This descriptive and interpretive study explores the problem of school funding uncertainty in Massachusetts. Information from three main strands converges on the achievement status of today's Massachusetts students: the history of school funding since the earliest permanent English-speaking settlements, the municipal budget-making process in Massachusetts as it affects school funding, and the state budget-making process in regard to its effect on the funding of public K-12 education. Clearly the history of school funding mirrors social and economic issues in the 400-year period reviewed. Definition of social and economic needs of the citizenry has been a continuous political process. Who has had the power to define the needs has affected the funding of public schools. The municipal school funding process in Massachusetts is reviewed both as an annual procedural cycle and as a product of ongoing politically sensitive relationships at the local level. Its effect on the funding of public K-12 schools is influenced by the credibility and political effectiveness of the school district leadership. Funding of public schools by the state is also reviewed both as an annual procedural cycle and as a product of the political give and take that legislators rely upon to get their own agendas supported. Against this background of the past history and current process of allocating resources for public K-12 schools, student achievement scores are examined relative to money provided for schools. A statewide pattern showing money reflected in student achievement is found--both public money and personal money. This study concludes that in Massachusetts, while the uncertainty of school funding continues from year to year regardless of the 1993 Education Reform Act, a sufficient and stable flow of money to the schools is necessary to prepare students adequately for the future. Suggestions for further study and for local action are detailed.

This study examined and evaluated the results of one Massachusetts school district's decision to provide special education services in the regular classroom through the implementation of a model of service delivery commonly called inclusion. This decision caused radical changes in how special education services were delivered to students who had wide-ranging special needs. This study examined the changes in perceptions about whether this new service delivery model was meeting the needs of the students receiving them, given their varied special needs, as well as cost and enrollment changes from 1993 to 1996. The perceptions of the respondents about the effectiveness of the special education services provided through the utilization of the new service delivery model indicated that it did not meet the needs of the students who received them. The respondents did, however, believe that there were increased social benefits for students who have disabilities who received their special education services through the utilization of the inclusion model. There were increases in the costs of providing special education services between 1993 and 1996 that were substantially higher than the comparable costs for providing regular education services. There were decreases in the enrollments in special education programs while, conversely, there were increases in the enrollments of regular education programs from 1993 to 1996. There were also some conclusions that can be presented about whether the utilization of this service delivery model maximized the utilization of educational resources. It did not seem that the inclusion model of providing special education services maximized the utilization of educational resources, nor did it appear that the inclusion model of providing special education services to students who have special needs was a cost-effective way to provide these services.

Since the late 1980's, both the federal government and the Massachusetts state government have encouraged the practice of integrating students with disabilities into regular classroom environments. Proponents of this practice assert that all students will benefit from this arrangement and that it represents a less costly approach to educating special needs children. In fact, there is very little research to substantiate conclusions about whether or not integration is less costly than more traditional special educational programs. To learn more about this question, special education costs in two school districts were analyzed. The cost description model used in this study was developed by Lewis, Bruininks and Thurlow in their 1988 study of school-based special education programs. Data about special education costs were collected for a school year before implementation, and then for a school year after implementation. In both districts, there was an increase in costs and enrollments in the less restrictive prototypes and in pre-school programs. Enrollments and costs decreased in most of the more costly and restrictive prototypes. Per pupil costs varied by enrollment trends. Although few students were enrolled in private programs, these placements had a significant impact on the overall cost picture. The less restrictive programs served more students in the post year than during the earlier year and this helped to restrict cost increases. The rural district saw their total costs increase significantly, after discounting for inflation. Salary increases, incentives for professional development and the hiring of new staff, were factors behind the increase in total costs. The suburban district realized cost savings over the six years of the study after discounting for inflation. This district changed staff assignments but did not add new teachers. A very costly collaborative program was reorganized and much of the savings were due to this reduction. Private placements were also reduced. The cost description model developed by Lewis is flexible and allows for differences in enrollments and programs. As special education costs will vary in each district according to their particular circumstances, integration should be promoted or debated, not on the basis of costs, but according to whether or not it is in the best interests of children with disabilities.

As the financial health of institutions of higher education become uncertain, a need exists to assess an institution's short and long-term viability. The purpose of this study is to determine whether a model developed by Leslie and Fretwell (1996) could have predicted the fiscal health for a public institution of higher education. The model includes factors that should be used in determining fiscal health. They include the following: (1) the effects of economic, demographic, and political trends; (2) trends in the institution's financial condition; (3) stability, openness, and courage in management; (4) vitality of education programs; and (5) the interaction of all of these factors. This case study focused on two 5-year periods at the flagship campus of a northeast public university system. The audited financial statements of the campus were used to determine the accuracy of the model. This college was selected because it had experienced both a financial decline and revival within a 10-year period. Through a review of related documents, a questionnaire, and interviews, the model was constructed and analyzed. A total of 18 independent variables were constructed to represent the four factors. The analytical framework was based upon causal path analysis. Even though this study was admittedly exploratory, the findings revealed that the Leslie and Fretwell (1996) model is a useful management tool and could provide meaningful information for administrators and trustees in planning and decision-making. Conclusions drawn from the research suggest that 7 of the 18 variables could assist in predicting the fiscal health of the campus in this study regardless of whether the fiscal condition declined or improved. The variables were divided into three types: (1) leading, (2) coincident, and (3) lagging. The leading indicators that could be useful in predicting fiscal health are (1) share of state appropriation, (2) SAT scores, (3) enrollment, (4) applicant yield and (5) senior staff turnover rate. The single coincident indicator was the state appropriation. Finally, the only lagging indicator that could have predicted fiscal health for the campus in this study was deferred maintenance. The limitations and implications of this study as well as recommendations for further research have also been provided.

No description available.

Purpose: The financial implications of Serrano vs. Priest have caused a great amount of concern in California among the superintendents of the school districts at all levels of organization. The purpose of this study was to determine how superintendents throughout the state felt about the finance plans suggested in the Jefferson decision in terms of each plan's impact on their school district.

The Charnes Cooper Rhodes ratio DEA model ("CCR") is used, with panel data from a large sample of Massachusetts' school districts, to test three propositions concerning the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 ("MERA"). First, did the degree of positive correlation between Socio-Economic Status ("SES") and educational outcomes decrease, secondly did educational opportunity become more equal among towns in Massachusetts, and finally were education standards raised overall? The CCR model is a Linear Programming method that estimates a convex production function using Koopmans' (1951) definition of technical efficiency and the radial measurements of efficiency proposed by Farrell (1957). It has been widely used in Education Production Function research. The pursuit, through state and federal courts, of equitable funding, allied to the belief that smaller class sizes improve outcomes, has made K-12 education expensive. The belief that outcomes are in constant decline has led to calls for "Accountability" and to "Standards" reform. Standards reform was combined, in MERA, with reform of state aid formulas and additional state funding, to ensure a minimum basic level of education pursuant to the decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Court in McDuffy v. Robertson. The one certain relationship revealed by decades of research is a strong positive correlation between SES and outcomes. If MERA ensured a higher basic level of education, then the correlation between SES and outcomes should have weakened as the education of less well SES-endowed children improved. The CCR model was used first to measure "correlation" between multiple input and multiple output variables. Strong positive correlation was shown to exist and it appeared to strengthen rather than weaken. Next the CCR model was used to determine if there were changes in the distribution of per pupil expenditures and, lastly to determine whether outcomes improved between after MERA. The analysis suggested that the distribution of expenditures improved but that outcomes deteriorated. This deterioration seems to be closely related to the changes in the proportion of all students, in a grade, actually taking the tests. There is little evidence that MERA achieved anything and no basis upon which to argue that it achieved nothing.

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