Florida's public education finance program regarding equity and adequacy

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has raised the standards for accountability for school districts across the country with the objective of increasing student performance. The Florida Legislature implemented an accountability system to measure the annual yearly progress of school districts and students across the state. Students in Florida public school districts in grades three through ten are tested annually on the Sunshine State Standards by means of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.;These new federal and state education policies seldom address methods of financing the implementation of these programs. Recent litigation in many states has raised questions regarding the fairness and quantity of resources distributed through state education finance funding formulas. Many state courts have overturned public education funding mechanisms, claiming that the resources are no longer sufficient in providing an opportunity for each student to achieve a minimum acceptable level of academic performance. As a result, education finance systems have shifted focus from equitable distribution of resources toward adequacy.;The State of Florida funds public education by means of a formula-driven mechanism known as the Florida Education Finance Program. The purpose of this study was to determine if the Florida Education Finance Program provided equitable funds to public school districts while maintaining an adequate distribution of resources. The Florida Education Finance Program from the school years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 was analyzed using four measures of equity. Then each of these school years was analyzed in terms of adequacy using an accountability score developed from the research. Statistical measures were used to determine the effectiveness of the Florida Education Finance Program in terms of equity and adequacy.;The results of this study indicate that in order to maintain an appropriate equitable distribution of resources for the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years, adequacy may have been compromised to ensure equity. The Florida Education Finance Program does not recognize the relatively high cost of educating students from low-income families. It is suggested that to achieve any given student performance standard, some schools may need to spend more than others depending on the characteristics of the students and schools. The Florida Education Finance Program should be reexamined and modified to balance today's need for equity and adequacy.