An International Comparison of Education Finance Systems.

Education finance and administration have been studied on the premise that the technical attributes of superior financial allocation schemes can indeed be identified. Given that they can, it follows that it should be possible to discern refinements that, once adopted, would enhance the practical functions of the allocation scheme. In this paper, an examination of the federal education finance systems of Australia, Canada, and the United States is presented in an effort to identify elements of schematic uniformity of each system. To facilitate this identification, the paper describes the education finance system in each of the three nations. It is concluded that it has been the interpretation and the application of the constitutional context of each country over the course of time that has shaped the dimensions of the respective national systems of education finance. The resulting profile provides evidence that the quest for an ultimately effective allocation scheme is not primarily influenced by sound analytical investigation but by prevailing political culture. (RR)