Where Did the $800 Million Go? The First Year of New Jersey's Quality Education Act

Passage of New Jersey's school finance reform law raised questions about whether it would equalize funding between rich and poor districts, whether poor districts would waste their increases, and whether equalization would impair richer districts. Budgetary and interview data from 11 districts of varying wealth suggest that in the first year the law only modestly increased fiscal equality. Poor districts used new funds to improve other programs and the material educational environment. Wealthier districts experienced only minor cuts, which resulted as much from residents' unwillingness to tax themselves to the level allowed by the state as from reduced state funds.

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Quasi-Experimental Evidence on the Connection between Property Taxes and Residential Capital Investment

American Economic Journal Economic Policy ◽

10.1257/pol.20120017 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 300-330 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Byron Lutz

Keyword(s):

School Finance ◽

Capital Investment ◽

Property Tax ◽

The State ◽

Property Taxes ◽

Finance Reform ◽

School Finance Reform ◽

Home Construction ◽

Quasi Experimental ◽

Residential Capital

Do low property taxes attract new home construction? This question is answered using a large shock to property tax burdens caused by an unusual school finance reform in the state of New Hampshire. The estimates suggest that, in most of the state, communities with a reduced tax burden experience a substantial increase in residential construction. In the area of the state near the region's primary urban center (Boston), however, the shock clears through a price adjustment—i.e., by capitalizing into property values. The differing responses are attributed to differing housing supply elasticities. (JEL H71, H73, R31)

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School finance reform for curriculum innovation: An equity prospect

South African Journal of Education ◽

10.15700/saje.v40n4a2027 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 40 (4) ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Mutendwahothe Walter Lumadi

Keyword(s):

School Finance ◽

Curriculum Design ◽

Quality Education ◽

Pass Rate ◽

Curriculum Innovation ◽

Finance Reform ◽

Intervention Programme ◽

School Finance Reform ◽

Learner Achievement ◽

Ulterior Motive

The advent of democracy in South Africa triggered notable reforms to the financing of quality education, and curriculum design and innovation. The ulterior motive behind this study was to underscore the correlation between inadequate financial resources and learners’ achievement. School finance reform was found to contribute to learner achievement and was viewed as a building block of every discourse related to equity. In the Eastern Cape (EC) province, the dismal percentage of Grade 12 learners who achieve success in gateway subjects, as reflected in the National Senior Certificate Examination results, was linked to the grossly inequitable distribution of funding and even the defunding of education. The 3 high schools in question were stigmatised as chronic underachievers, having reported a 0% pass rate for 5 successive years. Establishing an intervention programme to finance quality education for schools in poverty-stricken communities was an arduous undertaking. Although the windfall was temporary, it was construed as the dawn of a new age of philanthropy. The project spurred the development of local education finance to motivate South Africa’s Dinaledi (stars).

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