Concerns central to the public provisioning of elementary education in India range from : the adequacy and composition of public expenditure to the bottlenecks in the states that could restrict the impact of this expenditure on educational attainments. This book examines the financing of education by state governments and the major challenges confronting them. It also analyzes the planning process with regard to expenditure on education and the process of flow of funds starting from the central government budget up to the implementing agencies at the district level. The latter is attempted through a study of the budgeting and planning processes in the flagship program of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan across four selected states : Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, and Rajasthan. The book also addresses the causes of the fiscal crisis of state governments in an era of economic reforms, the measures required for strengthening the ability of the states to step up public expenditure on education and the role of centrally sponsored schemes in education.