School districts in the United States often borrow on the municipal bond market to pay for capital projects. Districts serving economically disadvantaged communities tend to receive lower credit ratings and pay higher interest rates. To remedy this problem, 24 states have established credit enhancement programs that promise to repay district debt…

The COVID-19 pandemic has re-emphasized the need to develop innovative solutions to unprecedented problems in health, education, and other sectors. The learning crisis in education is reaching catastrophic levels, the consequences of which are disproportionately felt in populations that are already marginalized. School closures, together with…

This set of tables introduces new data for national and state-level public elementary and secondary revenues and expenditures for fiscal year (FY) 2019. Specifically, this report includes the following school finance data: (1) revenue and expenditure totals; (2) revenues by source; (3) expenditures by function and object; (4) current expenditures;…

In "Proposed National Standards for Financial Literacy: What's In? What's Out?", Maier, Figart, and Nelson pose the question: "How should educators use the standards?" In answering that question, they suggest a number of issues and topics that they believe should be taught along with the "National Standards for…

This First Look report presents data on public elementary and secondary education revenues and expenditures at the local education agency (LEA) or school district level for fiscal year (FY) 2014.1 Specifically, this report includes findings from the following types of school finance data: (1) Revenue and expenditure totals by state and the 100…

The effects of sisters' and brothers' education on the annual school entry probability of boys and girls in rural Amhara are estimated, using within-household variation. There are negative effects of younger siblings' school attendance on girls' school entry, and positive effects of older brothers' literacy only when they have left school. This is…

This article, written jointly by a mathematician and a barrister, looks at some of the statistical issues raised by court cases based on fraud involving chip and PIN cards. It provides examples and insights that statistics teachers should find helpful. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

One distinction between the markets for corporate and municipal bonds involves institutional constraints that apply to some municipal bond issues. This research focuses on how public finance institutions, in particular explicit debt limits and referenda requirements, affect the borrowing cost of individual school district bond issues. The…

"Plan, Save, Succeed!" is a new program aligned with Jumpstart Coalition National Standards in K-12 Personal Finance Education, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards, and Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice. "Plan, Save, Succeed!" is designed to help students understand key financial literacy topics including…

School districts across the country have been taking a harder look at what they are teaching students about financial literacy in the wake of the financial crisis of the past few years, caused in part by excessive credit card and mortgage debt. While economics courses have been common for many years, particularly at the high school level,…

Students are taking on more college debt in this struggling economy, often without the knowledge to make wise choices. To help students better manage their debt, some college campuses and high schools are ramping up their financial-literacy efforts, where experts say such education should begin. But a squeeze on K-12 resources has hampered the…

The number of charter schools has grown rapidly from 250 in 1995 to about 4,000 by 2007, now enrolling more than 1.1 million students in the United States. Charter schools face many challenges when they attempt to purchase or lease permanent facilities and frequently operate in temporary space that is poorly suited for delivering educational…

This article reports that the crisis besetting U.S. and world financial markets is hitting school districts hard, as they struggle to float the bonds needed for capital projects, borrow money to ensure cash flow, and get access to investment funds locked up in troubled institutions. Some schools districts depend heavily on borrowed money to pay…

It's no surprise that school districts are as vulnerable to fraud as the private sector or any other segment of government. Crimes in districts include collusion with outside vendors who provide kickbacks to employees, misuse of district-issued credit cards, embezzlement of district funds, and theft of district property. "Fraud happens…

The article profiles Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank (an independent financial institution in Bangladesh), as well as an economics professor at the University of Chittagong. In his birthplace of Bangladesh, 49.8 percent of people exist below the poverty line, and 73.2 percent of the women are categorized as…