The nature of the budgetary process is strongly influenced by the structural character of university decision-making, which is primarily political despite the use of quasi-bureaucratic devices such as formula budgeting. (Author)

Five preparatory steps for the evaluation of community-based programs, described as "front-end" challenges, are discussed: (1) understanding the reasons for the evaluation; (2) securing resources; (3) establishing credibility and enthusiasm; (4) developing consensus about goals and objectives; and (5) observing and fine tuning the…

The Oregon University System developed a resource allocation model to equitably distribute state funding based on university mission and enrollments by level of instruction. A primary feature is that dollars (general fund and tuition and fees) follow the student to his or her enrolling university and are not redistributed to other programs and…

Reviews the multifaceted challenges facing public universities and offers insights into the potential educational consequences of overzealous revenue-based institutional management. It is vital not to lose sight of the essential elements of higher education in a concentration on finance. (SLD)

Estimates frontier production functions for South Carolina's educational process, using data from 541 classes. Classes taught by teachers who received merit awards show greater mathematics and reading achievement gain scores, as do classes with fewer free-lunch students. There was a positive relationship between achievement and (larger) class…

Examines the implementation of Short-Lived Unanticipated Grants (SLUG) in Connecticut to determine to what extent the political process distorted the reform. Describes the SLUG proposal and its estimation in the median-voter model. Describes evidence of special-interest behavior of the school bureaucracy. Questions use of median-voter model to…

The discussion of the use of systematic job evaluation to determine the value of each campus job and allocation of resources looks at employee perceptions and credibility; alternative methods; selecting and weighting compensable factors; validity and reliability; the computer's role; and job evaluation as a management tool. (MSE)

Specific campus projects that Congress has directed federal agencies to support this year at over 120 colleges and universities are listed. The agencies neither requested support nor sponsored merit-based competitions for the awards. In some cases, the institutions have a history of receiving special federal treatment. (MSE)

Using data from a random sample of chief liberal arts academic officers in American colleges and universities, this study examines formal methods for evaluating these officers' resource allocation policies and factors influencing evaluations. Findings suggest that "resources for excellence" are unevenly distributed among departments and that…

The article considers eight values and factors that enter into decisions regarding resource allocation for persons with brain injury including the quality of life, moral culpability of the brain-injured person, the social contribution of the person, allocation of family and societal responsibilities, justice, the nature of health care, and…

Activities during the initial 18-month cycle of the Demand and Resource Evaluation (DARE) Program of the Puget Sound Power and Light Company (Washington State) are described. The role of evaluation in public utility planning is discussed. Cooperation, communication, and consensus among utility planning staff are concluded to be vital. (SLD)

Leisure is best when contributing to the excitement of independent learning and the advancement of individual growth and development. To help youngsters use free time effectively, public recreation providers should join with public education to provide out-of-school access to high technology. Such experiences should not be limited to the affluent.…

Explores several distributive justice issues as they are represented in managers' thinking processes, focusing on the contrast between equity- and parity-based distribution logics. The managers studied were flexible in their use of both logics; their concerns about fairness were closely connected to other considerations. (MLH)

It is argued that colleges and universities can use direct allocation costing to provide quantitative information needed for decision making. This method of analysis requires institutions to modify traditional ideas of costing, looking to the private sector for examples of accurate costing techniques. (MSE)

Analyzes the efficiency of earmarking lottery revenues. Findings suggest that this practice does not benefit the statutory recipients. Earmarking has been concurrent with declining educational expenditures in real terms in all five education lottery states. Education expenditure trends of the six nonlottery states are indistinguishable from those…