Title: Smart money
Description: "Education finance has emerged as one of the most pressing public policy issues of the new century. Americans spend more than $500 billion a year on elementary and secondary education, yet neither policy makers nor practitioners seem to know how to align these resources with student learning goals.^

In fact, spending increases have outstripped achievement gains." "This ambitious volume poses four critical questions:" "What 'obstacles prevent today's education finance systems and resource allocation strategies from supporting student success?" "What design principles can help link resources to student learning?" "What funding mechanisms are consistent with these principles?" "What conditions are necessary to support effective resource policies and practices?" "Drawing on the work of the School Finance Redesign Project at the University of Washington's Center on Reinventing Public Education, Smart Money brings together research on education finance policy and the uses of school and district resources, providing a uniquely comprehensive analysis of school finance systems.^

It also sets forth an agenda for developing and supporting successful strategies for school finance and resource use at the federal, state, district, and school levels." ""Adams and his coauthors do not shy away from the difficulties involved in reforming school finance. They acknowledge the challenges that must be addressed m creating political conditions to support new finance systems and call for an aggressive research and development agenda to guide the process of change with good evidence about what works to improve student learning."-Janet Hansen, vice president and director of education studies, Committee for Economic Development" ""Smart Money is an unprecedented book that tackles head-on the need to redesign and reorient school funding systems toward student learning and more strategic resource use.^

These thoughtful and informative analyses are especially timely as educators, policy makers, and the public strive to raise academic standards for all students in difficult economic conditions."-Margaret Goertz, professor of education, University of Pennsylvania" ""Written by the leading scholars and policy analysts in the field, this volume is laden with smart ideas for making our educational financing system a catalyst for experimentation, innovation, and improved student performance."-Martin Orland, director of evaluation and policy research, WestEd" ""This analysis by some of the wisest people in the school finance world, with Jacob Adams's masterful introduction, should be required reading for the architects of the next reform wave."-Robert F. Sexton, executive director, Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence"--BOOK JACKET.
Subjects: Education, Finance, Education, united states, finance
Places: United States