The pandemic has shown how important schools are as networks of support for children and families. Our project, "Learning Through Disruption," also shows that schools have a particularly vital role in addressing the needs of high poverty communities, both directly and indirectly. Yet this work goes largely unrecognised and underfunded.…

This case positions the reader as the superintendent of Jefferson City Public Schools (pseudonym). Like many urban school districts in the United States, Jefferson City faces a complex milieu of fiscal challenges attributed to inadequate state funding and declining student enrollment. Within this case, the superintendent must address the failing…

Scarcely a week goes by without a headline about the unsustainability of higher education as we know it, under threat from new models, for-profits, or online education. Most threatened are small liberal arts colleges--with commentators predicting the demise of colleges with fewer than 1,000, or even 1,500 students. Are these trends inevitable, or…

Facing substantial financial pressure, many districts close schools in order to preserve solvency and improve student outcomes. Using a new longitudinal data set on all non-Cook County Illinois schools, we examine the determinants of high school closure decisions from 1986 through 2006. Our dataset combines information from a wide variety of…

Situated in the heart of the fertile San Joaquin Valley twenty miles north of Fresno, the city of Madera has a population of 56,710 people. Agriculture is the driving force behind the local economy; the area produces more than 100 crops including raisin grapes, almonds, figs, pistachios, alfalfa, corn, milk, cattle and poultry. The total value of…

State governments are in the midst of one of the most severe fiscal crises of the last half century. The magnitude of the fiscal challenges facing state and local governments highlights the importance of sound fiscal planning and access to key financial indicators. The objective of this article is to develop a financial condition indicator system…

When the five-member Board of the Alameda Unified School District selected Kirsten Vital as the new superintendent in 2009, they chose someone from outside their tight-knit community. Board Trustee Margie Sherratt thought Vital was chosen to "get us moving," to be a change agent on closing the achievement gap. Vital, in her initial…

It is argued that educational finance reform proposals have emphasized the elements of a desirable financial system too greatly, while downplaying the constraints facing educational change. These constraints are illustrated in the case study of educational reform in Manitoba, which has about 60 school divisions and districts. (SLD)

The practicality of existing statewide data systems is discussed. The expectations for the systems are contrasted with reality, and central policy questions and their implications are outlined. The system in use in Georgia, currently being reassessed by the state, is used as an example. (MSE)

A summary of the 1982 Sonoma State University case of dismissal of 24 tenured faculty members for financial reasons provides background regarding financial exigency, faculty participation in decisions leading to the layoff, provision for individual hearings, notice, efforts to reinstate and relocate, and teaching service areas. (MSE)

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…

The Los Alamos schools obtain support from a combination of local, state, and Department of Energy funds mandated by the Atomic Energy Commission Community Act. Each year the Los Alamos schools prepare three budgets, and during any week the schools may work directly with all three levels of government concerning funding. In 1974 the state of New…

The period of time for which a college is reaccredited, a hotly debated issue at the annual meeting of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, is discussed. Ten-year terms have been shortened, putting a burden on institutions least able to afford the lengthy and costly process. (MLW)

The experience of the University of Maryland system in dealing with statewide cuts in higher education financing is chronicled from 1988, focusing on political influences in the decision-making process, methods used to determine which programs would be cut, and responses to the decisions made. A comparison of four theater programs is offered as an…

Responding to a budget deficit, St. John Fisher College (New York) used quality-management tools to address critical budget issues and initiate a strategic program. Because the process used consensus-building tools, committee members felt they had been given equal input into resource allocation decisions and the process provided a sense of shared…