Just in ... on education

Facing the Future: Financing Productive Schools is the final report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education on the School Finance Redesign Project, based on a six-year study of America's school finance system. Its four recommendations for a new finance system optimized to promote student learning:

• Drive all funds to schools based on student counts
• Keep linked data about uses of funds and results
• Encourage innovation and experimentation
• Hold schools and districts accountable for student performance and continuous improvement

LB2825 H54 2008
Report (pdf 69pp/1.6MB), Dec. 2008
Summary


Making Charter School Facilities More Affordable: State-driven Policy Approaches is the latest in the Innovations in Education series from the U.S. Dept. of Education (ED). It profiles policies in 8 states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Texas) and the District of Columbia "that have been developed to help charter schools address various facilities-related challenges." The report offers the following considerations in implementing the models presented:

• Context is key (different circumstances suggest different approaches)
• Policy remedies are evolving and can be interdependent
• The current environment presents questions about the extent to which charter schools should be in the real estate business
• Challenges remain and innovative solutions are needed
• Policy decisions touch on equity and cost-effectiveness

LB1027 U54 (08-1)
Report (pdf, 78pp/585kB), Dec. 2008
Overview