Spending School Reform Dollars in Kentucky: Familiar Patterns and New Programs, But Is This Reform?

Abstract

School finance reform in Kentucky provided significant new general purpose and categorical revenues to school districts. This analysis of comparative case studies in four high- and low-wealth Kentucky districts asks: Did expenditures increase? Did expenditure patterns change? What did reform dollars buy? In short, expenditures increased in all districts, and spending patterns changed only incrementally, with slight percentage increases directed to instruction. Reform dollars purchased instructional materials, technology, and professional development; they compensated teachers; and they funded new, state-mandated programs. Still, nonprogrammatic financial reporting masked the extent to which reform dollars supported required changes in teaching and learning.