Lawrence O. Picus is professor of education finance and policy at the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. His current research interests focus on adequacy and equity in school finance as well as efficiency and productivity in the provision of educational programs for K-12 school children. Picus is past president of the Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) and is the president of the board of EdSource, a California-based education research organization. Picus is the coauthor of School Finance: A Policy Perspective (5th edition) with Allan R. Odden. He has authored, coauthored, or edited several other books including Where Does the Money Go? ResourceAllocation in Elementary and Secondary Schools (1995), In Search of More Productive Schools: A Guide to Resource Allocation in Education (2001), Developing Community-Empowered Schools (2001) coauthored with Mary Ann Burke, and Principles of School Business Administration (1995) with R. Craig Wood, David Thompson, and Don I. Tharpe. He has also published numerous articles in professional journals. Picus studies how educational resources are allocated and used in schools across the United States. He has conducted studies of the impact of incentiveson school district performance. Picus maintains close contact with the superintendents and chief business officers of school districts throughout California and the nation and is a member of a number of professional organizations dedicated to improving school district management. He is a former member of the Editorial Advisory Committee of the Association of School Business Officials International, and he has served as a consultant to the National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, the National Center for Education Statistics, and WestEd. He served as the principal consultant for the design of school funding systems in Wyoming and Arkansas and has conducted equity, adequacy, and resource allocation studies in Arizona, Arkansas, Washington, Vermont, Oregon, South Carolina, Louisiana, Kansas,Kentucky, Montana, New Jersey, Nebraska, Texas, North Dakota, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Maine. Picus holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Reed College and master’s degrees from the University of Chicago and the Pardee RAND Graduate School. He received his PhD in public policy analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School.

• Foreword - Thomas SobolPreface - Robert BerneEducational Input and Outcome Inequities in New York State - Robert BerneEquity and Social Justice in Educational Achievement - Edmund W Gordon and Carol Bonilla-BowmanA Review of Public Policy Studies on the Use of Outcomes - Janet E LevyWhat′s a School to Do? Meeting Educational and Family Needs - Edward Zigler and Elizabeth GilmanLearning from Success - E Belvin Williams and Bella AugustStrategies and ImplicationsA Proposal to Unify Federal Education Programs for Economically Disadvantaged Children - Edward Zigler and Sally J StyfcoFlexibility and Accountability - David RostetterCritical Elements in Ensuring an EntitlementManaging the Legal Enforcement of Educational Entitlements - James S LiebmanThe Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Achieving Educational Equity - Henry M LevinStandards of Practice for Learner-Centered Schools - Linda Darling-HammondIncorporating Outcome Equity Standards into Extant Systems of Educational Finance - David H MonkSummary and Conclusions - Robert Berne