This document records testimony from a hearing before the Committee on Education and Labor that was held to examine the protection of students and taxpayers by improving the closed school discharge process. Member statements were provided by: (1) Honorable Frederica S. Wilson, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment;…

A for-profit college may convert to nonprofit status for a variety of reasons, such as wanting to align its status and mission. However, in some cases, former owners or other insiders could improperly benefit from the conversion, which is impermissible under the Internal Revenue Code and Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended. This…

This document records testimony from a hearing before the Committee on Education and Labor that was held to examine ways to improve accountability and prevent fraud in for-profit college conversions. Member statements were provided by: (1) Honorable Robert C. Scott, Chairman, Committee on Education and Labor; and (2) Honorable Virginia Foxx,…

This paper discusses the current situation that Costa Rica faces around fiscal issues and high evasion rates. Using actors and multidimensional analysis, it proposes the electronic invoice as an e-government strategic solution that will close the gap around tax evasion and the government incomes. The success achieved by Brazil in this area…

Previous research has shown that Tax Revolt Provisions (TRPs) aimed at limiting state government revenues and/or expenditures, negatively impact public higher education funding. This analysis explores the influence of these same types of policies on average in-state undergraduate tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and universities.…

This paper outlines how an existing collaborative forecasting tool called a prediction market (PM) can be integrated into an educational context to enhance information literacy skills and cognitive disciplinary knowledge. The paper makes a number of original contributions. First, it describes how this tool can be packaged as a pedagogical…

This paper examines the debate in the U.S. Senate over the reasons why state governments have decreased funding for higher education. One side believes that federal mandates on states to pay for Medicaid have forced them to reduce spending on higher education. The other side believes that states unwisely reduced taxes, which decreased their…

The United States is at a critical crossroads in its history right now. The public policy problems that the people are facing are complex and interrelated, and the demographic changes that are about to significantly change their country are not well understood by large numbers of people. In this presidential address to the Association for Public…

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…

Examines the idea that the vote on Proposition 13 may have been a simple protest against property taxes and a vote for a tax shift. Also examines a model of political influence on governmental behavior. Journal availability: see EA 511 898. (IRT)

Studies of attitudes toward taxation have been deficient in producing reliable measures of support for tax reform. This article documents some of the problems in making measurements and points to the necessity for measurements to fill the existing gap in policy-relevant information. A methodology for identifying the relationships between attitudes…

This report reviews local tax reform and describes an approach to simulating the effects of proposed tax reform on local school districts in Pennsylvania. The microcomputer spreadsheet simulation led to the development of a model able to meet the feasibility criteria established for such a simulation model. The model was designed to input…

Tax and expenditure limitations will accelerate the rate of the slowdown in state and local government growth and may increase both the interdependence of governmental units and the centralization of the system at the state level. Journal availability: see EA 511 898. (Author/IRT)

Findings of a study that examined the relationship between Pennsylvania teachers' salaries and local wealth are presented in this paper. Statistical analyses of 491 Pennsylvania school districts involved regression, t tests, and chi square. Findings indicate that two factors had a statistically significant impact on local teacher salaries: (1) the…

Findings of a study that determined the relationship between property taxes and individual adjusted gross income and that examined the feasibility of using these data to define an "income wealth" measure by school district are presented in this paper. Illinois Department of Revenue computer tapes for the tax years 1986-88 were analyzed;…