With recent research from the Institute for Higher Education Policy showing that college is unaffordable for as many as 70% of working- and middle-class students, concerns about college costs are mounting. The cost of operating an institution of higher education, with very few exceptions, is reflected in the price of attendance that students,…

Student-Based Budgeting (sometimes called Weighted Student Funding, or Fair Student Funding, depending on the district) differs fundamentally from the traditional funding model, which distributes resources to schools in the form of staff and dollars designated for specific purposes. Student-Based Budgeting (SBB) allocates dollars to schools based…

With most parents now in the workforce, the demand for high-quality out-of-school time (OST) opportunities for children and youth continues to grow across the country. An estimated 14.3 million children and youth return each day to an empty home unsupervised, and with no opportunities to constructively occupy their time. By building strong,…

(NOTE: This journal was titled "Higher Education Review" from its inception in Fall 1977 through this issue; beginning Fall 1978 it was renamed "Review of Higher Education.") Marginal utility analysis and zero-base budgeting are described and applied to resource allocations. Related theoretical and practical issues are assessed…

This tool was designed for district officials and related policymakers interested in analyzing a district's spending patterns. It describes a three-step process that focuses on the distribution of resources among schools and types of students. The process is illustrated with an example from the Cincinnati Public Schools. The tool should enable…

This guide provides information on the cooperative audit resolution for program improvement. It offers guidance for resolving audit findings, as well as tips on how to use the Cooperative Audit Resolution and Oversight Initiative (CAROI). CAROI is a collaborative method to provide alternative and creative approaches to resolve audit findings and…

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…

Summarizes some ways Massachusetts schools have trimmed their budgets in response to Proposition 2 1/2 and offers suggestions concerning how other schools or districts could go about doing the same. (JM)

Information is provided on the budgeting formula developed for funding Alaska's community colleges. After the history of formula budgeting is discussed, its purposes are highlighted (i.e., to provide equity of funding among the community colleges; to reduce uncertainty in and to simplify the budgeting process; and to provide for more local…

Under Ohio's existing educational finance plan, the power of school districts to purchase the educational resources commensurate with each district's educational needs is far from equal. Consideration of four specific potential reforms, separately and in combination, indicates that greater equity can be obtained. If Ohio is to avoid substantial…

This paper offers criteria for states attempting to develop more effective special education funding formulas. It notes that balancing criteria to meet program objectives is difficult, with a major focus on one criterion often coming at the expense of other criteria. An effective formula should be: understandable, equitable, adequate, predictable,…

This book offers an overview of educational finance law and examines constitutional challenges to state aid plans. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to education finance litigation, including the early history of education finance litigation and early education finance theory. Chapter 2 discusses the states' responsibilities for providing equal…

In view of increasing financial pressures, this paper argues that a new approach to fiscal policy and to the structure of the financial relationship between state government and institutions of higher education is needed. A proposed three-part budget would include the following: (1) a base or core lump-sum budget managed by higher education…

This book presents a rationale for developing new approaches to conceptualizing the costs associated with the implementation and operation of models supporting comprehensive, community-based support systems (CCBSS) for children. CCBSS are broad-based approaches that have no single model or specification for reform; the configuration of the model…

This is a resource book on cutback management in public schools. It catalogs over 30 practices, provides policy models from 27 school districts in 17 states, and summarizes a decade of advice about decline management in light of recent research evidence on what works and what doesn't work in managing the politics of retrenchment. Its highlights…