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This paper reports on a field test of a system for monitoring the achievement of selected educational governance/management goals. The study entailed (1) collection of enrollment, revenue, expenditure, and teacher assignment data from a stratified random sample of Minnesota districts for a seven-year period, 1969-70 through 1975-76; (2) reduction of data into indicators of demand, resource appropriation, resource allocation, and service capability; and (3) testing selected hypotheses to assess the sensitivity and effectiveness of the system or tentative model. The hypotheses tested were concerned with state-local share of school revenue, equalization of expenditures, and equal access to educational services. The stratification of the sample allowed consideration of the effects of enrollment size, wealth (property valuation per weighted pupil unit), level of expenditure, and enrollment trends on unit revenues, unit costs, and service capability. The importance of this research and development effort lies in its attempt to establish a system whereby the impact of state-level legislative and regulatory policies on public school districts can be monitored. The major conclusion of the study was that the proposed system indicated sufficient sensitivity to merit further development. (Author/IRT)

Minnesota's attempt to equalize school spending through state payments to low-expenditure districts succeeded only partially in reducing statewide variation in districts' per-pupil expenditures. To test the effects of the state's 1973 law, and to test a new statistical technique for simultaneous assessment of variability in many factors, researchers gathered data on size in 1973, wealth in 1970, per-pupil expenditures in 1973 and 1979, and enrollment trends from 1973 to 1979 for each of 432 Minnesota school districts. Variability in expenditures was measured by the size of the standard deviation from the statewide mean. Data analysis using the new technique showed that variation in per-pupil expenditures across all districts fell 13 percent from 1973 to 1979. The largest reduction in variability occurred among small, low-wealth districts, especially those with declining enrollments. The smallest variability reduction took place in large, high-wealth districts. (RW)