This study examined the correlation between school division graduation rates and the percentage of expenditures above the required local effort (PEARLE) for all 133 school divisions located within Virginia in the fiscal years 2015–2018. This study aimed to discover whether increased local government school funding beyond the required local effort had a significant impact on the terminal completion of student achievement in the form of on-time graduation rates. The researcher conducted the study using a correlational bivariate data analysis. Convenience sampling was utilized to attain needed data for the study by collecting funding and graduation rate archived data for each of the 133 school divisions from the Virginia Department of Education website. The researcher calculated z scores and eliminated outliers by comparing z-score calculations to scatter plots. The researcher looked for the classic cigar shape. After eliminating identified outliers, the researcher implemented the correlational research design utilizing Pearson’s correlation coefficient and analyzed PEARLE and on-time graduation rates using a ratio scale to measure the potential correlation between PEARLE and on-time graduation rates. The researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis for each fiscal year. Recommendations for future research include conducting the same study for fiscal year 2021 and beyond due to the elimination of the required local effort requirement and perform the same study both before and after COVID-19 in other states to compare to Virginia as each state collects the same data due to the passing of the Graduation Counts Compact.

Legislators, policymakers, and educators rely on empirical evidence from research to make financial decisions regarding education funding. The purpose of this study was to examine the expenditures of the school districts in the Commonwealth of Virginia for the period of 2007 to 2017 and to determine what effect the level of expenditures had, if any, on student achievement at the state, region, and district level. The researcher found a negative correlation trend between per pupil expenditure and average Standards of Learning pass rate for students in Virginia, for students in the 19 school districts of Region VII in Virginia, and also for the students in a small rural district in Virginia. The researcher concluded that per pupil expenditure alone was not an accurate predictor of student achievement and that the socioeconomic status or poverty level of the student was a more reliable predictor of performance on SOL pass rate.

The majority of a school system's budget is spent on personnel. In order to use this tremendous amount of money efficiently it is important educators understand the impact different spending priorities, specifically total per-pupil expenditures, teacher salary, principal salary, pupil/teacher ratio, and pupil/support personnel ratio have on student achievement and how these inputs are moderated by a district's population density and wealth. Spending data from all the school divisions in Virginia were examined using public spending data from the Virginia Department of Education, and population density and wealth statistics from the Office of Budget Management, US Census Bureau, and Commonwealth of Virginia Commission on Local Government. Bivariate correlations and linear regression slopes were examined to determine the impact of the main effects and multiple linear regression model building was used to examine how a district's wealth and population density moderate the effects of per-pupil expenditures, teacher salary, principal salary, pupil/teacher ratio and pupil/support personnel ratio. Teacher salary proved significant for both math and reading scores while principal salary was significant for math scores only. None of the other main effects had a significant impact on student achievement. A division's status as "rural" by itself proved to be correlated with both reading and math scores. Additionally, wealth by itself was a statistically and practically significant predictor of student achievement regardless of the measurement used highlighting the problems posed for education by economic inequality. When wealth was measured using either median household income or fiscal stress the correlation with student achievement was twice that of composite index indicating composite index may not be the best wealth measurement for the state to use to allocate funding in order to level the playing field. Further research is needed to determine how spending effects overall school climate, how the adverse impact of wealth can be overcome, and if making changes to the wealth measurement used will help to overcome the impact of wealth on student achievement.

School principals, superintendents, and other administrative personnel must have a solid understanding of the general finance and appropriation structure of federal, state, and local government as well as the ability to formulate and manage school budgets. With the guidance of this new text, educational leadership candidates preparing for such roles will learn the realities of school finance policy, issues, and applications. By providing critical analysis and by including unique chapters on misconceptions about school finance, demographic issues, spending and student achievement, and future trends, authors William Owings and Leslie Kaplan exceed the coverage of these topics as found in other texts.

Examines, from four organizational perspectives, Virginia’s Manassas Park City School’s ten-year turnaround.