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This review has been accessed times since December 13, 2005

Yinger, J. (Ed.) (2004). Helping Children Left Behind: State Aid and the Pursuit of Educational Equity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

392 pp.
$40 (Hardcover)   ISBN 0-262-24046-7

Reviewed by Mary P. McGuire
SUNY Cortland

December 13, 2005

Helping the Children Left Behind, edited by John Yinger, is an excellent review of state level school financing and financing reform. It offers the reader a concise guide to the myriad variable and complex approaches to school funding in the United States. The authors provide a fascinating look at efforts to achieve educational equity through funding reform. This is a well edited collection of papers in which the authors’ distinct voices are heard, but are well unified into a coherent book. It is, however, a highly technical scholarly work and not easily accessible to the reader who lacks a background in economics and statistics.

The book is divided into two parts. Part One, “General Analysis of State Aid Reform,” approaches broad issues in educational financing common to all states. Types of funding formulas are defined and analyzed, court cases raising challenges to educational funding under state constitutions are explained, and the political values equity and accountability are discussed through an educational financing lens.

Part Two, “Analysis of State Aid Reforms in Individual States” provides in depth analysis of the reform efforts of five states in which the state courts have found the educational funding formula to be in violation of the state constitutions—Texas, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, and Vermont.

Part One is a valuable resource for the policy-maker or academic interested in acquiring an in depth understanding of school funding. It provides a definition and an evaluation of the types of school aid formulas in use. The reader comes away with a clear understanding of the difference between a foundation formula and a guaranteed tax base formula, for example. The use of such equalizing techniques as caps on wealthy district spending is also explored in depth.

Lukemeyer’s chapter “Financing a Constitutional Education: Views from the Bench,” was particularly helpful in clarifying the judicial reasoning that has underscored the lack of financing equity in the 18 states where state funding distribution systems have not survived constitutional challenges. The state court decisions in this area are of high interest as the U.S. Supreme Court has found that unequal school aid is not a violation of the 14^th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (San Antonio v. Rodriguez, 1973). This chapter was among the most accessible and could be used in an upper division undergraduate educational policy course.

Nechyba’s chapter is sobering in that it offers stark evidence of the limitations on state aid as a vehicle for providing educational equity. It requires the reader to accept that even with reasonably fair funding formulas, the road to a truly level playing field in education is long and rough.

Part Two consists of five case studies from states that have made radical reforms in response to court decisions on educational funding equity. The case studies are valuable for their evaluation of five different approaches. The reforms are clearly defined. The extent to which they have been implemented, and their current levels of success are evaluated. The reader is left with not only a thorough understanding of the state reforms themselves, but also an important practical example of the concept of states as the “laboratories of democracy.”

The appendices at the end of the book provide a useful research tool. They are presented as guides to state court decisions on education finance, state operating aid programs for elementary and secondary education, and state building aid formulas for elementary and secondary education. Each appendix offers an excellent starting point for research in its respective area.

Helping the Children Left Behind is a valuable resource for academics and policy-makers with an interest in educational funding and equity. It is also an excellent piece of work on state and local finance. While it would be too difficult for most undergraduates, it would work well in a graduate level course.

About the Reviewer

Mary P. McGuire is Assistant Professor of Political Science at SUNY Cortland.

Copyright is retained by the first or sole author, who grants right of first publication to the Education Review.

Editors: Gene V Glass, Kate Corby, Gustavo Fischman

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