The purpose of this examination was to determine whether the state of Florida's assessed valuation and income were correlated because the Commissioner's Required Local Effort calculation uses school district property assessed valuation as the measure of wealth (i.e., funding capacity). This study retrospectively determined the degree of the relationship of the variables over time and considered that the state assessment differential policy, Save Our Homes, interfered with the degree of robustness in using property assessed valuation as the sole wealth indicator.

This study concluded that wealth, a measure of fiscal capacity that is based on tangible assets, is comprehensive and should weigh both property assessed valuation and income. The results of the study determined that the association between property assessed valuation and median household income was exceptionally weak and although the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient was always positive, it was not identical year to year. More convincingly, the results were not statistically significant and likely due to chance for the past decade. The outcome of this study provided the education finance field with further research that property assessed valuation is not a complete gauge of wealth for the state of Florida and highly suggests an income factor be added to the state education funding formula if it seeks to provide an equitable education despite economic and geographic differences.