This publication provides governmental and higher education decision-makers a statewide perspective of Arkansas public higher education finance for the 2015-17 biennium, as well as trends for the past several years. It also contains a detailed financial profile of each institution and presents a basis for comparative assessments of revenue sources…

This paper proposes a taxonomy of school funding formula elements which distinguishes between funding based on individual student needs and the needs of populations of students based on particular characteristics or labels. This builds on the theoretical approach proposed by Caldwell, Levacic and Ross (1999) where school funding formulae can be…

The Rhode Island Education Policy Primer provides an overview of how public education operates in Rhode Island. The Introduction offers context on the inequitable origins of Rhode Island's public school system, as well as the role that activism has played in expanding educational opportunities. The At a Glance section provides a quick look at…

A recent report commissioned by the Office of the District of Columbia Auditor examined the accuracy of enrollment projections by the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) and by charter local educational agencies (LEAs). While the report found that enrollment projections were fairly consistent with LEA level enrollment, based on a sum of…

Previous studies have shown that state performance funding policies do not increase baccalaureate degree production, but higher education scholarship lacks a rigorous, quantitative analysis of the unintended consequences of performance funding. In this article, we use difference-in-differences estimation with fixed effects to evaluate performance…

The issue of modularising vocational education and training (VET) systems has been the subject of heated debate in many European countries. In particular, in Scotland the use of modules within the curriculum has been seen as either restrictive or liberating depending upon the theoretical stance taken. At a more pragmatic level modularisation of…

The Tuition Opportunity Program for Students (subsequently renamed the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, or TOPS) was created via ACT 1375 during the 1997 Regular Legislative Session. The first college freshman class to receive TOPS awards entered postsecondary education in the fall of 1998. ACT 1202 of the 2001 Regular Legislative Session…

California's school funding system has changed in several very significant ways since the original "District Dollars" report (Loeb, Grissom, and Strunk 2007), so the purpose of this report is to update that analysis and to track the evolution of district finances over the intervening 12 years, as well as to consider a few other issues…

Adopted in 2013, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) provides all districts with base funding plus supplemental and concentration grants for low-income students, English learners, and foster youth. The law eliminated most categorical programs, giving local school systems resource allocation authority and requiring Local Control and…

California recently overhauled its K-12 public education finance system. Enacted in 2013, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) replaced California's 40-year-old funding formula. The LCFF increases district officials' fiscal flexibility; provides more resources to districts serving larger proportions of low-income, English learner (EL), and…

Ten years have passed since New York's highest court ruled in the landmark school-funding and educational-rights case, "Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) v. State of New York," that the state was violating students' constitutional right to the "opportunity for a sound basic education" and ordered significant reforms of the…

Developing countries place a high premium on education because it is believed to correlate with economic development. Similarly, Botswana adopted an education-for-development policy when it became independent in 1966. Providentially, it discovered and mined minerals, particularly diamonds, and funded education. Unfortunately, Botswana is a…

This essay describes the economic, social, and civic benefits of college in prison. Turning to history, it describes the unfortunate 1994 decision to eliminate Pell Grant eligibility for people in prison and argues that the time is now right to reverse that policy. Finally, it describes several ways in which scholars of education can contribute to…

Evaluation studies can provide feedback on implementation, support continuous improvement, and increase understanding of evaluation systems' impact on teaching and learning. Despite the importance of educator evaluation studies, states often need support to prioritize and fund them. Successful studies require expertise, time, and a shared…

With the advent of outcomes-based funding policies, state policymakers are increasingly committed to basing public college and university funding on how institutions perform on valued measures such as program progress and degree completion. This rising emphasis is considered here in the historical context of three earlier state funding approaches:…