Fractionalization and tax effort to fund Illinois public schools: an equity analysis

Fractionalization is a quantifiable measure of diversity for a categorical variable within a population. In public education, research supports the sociological benefits of having a diverse student and faculty population. From a school funding perspective, however, a diverse student population may adversely impact a community???s property tax effort to fund public education. In Illinois, local property taxes are the primary source of revenue that supports public school expenditures. Disparities in per pupil expenditures between school districts in Illinois rank among the worst in the nation. These disparities are directly related to this state???s heavy reliance on local property taxes. This paper analyzes the extent to which diversity, in terms of racial composition of students, levels of low socioeconomic status, and the proportion of a community that chooses to send their children to nonpublic, and primarily religious schools, affects school district effort to fund public education with local property tax revenue. Descriptive and inferential quantitative statistics are used to determine if a statistically significant correlation exists between Illinois unit school districts??? local tax effort to fund education, as measured by the ratio of local revenue per pupil to equalized assessed valuation (EAV), and measures of racial fractionalization, low socioeconomic status, and the proportion of families who choose to send their children to nonpublic schools