Three economic regions of New York State, the fiscal adequacy of their high schools, and the financial practices of their school district superintendents, school board presidents, and school district business officials

This study examined the adequacy of education financing in three regions of New York State by comparing the cost of per-pupil education in high schools that meet the No Child Left Behind standard of 90 percent graduation rate and those high schools with 80 percent or less graduation rate in 18 counties of New York State. Also examined were the relationships between per-pupil CPI adjusted education costs; high school graduation rates; teacher quality; teacher turnover rate; teacher-student ratio; the percentage of special needs students, students living in poverty, those with English as a Second Language, the percent of Caucasian students, and the School Financial Management and Planning practices in the school districts.;Factor analysis revealed that financial practices of school superintendents, business officials and board presidents were comprised of budgeting, legal and accounting compliance, and financial management, and that there was no significant difference between the means of the budgeting, legal and accounting, and financial management practices in high schools with 80 percent or lower graduation rates and those high schools having graduation rates of 90 percent or higher.;Data indicated a strong correlation between high schools not meeting the NCLB standard of 90 percent graduation rate and students in poverty.;Lastly, the stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that 65 percent of the variance in the high school graduation rate was predicted by the percent of students in poverty, 10 percent of the variance was predicted by the qualified teacher ratio, three percent by English as Second Language students, and two percent by special needs students.