Disparities in educational expenditures in New York State: In pursuit of equity, 1960-1990

Problem statement. In the past thirty years (1960-1990), New York State has undergone many public school financial challenges and changes, due to deficiencies in equitable state funding for public school districts. Three major educational commissions in the past thirty years have addressed inequity in New York. Has the State of New York been able to compensate for disparities between low expenditure districts and the high expenditure school districts? What have the trends in horizontal equity been for New York State?;Methodology. Following Berne and Steifel's research in public school finance, the following equity measures were used to analyze horizontal equity. The analysis was limited to per pupil expenditures using: (1) Range and Restricted Range; (2) Ratio of Range and Restricted Range; (3) Federal Range Ratio; (4) Coefficient of Variation; (5) McLoone Index; (6) Mean per pupil expenditure comparison for school districts of similar enrollments.;Findings. (1) The Range and Restricted range showed no improvement in equity between 1960 and 1989. (2) The McLoone Index demonstrated a definite improvement in horizontal equity in 1980, and 1989. (3) The Federal range ratio showed no significant improvement in horizontal equity. (4) The bottom half of the normal range of per pupil expenditures moved closer to horizontal equity in the past ten years, more than any other decade in the past thirty years.;Conclusions. Educational expenditures in New York State have significantly increased during the past thirty years. From 1960 to 1989 poor districts have significantly reduced horizontal equity as measured by the McLoone Index (.91). Thus the bottom half of the normal range of per pupil expenditures moved substantially closer to horizontal equity in the past ten years. However, overall disparities in education spending remain high.