Many early education finance researchers laid the foundation for equalization grants.20 Equalization grants act
as modern-day Robin Hoods, so to speak. They provide greater state funding for localities with less capacity to
raise their own funds and provide less state funding for localities with greater capacity. For example, Virginia
has a funding model that assesses the wealth of a locality using per capita property value, per capita income,
and per capita sales tax revenue. Each measure of wealth is weighted—property at .5, income at .4,
and sales tax at .1. Plugging these numbers into the equation yields a decimal value called the composite
index known as the Required Local Effort (RLE). Currently, those composite index values range from .1754
(high poverty) to .8000 (high wealth). That figure is the percentage of the state standards, or the foundation level of programing, the locality must pay while the state will pay the remaining percentage. Localities are
permitted to fund above the state standards.