In Financing Schools and Educational Programs: Policy, Politics and Practice, Ramirez presents an appropriate reference text for a course in school finance. Ramirez is uniquely qualified to author this work with experiences as a PK-14 practitioner, including having served in positions as a teacher, counselor, principal, central office administrator and school superintendent prior to joining the faculty at the University of Colorado as a professor in the Department of Leadership, Research and Foundations. He has also held positions in state departments of education and once served as chief state school officer in Iowa. These experiences in the field compliment his clear, concise writing style. The book provides an excellent survey of school finance without being too detailed for students without strong school finance backgrounds or experiences.
Ramirez identifies his target audience as primarily graduate students in educational administration, policy studies, public administration, public finance and public accounting. Supplemental materials to support the course are also available online to instructors adopting the book. Ramirez expects this book to be utilized as a resource for an expert in the field who “will bridge the variances between the subject matter presented in the book and the unique situation in his state or region.” This is a reasonable expectation given that, unlike many international school finance systems, there is no uniform system of financing schools in our nation.
The organization of the book is divided into 14 chapters that are sequential. The first three chapters focus on Dimensions of Educational Finance, Historical Perspectives on School Finance and Money and Learning. Conceptual and theoretical frameworks are provided in the introductory chapter, which includes influences on school finance policy and practice. Concepts are introduced and influences, including the US Constitution, litigation and economics, are provided with brief overviews, to build a context and serve as organizers for learning. A brief historical perspective draws connections between past actions intended to establish, maintain and fund schools. Native people, and European and African culture in America is covered, leading to a section devoted to the principles and precedents upon which a new republic would be built. Historical progress, with sections labeled colonial times, the post-civil war to Second World War, struggles for access, population explosion, the cult of efficiency, fairness in school funding, the beginning of federal programs, the civil rights movement and the cold war, the proliferation of federal education programs, serving children with disabilities, a tax revolt, a nation at risk and no child left behind and culminates in a short summary transitioning to the next chapter tracing the historical development of funding for schools from the colonial era to the present day. The transition from the importance of measuring resource inputs to measuring performance outputs is recognized as significant. It is also argued that the most significant input is the student. Family poverty being associated with low educational performance and mention that race, ethnicity, social class and home language have all been investigated separately and in combination to determine why we have so many poor performing schools and underperforming students. Ramirez concedes money does make a difference.
Chapters 4 through seven focus on School Finance and the Courts, Equity and Adequacy in Education Finance, State School Finance Systems and Alternative Funding Systems. The relationship between the courts and school funding policy is explored, including the role of the court, federal and state constitutional considerations and a dated (2007) progress report summarizing state by state litigation challenging the constitutionality of K-12 funding. The five most significant school finance cases are highlighted at the state and federal level. Equity and adequacy are introduced with various measurement strategies and techniques used by researchers, economists and social scientists. Ramirez presents a scenario, as a teaching strategy, highlighting an example of wide disparities in school funding and a state's overreliance on property tax to fund schools, stimulating questioning of the rationale behind the concept.
A section (p. 74) on multiple concepts of equity is particularly well written and noted for a clear and concise explanation, as is a subsequent section on measuring equity and defining adequacy. Overarching goals common to most state school funding formulas are listed with mention that each state develops a unique funding mechanism to accomplish goals. Augenblick et al.'s guiding principles for school finance formulas are forwarded, providing an opportunity for thoughtful reflection, consideration and discussion. The theory behind the foundation program, with every student deserving of a minimally adequate education; the cost of a minimally adequate education is knowable; and, that the state has an obligation to help fund the education of children who reside in communities that cannot raise the revenue locally that is needed to provide an adequate educational opportunity.
Multiple scenarios are presented as illustrations of the alternative solutions to financial challenges. It is noted that expenditures for schools are often the largest single appropriations in state budgets. An excellent, but dated (2004), reference table (p. 95), specifying the financing sources for state funding systems, state provided formula funds, state reclaim of funds and funding systems ruled unconstitutional by state are provided. Alternative funding systems, including theory related to school choice, open enrollment, school vouchers, state aid to private schools and charter schools, including a summary of state charter school laws, is provided. The growth of home schools is noted. Ramirez shares that considerations in supporting alternative funding systems include that parents pay taxes for the support of local public schools from which they do not benefit directly and, further, that each child in a private school is one less child that requires full state support for education, thus relieving the state of that financial obligation.
Chapters 8 through 13 include Federal Funding for Education, Employee Compensation, Revenue for Schools, Understanding Budgets, School Facilities and Grant Funding. Chapter 8 begins with the commonly held knowledge that when the founders of our nation crafted the US Constitution, they did not include a section on the question of education. Education was seen as a state function by some, as a church function by others and a private family matter by most, with the assumption that parents have the most responsibility for their child's education. The relatively recent growth and development of the role of the federal government in education is outlined with appropriate explanations of title programs, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Vocational Education, the Higher Education Act and an overview of additional federal programs not found in the US Department of Education. Explanation of Employee Compensation issues is adequate in that it explores the compelling reasons for having compensation policies and practices that successfully attract and retain high-quality people to public education. A greater focus than is usually found in this area is provided on the role of women in education, with historical and sociological perspectives provided in a most informative manner. A section on alternative compensation systems is included with an excellent typography (p. 142) of alternative compensation systems provided. A chapter on Revenue for Schools includes taxation policies and theories, another well written section on typology of taxation (p. 151) and a reference table (p. 161) of percentage distributions of revenues for elementary and secondary schools by source and state (2009). Understanding budgets includes a fundamental and accurate definition: a budget is a plan for the receipt and expenditure of funds. Ramirez outlines what the budget does, including the functions of organizing, planning, implementing, monitoring, reporting and auditing. A thorough section (p. 172) on the types of budgeting systems is provided with another scenario outlining an example of budget miscalculation and consequences. This section on budgeting is one of the strengths of this book and provides another example of clear, concise and relevant information. The chapter on school facilities provides an adequate explanation of school facility considerations but could benefit from more emphasis and additional information on the stepwise process of facility planning and collaboration with the numerous agencies involved in the process. A checklist format might be a future consideration in this section. An adequate overview of the grant funding process is provided that informs readers of different grant categories and purposes. A short section on how proposals are evaluated, responding to a request for proposals, grant writing strategies and managing grants are shared with the reader as helpful sources for educational purposes.
The final chapter discusses Future Trends in School Finance. Ramirez identifies various scenarios likely to be on the radar screen including changing demographics, school choice and privatization, advancements in technology, globalization, teacher recruitment and compensation, centralization or localism and continuing challenges in providing adequate and equitable resources as future issues that will likely impact the direction of policy, politics and practice. He predicts the biggest future change facing the PK-12 education system is restructuring the teaching profession and the demands of the twenty-first century that requires that intelligent, well-educated and highly motivated individuals be attracted to teaching and retained in the profession.
Areas for criticism and improvement in this text include omissions of citations on statements that should be attributed, inconsistent quality of reproduction of tables (p. 99), use of old data (p. 95), use of the word “today” without explanation of the date and study conclusion statements without reference to a specific study (“among the top reasons superintendents lose their job is a loss of confidence by the school board in the superintendent's ability to handle the school district budget”). These minor issues areas can be easily addressed in future revisions.
