Meanwhile, an alternative way to define adequate spending was being developed. MAP's approach was proposed for funding in Illinois and Alaska, but neither state ultimately adopted the recommendations. In 1995, the Wyoming Supreme Court ordered the Legislature to design a new school finance system in which all per-pupil spending differences had to be justified in terms either of differences in districts' student need or in cost. MAP was asked by the Wyoming Legislature to design an adequate finance system. MAP's recommendations included smaller class sizes, schoolwide resource teachers, and professional development.
Districts receive block grant amounts and can exercise choices and determine priorities.
Whatever happens, the future will be radically different from the present. To NASA scientist Jesco von Puttkamer's mind, survival in the third millennium will not go to the fittest, but to the most complex. He envisions an educational system that empowers people with originality, creative power, and flexibility. The author, director of the Center for Educational Outreach and Innovation at Teachers College, Columbia University, suggests two strategies for creating a school system to enable children to thrive in the future. The first is to stick with core issues, which have to do with teaching and learning and providing the human and material resources that are needed for maximum intellectual and personal growth.