Efficacy of the North Carolina Low Wealth Supplemental Funding Program in meeting goals and improving school finance equity.

摘要

The North Carolina General Assembly enacted the Low Wealth Supplemental Funding Program in 1991 "to enhance the instructional program and student achievement" in low wealth counties (1991 Session Law ch. 689 § 201.21a]). The total annual allocation increased yearly from ;This study examined the efficacy of the North Carolina Low Wealth Supplemental Funding Program to improve per pupil expenditure (PPE) equity and meet program goals. Interviews were conducted with superintendents from LEAs named in the school finance litigation, Leandro v. the State of North Carolina, the State Board of Education (1997) and with administrators of education special interest groups to identify definitions of "low wealth", definitions of equity, and program goals.;The study examined the characteristics of LEAs by low wealth status. The findings indicate low wealth LEAs, on the average, have lower tax bases, lower per capita income levels, higher tax rates, lower local PPE, and higher percentages of students with free and reduced lunch status than non-low wealth LEAs.;The findings also indicate PPE equity worsened over the seven-year period, 1991--92 through 1997--98, as measured for the district as unit of analysis. The findings indicate a positive but small effect of the supplemental funding on PPE equity.;Two program goals were identified in the interview data. The findings indicate the percentage of low wealth counties above the mean local PPE in 1997--98 increased slightly, from 10.71% to 14.29%, when low wealth supplemental contributions were added to the local PPE.;Finally, the findings indicate the percentage of students scoring at or above grade level on NC End-of-Grade and writing tests increased at a faster rate for low wealth LEAs than for non-low wealth LEAs from 1996--97 to 1998--99.