Archived MacArthur/Spencer Special Series on Educational Finance Publications
In July 1986 the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Lyle Spencer Foundation jointly funded a five-year investigation into educational finance in the State of Illinois. The MacArthur-Spencer Special Series in Illinois Educational Finance focused on three central concepts in the study of educational finance: equity, adequacy, and efficiency. These concepts were explored by traditional philosophical and historical inquiry and by operational definitions, complete with empirical and statistical inquiry.
This series of investigations was conducted on the campuses of Illinois State University and at the University of Illinois at Urbana. The co-directors of the project were Distinguished Professor George Alan Karnes Wallis Hickrod at Illinois State University and Associate Professor James Gordon Ward at the University of Illinois. Dr. Hickrod passed away December 27, 2006.
Collected Essays 2000-2005
The contents below are provided purely for archival purposes, no attempt has been made to edit the various studies into some consistent narrative.
- An Embattled and Unapologetic Liberal: Selected Opinion Editorials and Commentaries of G. Alan Hickrod
- One Man's Opinion: A Collection of Op-Eds and Commentaries on Educational Policy and Other Public Policy Matters
- Series 1: Two Essays on the Political and Normative Aspects of American School Finance: An Historical Perspective
- Series 2: A Brief History of K-12 Finance in Illinois or 162 Years in Search of the Perfect Formula
- Series 3: The Constitutionality of the K-12 Funding System in Illinois
- Series 4: Documenting a Disaster: Equity and Adequacy in Illinois School Finance 1973 through 1988
- Series 5: The Concept of Adequacy in Illinois School Finance
- Series 6: City Schools-Rural Schools
- Series 7: Geographical Cost of Living Differences: An Update
- Series 8: The Problem of Inadequate Educational Funding in Illinois and Other States
- Series 9: State Support of Higher Education: From Expansion to Steady State to Decline, 1969 to 1989 Including an Illinois Case Study
- Series 10: Special Education Costs and the Impact on Illinois School District Financial Operations
- Series 11: The Biggest Bang for the Buck: An Initial Report on Technical Economic Efficiency in Illinois K-12 Schools with a Comment on Rose v. the Council
- Series 12: Witnesses for the Prosecution: Policy Papers on Educational Finance, Governance, and Constitutionality in Illinois (Including the Declaration of Galesburg)
- Series 13: Cutting the Gordian Knot: A Proposal for Full State Funding of Elementary Education in Illinois
- Series 14: Payment by Educational Results: An Idea Whose Time Hast Gone? Thirty-Five Years of Experimentation with Educational Efficiency in England (1862-1897)
- Series 15: The Constitutionality of the K-12 Funding System in Illinois Volume II: 1990 Supplement with a Note on Abbott v. Burke
- Series 16: The Biggest Bang for the Buck: A Further Investigation of Economic Efficiency in the Public Schools of Illinois
- Series 17: School Finance Reform: Equity or Adequacy: A Brief Look at Several Widely Circulated Proposals for Reform
- Series 18: The Long March to Educational Inequality in Illinois: Financial Facts for The Committee versus Edgar
- Series 19: Public Educational Expenditures in Industrialized Countries: An Analytical Comparison
- Series 20: Geographical Cost of Living Differences: Interstate and Intrastate: Update 1991
- Proposed Tax Reforms and Community College Finance in Illinois
- The Implications of Tax limitation Legislation: A Simulation of Effects on Illinois Community Colleges
- A Collective Bargaining Contract Analyzer for Community Colleges
- A Pilot Study to Explore the Equity Issues and Problems in Vocational Education in Illinois
- Financial Characteristics of U.S. Community College Systems During Fiscal Years 1977 to 1980
- Illinois Community College Grievance Procedure Analyzer
- The Funding Plan for Illinois Community College System
- The Status of Collective Bargaining in Illinois Community Colleges