The report upon which this brief is based provides essential guidance to policymakers and advocates who write school finance laws to ensure a more equitable and efficient school finance system centered on student need. We begin with a discussion of the two critical foundational steps for developing a high-quality, equitable school finance system.…

In statehouses across the United States, policymakers annually debate how best to fund public education and how best to distribute those funds. The complexity of school finance issues facing state legislators and policymakers, however, can be daunting. To provide greater clarity and reliable information, this report offers guidance about how to…

This paper provides a conceptual framework that examines the interrelationship between state and institutional finance policies, including state appropriations, tuition and financial aid. It explores how state higher education goals can be advanced through outcomes-based funding policies that provide incentives for institutional behavior, and how…

The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL System), under the governance of its Board of Trustees, operates as a strong public university system with eight distinct, mission-driven universities, and enhances the quality of life of Mississippians by effectively meeting their diverse educational needs. Five-year Goals for the system have…

The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL System), under the governance of its Board of Trustees, operates as a strong public university system with eight distinct, mission-driven universities, and enhances the quality of life of Mississippians by effectively meeting their diverse educational needs. Five-year Goals for the system have…

The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL System), under the governance of its Board of Trustees, operates as a strong public university system with eight distinct, mission-driven- universities, and enhances the quality of life of Mississippians by effectively meeting their diverse educational needs. In so doing, the IHL system will be…

Michigan radically altered its school finance system in 1994. The new plan, called Proposal A, significantly increased state aid to the lowest-spending school districts and limited future increases in spending in the highest-spending ones, abolishing local discretion over school spending. I investigate the impact of Proposal A on the distribution…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine perceptions of state legislators regarding funding of public higher education in the State of Missouri. To this end, I sought to determine how Missouri legislators perceive the purpose of higher education and the role the state government should play in funding it. The concept that higher…

In four chapters this monograph examines how states and the nation have defined both an adequate education and the funding level required to provide it, and suggests an approach to the issues of educational adequacy and equity. Chapter 1 defines adequacy in terms of the provision of learning services sufficient to meet a goal and argues that the…

Eight common objections to performance funding of public colleges are presented and answered. The arguments focus on the complexity of higher education's goals, diversity of institution type, subjectivity of educational quality, relative power of the allocation amounts linked to performance measures, politics of resource allocation, cost of…

In view of increasing financial pressures, this paper argues that a new approach to fiscal policy and to the structure of the financial relationship between state government and institutions of higher education is needed. A proposed three-part budget would include the following: (1) a base or core lump-sum budget managed by higher education…

Reported are the execution and outcomes of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) Performance Funding Project at Tennessee Technological University, a pilot project seeking to explore the question of whether it is desirable and possible to allocate state funds to community colleges and universities on a performance effectiveness…

A statistical and analytical procedure for selecting states for the purpose of comparing their postsecondary systems with New Jersey's is detailed by a public commission appointed by the New Jersey Board of Higher Education. The approach used factor analysis to examine information on specific variables that describe the socioeconomic and…

The Performance Funding Project of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission to improve the current appropriations formula in Tennessee is discussed. The major project objective is to explore the feasibility of allocating some portion of state funds on a performance criterion, as compared to allocating funds solely on an enrollment criterion. It…

Argues that in higher education, values and priorities of the enterprise's "producers" have little in common with those of the "consumers," and identifies areas in which this is apparent, including tuition, college choice, selection of a president, program development, faculty rewards, state subsidies, institutional budgeting, and school…