Education finance has emerged as one of the most pressing public policy issues of the new century. Americans spend more than $500 billion a year on elementary and secondary education, yet neither policy-makers nor practitioners seems to know how to align these resources with student learning goals. In fact, spending increases have outstripped achievement gains. It seems that the connection between resources and learning is growing weaker, not stronger. This ambitious volume poses four critical questions: * What obstacles prevent today s education finance systems and resource allocation strategies from supporting student success? * What design principles can help link resources to student learning? * What funding mechanisms are consistent with those principles? * What conditions are necessary to support effective resource policies and practices? Drawing on the work of the School Finance Redesign Project at the University of Washington s Center on Reinventing Public Education, Smart Money brings together research on education finance policy and on the uses of school and district resources, thus providing a uniquely comprehensive analysis of school finance systems. It also sets forth an agenda for developing and supporting successful strategies for school finance and resource-use at the federal, state, district, and school levels.