officials, and …
Mandated School Facilities Improvement: What Have Other States Done?, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Mandated School Facilities Improvement: What Have Other States Done?, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
In most school districts, funding for the construction and improvement of school facilities comes from local property taxes, sometimes solely, and sometimes with additional state support. In nearly all states, older school buildings, especially those in low-income districts are in need of renovation or repair. When school buildings are in poor repair or otherwise inadequate with respect to the educational environment which they provide, the quality of education available to students attending those schools can be adversely affected. As a result of lawsuits addressing this concern, a number of states have faced judicial mandates stemming from constitutional challenges requiring school …
Education Facilities Report, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Education Facilities Report, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Policy Briefs
The Arkansas Statewide Education Facilities Assessment is the culmination of 18 months of work commissioned by the Arkansas General Assembly to assess the adequacy and equity of public school buildings across the state. In the ongoing effort to address the mandates of the Lake View III decision, made by the Arkansas Supreme Court in November 2002, the legislature’s Joint Committee on Educational Facilities commissioned a task force to conduct a comprehensive survey of facilities, equipment, and technology. The 60-member task force, including legislators, school officials, and state department officials, together with architects, engineers, business leaders, and interested citizens, contracted with …