Community colleges across the nation face many challenges in terms of institutional funding. As legislators in the Southeast continue to define metrics for funding mechanisms that define the amount of funding an institution receives legislators have used performance-based funding to channel funds into higher education institutions since 1979.…

In November 2021, The National Audit Office published a report on financial sustainability of schools noting that schools had experienced considerable financial pressures in recent years. The NAO report found that while most schools were financially sustainable, local authority (LA) maintained schools were more likely to be experiencing cost…

This study investigates how individual states raise revenue to pay for elementary-secondary education spending after a school finance reform (SFR). We consider 24 states that implemented SFRs between 1989 and 2005. Using a synthetic control approach, we identify six case-study states (Arkansas, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, and…

This concurrent mixed methods study descriptively explores teacher residency programs (TRPs) across the nation. We examine program and participant survey data from the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR) to identify important TRP structures for resident support. Latent class analysis of program-level data reveals three types of TRPs…

This study investigates how individual states raise revenue to pay for elementary-secondary education spending following school finance reforms (SFRs). We identify states that increased and sustained education expenditures after reform, search for legislative statutes that appropriated more education spending, and assess how policymakers funded…

Regional accreditation, seen as a necessary hurdle by many in higher education, is required to participate in Title IV funding. However, several studies indicate that the current accreditation process is broken. Institutions with more resources, both in staffing and funding, and more academically ready students are at an advantage for favorable…

This study examines how performance-based funding (PBF) for public four-year institutions in the U.S. is associated with the production of short-term certificates. Results indicate that high-dosage PBF is associated with increases in both the number of short-term certificate programs offered and the number of short-term certificates awarded, even…

The major source of information about foreign influence in higher education, the Section 117 database of foreign gifts, is poorly maintained and woefully incomplete. This report details the underreporting of foreign gifts to universities by analyzing a complementary database compiled using public records requests. The National Association of…

IDEA is the cornerstone federal law that safeguards and promotes the educational rights of children with disabilities. It was enacted in 1975 as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA), which established a right to a free appropriate public education (FAPE) for all children with disabilities for the first time. Before the EHA, there…

Integrity, security, and sustained investment in data systems are critical for state agencies and stakeholders to effectively harness information to inform policy and decision-making in postsecondary education. Recognizing this crucial need, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) has led the charge with its State…

This final brief of a three-part series explores Tennessee and its legislative attempts to curb underfunding. The first brief explored the national landscape of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) funding, including the historical disinvestment of land grant HBCUs. The second brief explored the systemic underfunding of HBCUs in…

In this paper the author compares the impact of two proposals: one in the Shapiro administration's budget plan and one by the PA Schools Work (PASW) campaign for a down payment on fair and full funding of K-12 schools regarding how far they go in reducing the state's inequitable and inadequate school funding for school districts on the basis of…

The paper studies the emergence of venture philanthropy in public schools in Australia, focusing on policy networks and policy mobility. It seeks to analyse how policy is mobilised and leveraged via networks, focusing on the initiative of a national education charity with deductible gift recipient status, and a national research education…

School finance debates frequently turn on two crucial questions: (1) How much do state and local governments spend on K-12 education?; and (2) How are education dollars distributed across jurisdictions? This focus makes sense because the answers to these questions determine how well states are able to provide an adequate, equal education for all…

This paper analyses the composition, distribution, and history of school funding in Australia through a spatial lens (Soja 2010). We explore multi-scalar school funding policy through three layers of economic maldistribution. We sketch the funding disparities between the three school sectors (public, Catholic, and independent) exposing a spatial…