More than 40 states have been sued for failing to provide poor districts with enough money to educate children up to the standards articulated in their own laws.

The board voted Wednesday night to provide districts in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx with a total of $21 million in additional money.

In 1994-95, states provided 47 percent of all education spending; local districts, 46 percent, and the Federal Government, 7 percent.

He said, "It will provide property-poor districts with economic alternatives that are not now available to them."

The legislature responded in 1979 by revising its education grant formulas, providing districts with supplemental funding on a graduated scale based on need.

The goal is to provide districts with a greater degree of predictability in planning their budgets.

The plan provides districts with clarity, flexibility, equity and accountability.

The river provides the irrigation to the Washim and Yavatmal districts in Maharashtra.

The state then provided districts with what it thought it should cost to operate such schools, by estimating the number of teachers, administrators and books that were needed.

But Iowa, for example, has avoided the gerrymandering problem by using the new computer tools properly to provide balanced, compact districts in which elections are meaningful.