We extend the collective model of household behavior to allow for the existence of public consumption. We show how this model allows the analysis of welfare consequences of policies aimed at changing the distribution of power within the household. Our setting provides a conceptual framework for addressing issues linked to the "targeting" of…

Argues that school systems are so centralized that they waste money on bureaucratic operations and lack the capacity to respond rapidly to changing circumstances. A study of nine school systems that vary dramatically in their degree of decentralization demonstrates that true decentralization yields benefits in both efficiency and performance. (MLF)

This article estimates the dollar amount of public higher education subsidies received by U.S. youth and examines the distribution of subsidies and the taxes that finance them across parental and student income levels. Although youths from high-income families obtain more benefit from higher education subsidies, high-income households pay…

Probably no effort has been more successful than the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) in capturing the current complexity of the principal's role and in providing direction for the professional development and selection of principals. As more states require universities to restructure training programs to align with the ISLLC…

IDEA Part B funds have more than doubled between the 1999 and 2003 fiscal years, from $4.3 billion to $8.9 billion. This is an increase from 8% to 13% of total special education spending. Increases in federal funds can theoretically support "program growth" by providing fiscal relief to states and districts facing rising special…

The Australian Senate Employment, Workplace Relations and Education References Committee has been asked to examine the principles of Commonwealth Funding for schools, with particular emphasis on how these principles apply in meeting the current future needs of government and non-government schools and whether they ensure efficiency in the…

This paper is on the growing importance of strategic human resource management (SHRM) for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Many small firms encounter serious human resource problems, while at the same time these human resources play a vital role in developing and sustaining their competitive advantages. In (S)HRM literature specific…

The old adage, "what goes up must come down," can be used to describe education construction spending in 2005. After impressive gains in expenditures during the first half of the decade, total construction spending by schools and universities pulled back from historic highs. A combination of factors, including skyrocketing fuel and…

The U.S. Department of Education has notified 10 states that it intends to withhold a portion of their state administrative funds under the Title I program for failing to comply fully with the testing provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act by the end of the 2005-06 school year. Those funds would instead be diverted directly to school…

In recent years, conservatives have promoted health savings accounts (HSAs) as a way of addressing the growing cost of health insurance. HSAs were introduced under the Medical Modernization Act of 2003 as "an alternative to traditional health insurance." They are at the heart of an effort to replace the current system of insurance with…

In the standards-based education reforms of today, an important question is how much it will cost for all--or almost all--students to reach state-determined proficiency levels? School finance adequacy seeks to determine that cost. Four models have been developed to estimate the costs of adequacy. Two of them--the professional judgment and the…

As attention shifts to how districts allocate resources to schools, student weighted allocation has emerged as an alternative to traditional staff-based allocation policies. Student-weighted allocation uses student need, rather than staff placement, as the building block of school budgeting. This article examines how the shift to student-weighted…

The State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report is a tool to help policy makers and educators address broad public policy questions. SHEF seeks to inform policy deliberations with information and perspective on financial issues and national trends. The fiscal 2006 SHEF study builds on the work of Kent Halstead, who conceptualized and implemented…

Malawi and Ghana are among the numerous Sub-Saharan Africa countries that have in recent years introduced Free Primary Education (FPE) policy as a means to realizing the 2015 Education for All and Millennium Development Goals international targets. The introduction of FPE policy is, however, a huge challenge for any national government that has…

Colleges and universities are growing, and they need new facilities to accommodate this growth. Whether it's space for new academic classrooms, laboratories, dormitories, research centers, business incubators, or space for retail and services necessary for a campus to thrive, college and university business officers are involved in decision-making…