WHY IS IT SO HARD TO HELP CENTRAL CITY-SCHOOLS

Many states have implemented educational grant systems designed to pro vide more aid to school districts that are, by some standard, in great er need. Nevertheless, many if not most central city school systems co ntinue to produce poor educational outcomes, as measured for example, by test scores and dropout rates. Using data from New York State, this article asks why existing aid formulas fail to provide the assistance that central city school districts need to bring their educational ou tcomes up to reasonable standards. Two principal explanations ave expl ored: the failure of existing aid programs to recognize the high cost of providing education in central cities and the possibility that aid simply makes central cities less efficient without raising educational outcomes. The article presents aid programs that account for costs, b ut shows that these revised programs will do little to help central ci ties without at least one politically unpopular provision, namely a la rge state budget or a high required local property tax rate. The artic le also estimates the extent to which increased aid to central cities leads to their less efficient operation, thereby undermining the objec tive of improved educational outcomes for central city students. The a rticle concludes by listing the steps that a state can take to hell? c entral city schools and by discussing the yet unresolved problems that arise in helping these districts.