The evolution of management information systems in higher education is traced, with contributing factors noted. Benefits are summarized and shortcomings are discussed with emphasis on their limitations as the basis for resource allocation during an era of budgetary stringency. (Author/JMD)

Provides a taxonomy of cost containment actions for use in response to budget crises where revenues fall short of expenditures. Indicates four levels of actions: tactical temporary and tactical permanent, which have low to moderate impact on school operations; and strategic temporary and strategic permanent, which have moderate to high impact. (13…

While much attention has been paid to educational reform or restructuring efforts to improve the nation's schools, the fiscal aspects of reform have received little attention. The Education Commission of the States studied 20 school districts in 6 states (California, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, and South Carolina) to determine what impact…

Although the major locus of mental health care in the United States is in community agencies, funding cutbacks threaten the services those agencies provide. To assist human service managers in developing guidelines and concrete action strategies for dealing with financial problems, 106 mental health professionals (e.g., agency directors, technical…

This study examines the results of decremental state budgeting on Minnesota elementary and secondary education during the 1981-83 biennium, a period of sudden fiscal crisis. Using the fiscal reports of various departments of Minnesota State government and interviews with state officials, the author narrates the sequence of revenue shortfalls and…

Alaska faces a problem that is easy to explain but hard to solve: state government is spending more than it collects. The budget crisis looms because oil production, which supplies 85% of the state's general fund revenues, will soon begin to fall as the Prudhoe Bay oil field is depleted. This paper examines the potential deficit and the effect it…

Responses of colleges and universities to declining revenues and enrollments were investigated, based on a 1983 survey of 334 four-year institutions. Scalogram analysis was employed to determine whether there was a hierarchy of institutional responses to enrollment/revenue decline and whether declining and nondeclining institutions can be…

Resource allocation and reallocation strategies for colleges who have financial problems are considered in three articles based on presentations to a national conference at the University of Arizona. In "Reallocation Strategies," James A. Hyatt discusses factors that shape institutional responses to reallocation and elements that should…

This paper reconceptualizes the purposes of education's budget envelope. Citing numerous examples of how policymakers consider resource allocations apart from the main concerns of individual programs, the people reallocations affect, and education's most important programs, it suggests that policymakers and finance officers reemphasize program and…

The aim of this research was to examine the response of large public organizations to financial resource reduction not accompanied by decline in the demand for services. The focus was 94 New York City public high schools that received substantial budget cuts in 1975-76 and 1976-77. Effects on mix of services and class structures were studied. All…

The theme of this seminar was the exploration of techniques and strategies for improving the funding of elementary and secondary education. The proceedings of the seminar included welcoming remarks by Michael Heron followed by the presentation "Problems and Prospects in Education Finance: Who Is Getting All the Money?" by Dr. Wilfred…

This study outlined an approach for analyzing the impact of changing resource levels on schools. The effects of declining resources in New York City high schools and the implications of the findings for school systems facing similar situations are investigated. The focus of the impact analysis was in the organizational domain: the services…

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)

Examines data from 1980, 1985, and 1990 that measure how colleges in the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) changed their patterns of resource allocation in response to reduced resources. Shows that VCCS colleges reduced staff, utilized more part-time faculty, increased student faculty ratios and reduced expenditures. Includes 10 data tables…

In the spring 1995 "JLE" issue, Bruce Meredith and Julie Underwood posited that regular and special education have developed fundamentally different paradigms that hinder cooperation. James Tucker and Jeffrey Champagne responded that regular/special education's conflict over resources is decreasing. Thomas Kuhn would argue that…