Policymakers allocate a considerable proportion of federal, state and local budgets to K-12 education yet questions remain about the equitable distribution of funding and the returns on the investment in public education. The focus of this course is the core concepts of K-12 education finance. Topics to be covered include but are not limited to: human capital and signaling theory, education production function, approaches to adequacy, the differences between adequacy and equity in school finance, and types of funding.