"Assessment Matters: The Rise and Fall of the Illinois Resource Equalizer Formula" by Tracy Steffes, Chair of the Education Department, was published in History of Education Quarterly in February 2020. It examines the failed implementation of a school finance reform in Illinois during the 1970s that was supposed to decrease the inequities of local wealth in school financing and provide property tax relief for local taxpayers by significantly increasing state aid and distributing it more equitably.  The failure of this reform highlights the important (but often hidden) role that politics and practices of property assessment and tax policy play in the effectiveness and equity of school finance. 

Read the full article here.