This report describes a wide range of successful strategies that states can draw from to increase the educational attainment of their residents while holding down higher education costs. Part I offers examples of strategies, programs, and practices that the authors' research finds can raise educational productivity. Part II describes the levers…

This book calls for changes in special-education fiscal policy, claiming that special-education finances need to be more fully incorporated into education-finance literature and fiscal-policy discussions. The first few chapters discuss fiscal and program-policy funding in the United States and in Europe. They trace the history of federal…

This report suggests a framework for approaching and integrating adequacy as a cornerstone principle in developing a sound state school finance system. The text defines student performance-centered expectations for the education system and suggests that districts determine the educational capacity needed to allow each student reasonable…

This paper presents strategies for designing and implementing new and more effective approaches to school-finance structures. The first section discusses state school-finance systems, their inadequacies, and how they have changed dramatically in several states. It explores how varieties of standard school-finance formulas may actually exacerbate…

As an aid for California school board members, school administrators, and citizens, this handbook provides data on California public schools and an explanation of California school finances. Chapter 1 contains facts about the state's schools and school districts, including size, demography, student population distribution by county, attendance…

Outlines the trends in educational funding patterns needed to enact educational reform. Local property taxes, state revenues, and federal aid continue to provide the bulk of financing. Includes two tables. (MD)

The relationship between school funding and student achievement is not clear. Therefore, policymakers should concentrate more on how resources are distributed, rather than on how much money is available. They should also explore the importance of adequate resource levels and equitable distribution schemes. A sidebar outlines the characteristics of…

This handy desk reference will help readers and their institutions develop and maintain a professional environment that will maximize efficiencies and provide the necessary skills to properly manage operations and portfolios while ensuring that students receive fair and equitable service and opportunities. Written for business officers, financial…

The toolkit has been developed by the profession and the two training universities of Dundee and Strathclyde to support self-evaluation. Educational psychologists from across Scotland, representing all professional levels, have been directly involved in the consultation and development of this document. The toolkit has been designed to provide a…

This paper summarizes the major pieces of education legislation passed in 1988 and 1989 in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. The Education Reform Act 1988, the Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, and the Self-Governing Schools Etc. (Scotland) Act 1989 will all transform education in the 1990s. In all countries, the prime…

Following a brief introduction discussing Minnesota's educational finance system, recent finance litigation, and public education system, this report discusses basic school finance terms and concepts. The next two sections review the state's property tax system and its general education revenue program, including aid and levy calculations.…

Presents the first in a series of articles on ways to secure the financing needed to make a child care business grow. Discusses the characteristics of the most common sources of funds for a for-profit child care business. (BB)

Fourteen options are presented for consideration when having to make budget cuts in educational programs. To spread the burden of budget cutting evenly across the programs, break the budget into percentages and then reduce each area by the same percentage. It is important, though, to cut the excess and not the core of the program. (MD)

This book is a tool for Illinois school business officials, superintendents, and other administrators with budgeting responsibilities. It is also a resource for school board members. The foreword describes the financial responsibilities of the school board along with the caveat that financial management is staff work, not board work. Detailed…

This benchmarking tool is designed to help higher education institutions (HEIs) assess the contribution they are making to their region. It aims to encourage debate on a voluntary basis within and between individual HEIs, and to assess the contributions they are making to the economic and social development of their region and how those…