Gary Farland and James Phelps have developed software that combines data on Minnesota school spending, student and staffing information to help schools better determine where and how to add resources.

And officials at the state Department of Children, Families and Learning are on the verge of awarding a $1.4 million contract for a system to help Minnesotans decide if we're getting the schools we pay for.

In Minnesota and across the nation, school accountability is beginning to mean more than just test scores. Researchers from Michigan to Florida are breaking down the factors that affect student achievement. Such research can help schools better spend their money.

Mary Pat Olsen, information technology project manager at Children, Families and Learning, said the agency soon will award a bid to develop an academic and financial performance evaluation report on state schools. Combined with the department's current Internet-based information system and a budding partnership with a Texas group to evaluate Minnesota test scores, it will help Minnesotans evaluate schools as never before, she said.

"It's tough to do a business model on schools," said Olsen. "But we're trying."

Phelps and Farland, who began their work with an $80,000 grant from Children, Families and Learning, believe they've come up with such a system already. Using four years of data from the department, they've developed a detailed computer analysis of everything from how many art teachers a district has to whether a particular school is performing as expected on statewide tests.

Phelps said their analysis - which used techniques similar to the Star Tribune's - found that a school's success has much to do with things outside school control: poverty, violence, mobility, its percentage of special-education students and its percentage of white students. But they also found room for improvement.

"By and large, school districts allocate their resources in areas that are the most expensive and show the least results," said Phelps, a former deputy superintendent of Michigan schools.

Farland, a former Children, Families and Learning official, said they developed their system to give Minnesota officials the tools they need to make better decisions. But after the initial grant, he said, the state hasn't shown much interest in their program.

That kind of detail is necessary, said Harold Wenglinsky, an education researcher from New York, if educators are to discover what truly makes a difference. Dozens of studies dealing with everything from class size to teacher training "are polarized" on whether spending matters, he said.

"What I found is the answer to whether money matters depends on how the money is spent," he said.

His findings: Facilities, transportation and even teacher pay make little difference. The impact comes from lower class size and better teacher training.