Arizona has represented the epicenter of school choice in the United States. The state has had open enrollment for district schools for 30 years, charter schools for more than 25 years, a private school tax credit program for nearly as long, and was the first state in the country in 2011 to enact direct parent-appropriations through targeted…

This brief conducts a fiscal analysis of the West Virginia Hope Scholarship Program for fiscal year (FY) 2024, the program's second year in operation. The analysis estimates the net fiscal effects of the program on state and local taxpayers statewide and for each school district. It also provides fiscal context and basic data to help inform the…

Background: Critical resource theory (CReT) provides a framework for the examination and reform of public finance policy. Funding policies for staffing school-based mental health providers have a substantial impact on the structure of service delivery and the ability of youth (and their families) to access much-needed supports in an era of growing…

Innovative financing increases the amount of funding to education and allows for more efficient and equitable financing. Through the GPE Multiplier, the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) has mobilized US$4.7 billion in cofinancing that would not have been available otherwise for education. This factsheet presents how GPE innovative financing…

Scholars and policy analysts have long focused their attention on questions related to funding for higher education. Considerations include questions about the relationship between educational spending and student success and efforts to determine overall levels of funding adequacy. This report builds on those conversations by drawing attention to…

The Fair School Funding Plan (FSFP) presented in this policy brief is a bipartisan approach to school funding based on how much districts must spend to educate every child, including those who need different or additional support. The FSFP works because it is based on the actual cost of educating kids, sharing that cost between the state and local…

In a period of growing concerns about the financial viability of many colleges, students and their families have little information about the extent to which a particular institution is struggling. The U.S. Department of Education uses heightened cash monitoring (HCM) and financial responsibility metrics as two tools to identify colleges that…

Throughout 2024, the Center for Universal Education (CUE) co-led a costing lab with the Colombian social enterprise aeioTU. This lab consisted of a number of workshops led by CUE in which the team at aeioTU strengthened their knowledge and understanding of costing and cost analysis. Specifically, the team selected a program about which to conduct…

The IPEDS Finance survey is a key resource for academic research, policy analysis, and efforts to improve transparency and accountability. However, the data from the survey can be difficult to use properly. This research note addresses a specific challenge: how to incorporate the $16 billion in revenues and expenditures reported annually within…

Corruption in higher education, particularly institutional corruption, is increasingly recognised as a critical issue, though its manifestations remain underexplored. This study uses the case of Austrian public universities to explore how indicator-based funding and the employment arrangements adopted by universities under the collective…

The finances of higher education have never been more challenging. From two-year institutions to the Ivy Leagues, from department chairs to provosts, administrators face revenue shortfalls and financial insecurity. A fundamental understanding of financial management is more essential than ever for university leaders at every level--as is a true…

It is no secret that America's higher education system has a deep history of discrimination and exclusion. Funding for public institutions is still intensely inequitable and--in many cases--the situation is only getting worse. Most states have one or two public institutions with a large financial advantage over their peers. This is the norm, a…

This brief provides findings from the full report, "California's Higher Education Funding Landscape," which examines California's higher education funding sources, revenue trends over the past decade, and compares its funding model with other large states to inform future policies. Key findings include: (1) appropriations for higher…

Background/Context: The need for costing-out studies is clear given the state constitutional clauses dictating that states have a responsibility to provide an education that allows all students an opportunity to achieve the outcomes expected of the public education system (Baker & Green, 2014). The main objectives of educational costing-out…

This research explores responsible investment practices at Canadian and international universities. We analyze universities' "Statement of Investment Policy and Procedures" and "Responsible Investing Policies" to understand how responsible investing is included and how this varies by region. Our results show that most…