Legislatures and courts have attempted to create equitable formulas for school finance. However, these formulas may have negative effects on educational opportunities for urban students. Comparisons of the per-pupil expenditures of large urban school districts, such as New York, with nearby suburban districts and state-wide averages disclose…

Despite the widely accepted belief that educational planning can contribute to an orderly development of education in Third World countries, very little has been done to identify the constraints and dilemmas that the planners in these countries face. This paper seeks to identify some of these dilemmas and solicit some debate on how some of these…

This paper describes a state-sponsored management assistance project for improving the cost-effectiveness of school food services. First, the history, rationale, and present function of the Division of Management Assistance in the Pennsylvania Department of Education is described. Its primary purpose is to assist schools with fiscal problems in…

The potential for expanding job opportunities for college students to help cover expenses and provide valuable experiences was evaluated, based on an informal survey of federal, state, and institutional work-study programs. The focus is on recent innovations and possibilities for improvement. The U.S. Department of Education administers two…

The purpose of this monograph is to explore the concept of educational adequacy, defined by Cubberley as "a generous system of free public schools," and to apply those measures in an analysis of educational adequacy in the state of Illinois. The difficulty in defining what constitutes a generous education is that there is no clear…

The British tradition of institutional self-steering in higher education is considered along with possible applications to the West German higher education system. The objective is to identify an ideal self-steering system and an effective organizational decision-making structure for West Germany. Financial retrenchment in German higher education…

Problems that threaten the future careers of faculty and the quality of education at colleges and universities are reviewed, based on a literature review. It is suggested that new federalism, decreased revenue, declining enrollments, increased state and federal regulations, and public demand for accountability have threatened the ability of higher…

Drawing from the literature on the financing of community colleges, this paper discusses problems associated with state community college funding and examines the relationships that arise between the state, local community college districts, and students when each is an important source of revenue to the community college. In the first section,…

Student enrollment in Pennsylvania public schools continues to decline, but school costs continue to rise. In the next 5 years, the Northern Area of Allegheny County will lose the equivalent of one of the larger school districts. Substantial cuts in teaching and administrative positions have already taken effect. Over the last 25 years, Northern…

A review is provided of the major fiscal, historic, and management issues influencing the debate about community college finance and governance in California. The report begins with a brief discussion of the major points of difference between the funding mechanisms for the community colleges and for the state's two public university systems. These…

A majority of the 50 states are currently experiencing budget problems as a result of recent changes in the fiscal roles of federal, state, and local governments. Four major factors are responsible for the recent deterioration of state budgets: (1) reductions in federal aid to states and localities, (2) changes in the federal corporate and…

The present status of higher education in the United States is considered, based on the theory of development of human capital, which proposes that the developed abilities of a nation's population are fundamental to its economic growth and well-being. Attention is also directed to social and cultural benefits. The following ideas are stressed:…

The use of college staffing strategies to reduce staffing expenditures, to reallocate staffing resources, or to limit the time commitment of resources to a position is discussed, based on the literature and data from the Project on Reallocation in Higher Education. Control of the decision to create a position or hire replacements for departing…

Hearings on reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, 1985, are presented. The hearings, which were held in Connecticut, include the views of eight college students and five university presidents on the Reagan Administration's proposals. President Reagan's fiscal year 1986 budget proposal would cut $2.2 billion from student financial programs.…

Several core areas of urban educational distress are summarized in this paper. These form the basis for the development of the central theme which is concerned with defining society's failure to produce educated young adults and develop their cognitive learning potential. This failure is discussed in terms of a range of socioeconomic attributes. A…