An Analysis of KERA: Kentucky's Answer to Educational Equity.

The ability of the Kentucky Educational Reform Act (KERA) to address both educational equality and financial equity in the Kentucky public education system is examined in this paper. Following an overview of the conditions that facilitated the act's passage in 1990, the next section discusses the philosophical background of the concepts of equality and equity. Comparable decisions that declared educational financing unconstitutional in other states are discussed next, and components of the KERA are highlighted in the following section. A conclusion is that the state legislature used this opportunity to address the overall needs of education in Kentucky without adequately addressing the crucial issue of inequality. Outcomes included no reduction in funding gaps between the richer and poorer districts, and the continued practice of district-raised taxes for local support. A conclusion is that funding inequities may be exacerbated, rather than reduced, in the long term. (LMI)