The equity consequences of school-based management

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which the introduction of school-based management (SBM) affects schools' incomes and educational equity? Design/methodology/approach - An analysis of financial reports coming from 31 SBM schools during a period of four sequential years reveals that the overall inequity among schools has slightly decreased, although significant differences are found between high and low socio-economic schools. Findings - The findings show that significant differences exist between schools of low and high socio-economic backgrounds in the relative amount of incomes coming from parental payments. An analysis of the income provided to schools by the LEA suggests that the differences and inequalities between schools are moderated by the LEA, which provides relatively more funds to schools of low socio-economic backgrounds following the introduction of SBM in schools. Originality/value - The study points to the danger inherent in SBM for educational equity and highlights the significance of a compensating formula that will take into account mainly parental payments de-facto in previous years.