ABSTRACT
Educational researchers have long emphasized rational approaches to financing schools. Their reliance on economic theory has led to the domination of education finance texts and research that use education production functions and principal-agent theories. While the field has evolved conceptually from an emphasis on equity to a focus on adequacy, the methodology used to measure these values has continued to be entwined with economics. The purpose of this chapter is to offer a different approach to operationalizing adequacy, one that reflects the essence of adequacy but remains a helpful tool for policy makers. This discussion adds to the discourse by injecting institutional and cultural considerations in the operationalization of adequate funding of schools. I argue that adequacy is not merely a rationally derived concept that can be achieved only through rational methods. Rather, adequacy is socially derived and encompasses socially derived notions of what it means to have a just society and equitable schooling.
