Marie Brown Advisor: Dr. Amy Farmer An Honors Thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Bachelor of

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During the past several decades, federal and state governments have pursued a variety of redistributive policies aimed at fostering the idea of “equality of economic opportunity. ” This concept implies that although people’s incomes may vary, the variance should be caused by factors such as individual ability and effort, not by differences in circumstance. Many in the policy arena have suggested that opportunities could be further equalized by implementing changes in the way elementary and secondary education is financed and delivered. Hanushek and Somers (1999) detail the most prominent state and federal policy initiatives aimed at reducing income inequality by modifying education finance and delivery. This paper focuses on three sets of changes to the school finance landscape, and attempts to summarize the evidence on the effects of these changes on education quality and, ultimately, on the extent of inequality in American society. The first set of changes considered will be school finance reform and the large-scale changes in the formulas states use to determine aid to local school districts. For many years, those concerned with the persistence of income inequality in the United States have argued for reforms to the method of financing public elementary and

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assistance. All errors in fact or interpretation are ours.