The reform of educational finance systems is underway in various states. The results of the reforms in early states can acl as guides to the design of new finance systems in other atates Based on recent experiences in New Jersey, the authors discuss the role that policy analysis can play in aiding the school finance reform process The results of the New Jersey reform suggest ~hat the policy analyst must understand the behavioral responses of school districts lo new aid and must take into account likely changes in the underlying economic conditions of local areas if he or she hopes to accurately assess the impacts of alternative finance proposals.
The Implementation ol School Finance Reform
In every state, except Hawaii, local property taxes are used as a major source of revenue for supporting public education. As the spatial distribution of property tax base is generally highly uneven, serious inequities in educational funding exist among school districts. In 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court in Rodriquez v. San Antonio Independent School District ruled that this system of financing public education, despites its inequities, did not violate the "equal protection" clause of ~he U.S.
Constiturian. The arena f~r challenging ~be co~titutior~a~ity of ~choo~ financing systems then shifted to the state courts. Since the Rodriquez ruling, school fimince