School+Finance+Week+1


 * Week 1 –Introduction to School Finance- **** Part 1 – Three events in school finance history. **
 * 1) 1845 – Texas became a state and the new constitution began the complexity of funding a free and appropriate education. A precedent of funding, although arguably inadequate, was established by allocating 10% of the state budget. The difficulty of having adequate funds for all schools in Texas has been the center of debate in school finance and considered “unconstitutional” in several court cases.
 * 2) 1949 – Gilmer-Aiken Laws changed the funding and operation of state schools. The State Board of Education was founded, teacher salaries were increased, and formal school year were established from these laws. The complexity of using local tax revenue was added to the formula and would later influence legal decisions.
 * 3) Edgewood v Kirby lawsuit that ended up with the Texas Supreme Court decision leading to the 1993 – “Robin Hood Plan” where property wealthy districts distribute their revenue based on one of five methods.
 * Part 2 – Three basic issues impacting the state formula **

Examples: Needed facilities and core subject offerings. Examples: Access to educational resources such as required labs, technology, etc… Examples: Funding for teacher salaries and supplies for academic subjects. Annette:
 * 1) Property Tax: The heavy reliance on local property tax when tax rates vary and property values are often extremely different.
 * 2) Foundation Program/State Goals: There has been no direct research to identify the funding needed to attain state goals for student performance thus creating a disconnect from the Foundation Program and 1. student performance and 2. district operations. (//Catherine Clark: School Finance 5-12-10.// tasb.org).
 * 3) Inflation: The current system of funding uses formulas created many years ago and has not adjusted to keep pace with increasing costs and needed salary increases.
 * Part 3 - Define and provide two examples of each. **
 * 1) Equality – Students afforded the same basic educational opportunities regardless of location.
 * 1) Equity- A measure of the satisfaction of individual needs through like funding per student.
 * 1) Adequacy- The financial resources necessary for the achievement of state and federal requirements.
 * Part 4 - **** Post a reflection on your comparison to our Wiki group. **

Melissa: 11/18/11- Reese-look at Annette's wiki to see my opinion on our final consensus for this activity. I am willing to go with any changes you all agree on.

Reese:

Week 1 Part 4:While full of information I find the AISD DIP severely lacking in user friendliness.I find our district plan to be very concise and inclusive of most necessary information to include goals, objectives, actions, needed resources, responsibilities, timelines, and evaluations.Our plan easily identifies each of the previous areas but does lack in the details of funding. Our most detailed budget information accounts for the allotment of federal funds.No other specific funding from local or state sources is identified by budget amounts although referred to by sub-fund names. AISD does provide a large amount of process information not found in CISD’s plan but, while much of it is interesting and educational to the thoughtful process of its creation, needs to be better organized with appendices to support a readable plan.It seems that much of the plan is hidden among other information.