ABSTRACT
America’s fi rst generation of education funding systems provided land to stimulate popular provision of schooling. Today, state funding mechanisms have evolved into a complex array of policy levers ranging from pupil weighting schemes and interlocking systems of property, income and sales taxation to provisions for vouchers, tax credits and home school certifi cates. Scholars and policy makers routinely deal with issues ranging from how to promote more equitable distribution of education resources within states to the relationships (or lack thereof) between various “purchased inputs” and academic performance.
