Universities are currently under considerable pressure to reach their stakeholders' expectations. Management tools that use strategic plans, key performance indicators and quality assurance methods are increasingly deployed. This paper aims to demonstrate how resource allocation can be aligned with institutional strategic plans with a very simple…

Newly implemented state policy dealing with school finance created several consequences in a school district to include school configuration and restructuring of educational programs. This case describes how a new school finance law changes the entire dynamic of a school district and its newly appointed superintendent. The superintendent…

Research shows that students who dually enroll are more likely to finish high school and succeed in postsecondary education than their peers with a similar grade point average (GPA), test scores, demographics, etc. Yet in many states, students and parents are largely--if not entirely--responsible for covering dual enrollment course costs, placing…

The authors present a case history of the growth and development of school social work services between 2000 and 2012 in the San Francisco Unified School District. Responding to a gap in the literature describing growth of school social work services in local educational contexts, this case history reveals, consistent with prior research, that…

Many countries associated with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development are seeking to raise standards and strengthen education systems by promoting school choice, illustrated by charter schools in the United States and the Free Schools in England. Australia's education system provides a relevant and useful case study of the…

Performance-based funding is a system based on allocating a portion of a state's higher education budget according to specific performance measures such as course completion, credit attainment, and degree completion, instead of allocating funding based entirely on enrollment. It is a model that provides a fuller picture of how successfully…

Given the current economic constraints facing the country, school districts in the U.S. have been pushed to develop annual budgets through a new lens and to accept the reality that budget adoption is a complex, political process. Whether a school district is rich or poor, growing or declining in enrollment, serving a specialized population or…

The purpose of this descriptive case study was to describe the implementation of Ohio's version of the Evidence-Based Model (OEBM) state school finance system in 2009. Data sources included state budget documents and analyses as well as interviews with local school officials. The new system was responsive to three policy objectives ordered by the…

When Mark Smith was principal of Houston's Anderson Elementary School in the early 1990s, he often ran up against a maddening mathematics problem. At the time, the Houston Independent School District doled out money to schools for nonteaching staff members--like assistant principals, clerks, and librarians--based on a set of enrollment formulas…

Dual enrollment--the arrangements by which high school students take college courses during the junior and senior year--is a promising "next best thing" for states wishing to increase the number of underrepresented students gaining a postsecondary credential. Dual enrollment also has the potential to save money for families and taxpayers…

This paper examines the politics of special education finance reform in three states (Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Vermont) that have enacted substantial legislative change within the past 5 years. These case studies were extracted from presentations made by the three state directors of special education at a 1994 conference. Each case study includes…

This report describes the process and outcomes of implementing Oregon state legislation (Senate Bill 814 in 1991), which restructured the state's special education funding system. The new system provides districts with grants that are twice the regular per student allocation for every identified special education student up to 11 percent of the…

This issue of "Exchanges" highlights a number of issues in the challenge to align appropriations, tuition and financial aid (AFTA) policy. Two distinct trends in the nature of the American student population are identified: significant demographic shifts and the emerging necessity of serving adult learners. These shifts are prompting…

In its first year (1986-87), a $37.4 million Connecticut aid program has markedly reduced disparities in teacher salaries and expenditures per pupil. This paper reviews the use of school aid increases in Connecticut, describes the simulation models used, explains the models' role in targeting state aid, and outlines the legislation and its…

This paper traces the historical context of the passage and implementation of Vermont's Act 230 in 1990, which initiated a new special education funding system to increase equity, predictability, and flexibility in program design as well as to ensure placement neutrality. Specific objectives of the funding system included increasing the use of…