Equalization Aspects of Federal Aid to Education: The District Perspective

The principle of equality of opportunity has raised serious legal questions about the revenue distribution associated with use of the property tax as the main school funding vehicle. Partially in response to the recognition of a maldistribution of funds at the local level there has been renewed interest in the degree to which the distribution of state revenue, via alternative foundation plans, does in fact provide compensating state revenue to low wealth districts. It is now widely recognized that many existing state foundation plans have performed inadequately in this regard and alternative plans are under study in many states. Relatively little public attention or research effort, however, has been devoted to examination of the distributional impact of the federal component of schooling revenues, particularly at the school district level.