School Finance and California’s Master Plan for Education

Responding to a request from the Joint Committee to Develop a Master Plan for Education – Kindergarten through University, the Public Policy Institute of California commissioned a series of reports on adequacy-based school finance, alternative approaches to school governance, and local revenue options for school districts.  These reports were delivered to the Joint Committee and its staff between August 2000 and April 2001.  School Finance and California’s Master Plan for Education brings together those essays and makes them available to more general audiences.  Taken together, they suggest that a new system of school finance and governance could help provide adequate resources to California’s schools.  They also consider the link between those resources and improved student achievement.