Symposium on Primary and Secondary Education

This article introduces the ‘Symposium on Primary and Secondary Education.’ It points out that considerable controversy surrounds the issues treated by the articles in the symposium: the effect of the level of resources invested in education on student outcomes, and the educational financing structure that would optimize desirable outcomes of the system, including allocative and productive efficiency and equity. Given rising wage inequality in the labor market associated with increasing demands for skill, concerns over slow U.S. productivity growth, and burgeoning public school enrollments, resolving these issues has become increasingly important.