A. Using the Boston Globe Index, which is in the reference area of the library on index table 1, find an interesting article on school finance that has been published in the last two years. Find the article in the microfilm backfile (on the same level of the library on the opposite side) and write a summary of it.
B. Find Massachusetts School District Profiles, available in Tower Library, Government Documents, 6th Floor, reference shelf (ED1.2:M38). (Alternatively, you can search and find these on the Web).
If you went to high school in Massachusetts, answer the following questions regarding education in your town school district. If you did not go to high school in Massachusetts, and cannot find relevant materials for your state, pick any school district in Massachusetts.( I suggest either Amherst or Wendell.)
1. What were per pupil expenditures in your town in the most recent year? Five years previous? What was the percentage increase over that period?
2. What was the average expenditure for the state in the most recent year? Five years previous? What was the percentage increase over that period?
3. Express town expenditures as a percentage of the state average in both years.
4. What was the average SAT score in your town in the most recent year, and how did it compare to the state average?
Briefly, what do you conclude about the levels of funding in terms of issues of both equality and performance?
Please include a photocopy or printout of the relevant page(s) of Massachusetts School District Profiles with your work.