 MississippiMichael Putnam and Jill Cabrera SAGE Open, 2015, vol. 5, issue 2, 2158244015581187 Abstract: The funding mechanism for the public schools in the state of Mississippi had been surprisingly stable for a number of years. The funding formula existed in its same form for over a half century before it was substantially changed in 1994 when the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) legislation was passed. This is the first external analysis of the MAEP since its inception. An analysis of the horizontal equity is undertaken to determine the state of equality between districts in the state. Vertical equity is examined to determine if disparity exists between unequal circumstances of school districts. In addition, the federal range ratio is scrutinized for appropriate variances between the highest funded school districts and their counterparts in the state of Mississippi. Although this study shows gains in horizontal equity, it reveals a weakening of vertical equity. In combination, more funding is available per student overall, but school districts are not receiving sufficient funds to equitably educate children with specific needs, such as living in an area with extremely low socioeconomic conditions. Results of this research strongly suggest Mississippi will continue to languish in academic achievement until MAEP is fully funded on a consistent basis. Keywords: horizontal equity; vertical equity; federal range ratio; school finance; Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:sagope:v:5:y:2015:i:2:p:2158244015581187 Access Statistics for this article More articles in SAGE Open |
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