Effects of ratability on pupil horizontal equity of the Rhode Island school funding formula
Abstract
This study determined the effects of ratability on the pupil horizontal equity of the Rhode Island school funding formula. The 34 school districts of Rhode Island served as the subjects of the study, although data analysis was done on the basis of per-pupil spending. The fiscal year 1991 was selected as the control year because during that period the state formula was funded at 100 percent of its intended amount. The fiscal years 1992 and 1993 served as experimental data sets because ratable reductions were employed in both years to make cuts in state aid to local education. No changes in the formula were made over the course of the three years of the study, allowing the researcher to isolate ratability as the cause of any changes in equity that were detected. All applicable expenditure data were gathered at the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. These included the unrestricted categories of operations aid, special education excess aid, conventional public housing aid, limited English proficiency aid, and public housing aid, limited English proficiency aid, and vocational aid. Data relative to ADM counts and district budgets, including expenditures from property taxes, were also collected. The data were analyzed using six measures of pupil horizontal equity. These included the range, restricted range, federal range ratio, McLoone index, coefficient of variation, and Gini coefficient. The results of the control year were compared to the data from the two experimental years to ascertain an effect on equity resulting from the use of ratability. In addition, the control and experimental years were evaluated for relative equity using the National Educational Finance Project (NEFP) Typology to establish equalization scores. The results of the analysis showed that the use of ratability had a weak negative effect on pupil horizontal equity in Rhode Island. Each of the six equity measures showed a decrease in equity in the experimental years when compared to the control data set. However, in none of the measures was the decline in equity dramatic. Likewise, an analysis of the formula using the NEFP Typology showed a decline in Rhode Island's equalization score over the previous years, but the change was extremely small.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Kline, Purdue University.
Subject Area
School finance
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