An approach to cost analysis that begins in the department, the lowest organizational level, is discussed, using tables designed to outline the distribution of instructional staff resources and academic program characteristics such as enrollment, student characteristics, curricula requiring the course, and staff cost data, by course. (MSE)

Combined effort on the part of teachers and administrators can help to improve schools. Simple rules for leadership are outlined. (Author/MLF)

Ways that program review, budget history, and budget projections can be used to determine annual budgets for multi-college departments are discussed. A model for funding and crediting is proposed that is used to determine the proportion of the total departmental general-fund budget. (Editor/LBH)

Discusses the problem of calculating unit costs for higher education, with special attention to the allocation of research-related costs and various indirect costs to undergraduate and graduate students. Calculates unit costs and budget allocations for a hypothetical state university system, based on different policy assumptions regarding cost…

Analyzes patterns of federal funding allocations to school districts, categorizing districts by their relative concentrations of poverty populations, relative property wealth, and relative degree of urbanization. Discusses some implications of these analyses for federal policy. (Author/JG)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave his first hint about his plans for reforming the New York City school system on Martin Luther King Day in January 2003. Mayor Bloomberg did not offer a single excuse for the disastrous state of the city's schools. Nor did he attribute that failure to poverty or racism. Breaking with 50 years of liberal political…

Recent policy changes at the state and federal levels have made schools the focus of accountability. However, under current district budgeting practices, it is difficult to assess how resources are distributed between schools and whether every school is afforded the same opportunity to meet its educational goals. This paper addresses one key…

Despite the fact that funding for Title I continues to grow, and the program is now the major funding arm of "No Child Left Behind", the research reported here indicates that funds are not always spent in a way likely to accomplish the purposes of the legislation. In most urban districts a systematic bias is built into the district allocation…

In September 1999, the Maryland Higher Education Commission adopted a peer-based model for the establishment of funding guidelines for the University System of Maryland and Morgan State University. The guidelines are designed to inform the budget process by providing a funding standard and a basis for comparison between institutions. The basic…

This booklet explains the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) for universities in the United Kingdom receiving public funds and outlines how it works. It also includes some facts and figures and sources of further information. The RAE, which operates through a process of peer review by experts, is designed to provide ratings of the quality of…

This paper discusses the controversial issue of educational resource allocation for the purpose of improving educational standards in secondary schools. The current dilemma is whether educational resources should be directed to increasing school-based resources or directed to supporting teacher training. The paper controversially argues that both…

Responsibility for expenditures by schools in Hawaii for such utilities as electricity, telephone, gas, water, and sewer is shifting from the Department of Education to schools. In shifting responsibility for processing telephone and electricity payments to local schools while retaining management functions, the department failed to develop clear…

Hollister Elementary School was one of several schools in its district to adopt a reform agenda initiated by the new district superintendent in 1995. This report tells the story of the school's adoption, implementation, and funding of the Success for All reading and Math Wings programs. The salient point is that the staff at the school managed to…

Under the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC's) e-rate program, schools and libraries can receive discounts from vendors on the cost of eligible telecommunications services, Internet access, and internal connections (the equipment needed to deliver these services). The discounts range from 20 to 90 percent, with higher discounts given to…

This paper describes how implementation of four key aspects of the No Child Left Behind Act can move schools closer to raising achievement for all students. These four aspects--accountability and testing, flexible use of federal resources, school choice, and quality teachers and quality teaching--can allow schools and districts to realize the…