Review of American Public School Finance 2nd Edition (2013) William A. Owings and Leslie S. Kaplan

The second edition of American Public School Finance (2013) authors, Bill Owings and Leslie Kaplan, updates the original edition published in 2006. This continues to be one of the best school finance textbooks for use in administrator preparation and graduate degree programs in educational leadership. I adopted the first edition of the book (2006) and for the first time in over 20 years of teaching school finance had students tell me they liked and enjoyed reading the textbook. The focus questions at the beginning of each chapter provide a clear outline of the content and allow students to organize their reading to answer the questions. I have also used the focus questions as a spring board for online class discussions. The chapter questions and assignments are also excellent sources for discussion and course activities. Each chapter also includes case studies that require students to reflect on the concepts learned in the chapter and apply them to the situation. There is a companion website accessed through www.CengageBrain.com with links to related websites for each chapter as well as spreadsheet data (Texas) in Excel format so students can analyze data. Instructor resources include PowerPoint lecture slides, project ideas, and a sample syllabus. These additional resources are especially useful if the course is taught on-line as it provides the students with an additional source of information and the professor with material to supplement discussions and course activities.

I adopted the first edition and now the second edition this textbook to teach an on-line version of my school finance course and the format, readability, and content are appealing to the students. In the paragraphs that follow I will give a brief review of the book and the 13 chapters. The basic structure of the chapters is the same as the first edition, but tables and figures have all been updated to the most recent statistics and information available. Content has also been revised to reflect current information and research.

The majority of school finance textbooks begin with an historical perspective on education and school finance. These authors break with tradition and begin Chapter 1 by identifying five misconceptions about school finance. They summarize each misconception “in a nutshell,” outline “what is being said,” and then provide data and research to support “what should be said.” Without fail, students are amazed when they read these misconceptions, as many have believed them true, and discover quite the contrary. This is an excellent introduction to the course as it sets a very different tone for the rest of the content. Since the students are future school administrators identification of these common misconceptions, knowing how to respond with accurate facts and figures, is essential for their future success.

Chapter 2 traces the history of education finance from colonial settlement to present. Regional differences in approaches to financing education are presented as well as the beginning of the federal role in financing education. The influence of World Wars I and II on education legislation is described as well as post WWII legislation. The passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1965 and subsequent updates and entitlement program through the No Child Left Behind legislation and Race to the Top legislation is outlined. A timeline of federal involvement in American public school finance (Figure 2.2) has been added to this edition.

The legal framework for financing education is the topic of Chapter 3. The chapter includes an overview of education legislation, including segregation, increased state responsibilities for funding, and charter schools and vouchers. Federal and state constitutional provisions for education are presented. Varying state prerogatives regarding the taxing authority of school districts and the use of property taxes to fund schools are briefly mentioned. The concepts of equity and adequacy as legal issues are introduced as well as recent court rulings on vouchers, tuition tax credits, and charter schools.

Chapter 4 examines school finance as an investment in human capital. Data, charts, figures and graphs are used to illustrate the value of education for an individual and the community. This...