| The purpose of this research was to extend fiscal equity analysis to include performance-based incentive funds dispersed in addition to the general state education fund distributed through a state foundation finance system. Both horizontal equity and wealth neutrality were evaluated. The study included analysis of the equity of the distribution of public funds through the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) both without and with the advent of performance-based incentive funds distributed to Florida's public school districts by way of the Florida School Recognition Program (FSRP).;Research questions addressed possible shifts in equity of the FEFP over a five-year period from 1998–99 and 2002–2003, as a result of the inception of the FSRP incentive funds. Program funding increased steadily over each year of the five-year period, growing from ;The effects of a performance-based incentive funding program on the fiscal equity of school funding in Florida since the inception of the FSRP was determined using statistical measures. The results of the study indicated that, without performance-based incentive funds, the FEFP was a highly equitable funding distribution system. Conversely, performance-based incentive funds increased the variation in the distribution of public revenues and indicated a disequalizing effect on per-pupil school funding in the state of Florida.;A number of measures of univariate dispersion were employed to examine the horizontal equity of the funding formula. Calculations of the mean, median, range, restricted range, federal range ratio, variance, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, relative mean deviation, McLoone Index, and Gini Coefficient all generally indicated a decreased equity in the distribution of funds among Florida public school districts for each of the five years since the inception of the FSRP. In addition, calculations of the wealth neutrality also indicated a general trend toward decreased fiscal neutrality as a result of FSRP performance-based incentive funding in the state of Florida. The analysis found an increasingly positive relationship between funding per student and property wealth per student in Florida's public school districts over the first five fiscal years since the inception of the FSRP. |
