A study of teacher salaries in California, and in 30 school districts and four contiguous school districts in southern California

roblem statement. Despite court-imposed school finance equalization measures, public school districts in California receive different amounts of money to operate. Teacher salaries comprise the largest single expenditure for school districts with most spending nearly half of their budget on teacher salaries which vary from one district to another.;Research questions. Research question one addressed the most significant legislative events that have shaped the current school finance system in California. Research question two addressed the relationship between the current school finance system in California and teacher salaries. Research question three addressed the equitable nature of the school finance system in California.;Methodology. Seven legislative events were analyzed separately as independent variables and in terms of the relationship between the events and the following characteristics: (a) base revenue per ADA; (b) California's rank nationally in base revenue per ADA; and (c) the percent of the budget spent on teacher salaries throughout the 23 years of the study. Each characteristic was charted for 30 public school districts in Los Angeles County beginning in 1975 and including the figure every four years through 1998. Correlational relationships between base revenue per ADA and the other characteristics were evaluated and three different measures of horizontal equity were used. The case study of the South Bay used descriptive statistics to assess four school districts' relative positions with respect to the 30 districts in the study.;Findings. The researcher found an increase in the consistency of base revenue per ADA over the period of the study. 1980 shows the beginning of the decline of California's ranking from 22nd in 1980, to 38th in 1998. Within the 23 years included in this study, 1998 was the first year which revealed no correlations between the base revenue per ADA and teacher salaries. Each of the three measures used for equity indicated an improvement in equity.;In the case study, equity did not appear to be improving. In 1998, three districts were...