Review of American Public School Finance

Abstract

Review of American Public School Finance Marilyn A. Hirth (bio) Review of American Public School Finance William A. Owings & Leslie S. Kaplan American Public School Finance authors, Bill Owings and Leslie Kaplan have written a school finance textbook that is well suited for use in administrator preparation and master's degree programs in educational leadership. The text is readable, practical, and contains a wealth of additional resources to supplement the course. Published in 2006, this is the first edition of the textbook. The best way to describe their approach is that it is written for educators seeking to learn and understand the oftentimes complex topics in school finance. They provide theory behind the various school finance concepts and issues and provide a wealth of explanation and hypothetical examples that relate the topics to practice. At the beginning of each chapter are focus questions that cue the reader into the topics covered, and a case study and chapter questions are at the end of each chapter. The case studies present situations and questions that allow students to reflect on concepts learned in the chapter and how to apply them. There is also an option that allows instructors to download Power Point slides for each chapter from the Wadsworth website (http://www.wadsworth.com/cgi-wadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20b&flag=student&product_isbn_issn=9780534643720&discipline_number=3) and use them to supplement the content in the chapter and stimulate class discussion. The companion website also provides project ideas and related website links for each chapter. This is a valuable feature, especially if the course is taught online as it provides the students with an additional source of information and the professor with material to use for discussion. I have used this textbook to teach an online version of my school finance course and the students have welcomed its format, readability, and content. In this article, I will give a brief review of the book and the 13 chapters. The second paragraph of the preface gives the reader an overview of what the text is about. "As we examine local, state, and federal education spending, you will come to understand the 'big picture' of school finance, deepen your appreciation for public education's contributions to our communities and nation, become [End Page 308] competent players in the state and local finance issues arena, and develop into proactive supporters of education finance reform." (p. xix) This is indeed the objective and outcome of the book. In contrast to other school finance textbooks that often begin with a historical perspective, Chapter 1 identifies five misconceptions about school finance. As future administrators, identification of these misconceptions and knowing how to respond with accurate facts and figures is essential for success. They summarize each misconception "in a nutshell," outline "what is being said," and then provide data and research to support "what should be said." For example, there is a misconception that education costs have "skyrocketed" in the past few years while test scores have gone down. They point out that costs have indeed increased, but not at the level critics contend. Instead, if you look at the costs in constant dollars, expenses such as teacher salaries have been stagnant. In reality, special education expenses, increases in teachers' salaries in real dollars, and smaller class sizes are the reason for increased costs. Their recommendation of "what should be said" is that "education costs are up because enrollments are up." (p. 13). Several figures are presented, based on data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)—Common Core of Data (CCD) surveys showing changes in the number of teachers, pupil-teacher ratios, and expenditures in public schools from 1960–61 to 2000–01. Each misconception is presented in a similar manner. In the conclusion, the point is made that in order to gain community support, the misconceptions must be challenged and accurate information provided for the public to make informed decisions about supporting schools. Chapter 2 discusses the history of school finance beginning with the Massachusetts Act of 1642 to present. Early regional differences in approaches to financing education are addressed as well as the beginning of the federal role in financing education. The influence of World Wars...