In 1992, City Academy -- the nation's first charter school -- opened in St. Paul, Minnesota. Created and led by experienced teachers, it was designed as an alternative school for students struggling in traditional settings. With just 53 students, City Academy embodied the original vision for charter schools: small, teacher-run schools within…

Thirty years ago, charter schools embodied possibility. They were envisioned as nimble, innovative, community-driven alternatives to traditional public schools -- laboratories of experimentation led by teachers and grounded in equity. The grand bargain was clear: more freedom from regulations and bureaucracy in exchange for heightened…

In a state where most higher education institutions are working to address financial and enrollment challenges, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) faces some of the greatest difficulties of all. UWM's steep enrollment drop has exacerbated the effects of an eight-year tuition freeze and lagging state funding, forcing cuts to faculty,…

As the largest university in the state's biggest city, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) plays a crucial role in providing higher education to disadvantaged students. It also serves as the third-largest research institution in the state, behind only UW-Madison and the Medical College of Wisconsin. In 2013, an estimated $1.5 billion in…

Each budget year, the Ministry of Education responds to concerns about chronic underfunding of public education by asserting that the ministry is providing its "highest funding ever" during a sustained period of declining student enrolment. This assertion of the "highest funding ever" continues in "Budget 2011,"…

Results of the PROBE Institutional President Survey indicate that inflation, financial concerns, and changes in enrollment are the most important issues facing administrators today. (WD)

The purpose of this study was to trace the development of the Southern Baptist junior colleges from 1927 to 1977. During this period a total of 35 junior colleges were in operation at some time. However in 1977 there were only seven Baptist colleges in six states; of these only one was among the 27 Southern Baptist junior colleges that were…

For the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD), the year after Proposition 13 was passed was one of almost constant reappraisal of priorities, of shifting programs and services to make the most of every available dollar, and of nearly constant uncertainty. Some of the effects of Proposition 13 were reductions in the numbers of part-time…

This paper discusses the need for a school price index for Canadian schools rather than use of the current government expenditure index to measure price effects on school costs. It discusses four effects on the amount of money spent by school boards, namely, enrollment, quality of schooling, efficiency of use of resources, and current market…

A study examined the methods used by several California school districts to respond to educational retrenchment. Results showed that, while respondents had difficulty separating recent educational legislaton from other aspects of retrenchment, they agreed that there was no way to produce better results in education with a reduction in resources.…

In response to legislative mandate, this report reviews the management initiatives taken by community colleges in Maryland over the last several years to contain and reduce costs; investigates the potential for the regionalization of Maryland's community colleges; and determines new initiatives that should be considered by individual colleges in…

The major problem to be faced in Canada in the next decade is resource allocation. Administrators must make conscious efforts to distinguish between changes in price levels that are the effect of inflationary pressures and increases in costs that are the result of changes in quality or quantity of inputs. A second area extremely important in…

Adjustments that state policy-makers and institutions of higher education will need to make as they face cutbacks in public support and declining enrollments are described, based in part on a research project on retrenchment in higher education conducted by the Southern Regional Education Board. Given the long-term contractual obligations of…

The recent dramatic growth of postsecondary education is reviewed, and the context in which the state legislature and the higher education community will probably interact in the future is described. The era of rapid economic growth following World War II was accompanied by even more rapid increases in demand for college educated workers.…

A review of the literature concerning educational finance, taxation, and California's Proposition 13 (1978) reveals that educational institutions encountered financial pressures before the passage of Proposition 13, and that these pressures--hardly specific to California--are highly visible in the South Carolina Technical Education System. The…