The abrupt closing of college campuses this spring due to the spread of COVID-19 upended the lives of students and their families and disrupted the higher education sector. The impact of these closures and the questions of whether and how to reopen campuses this fall have been widely discussed. Less attention has been paid to the potential…

While charter schools have long promised choice for students--including students with disabilities--they face many challenges in achieving that promise, including some shared by traditional public schools and some unique to the charter model. One way charter schools can overcome these challenges is through the creation of special education…

An all too common complaint in the early childhood field is that low salaries for preschool teachers and lack of pay parity with K-12 teachers in the public schools creates serious problems. These include low morale and difficulty recruiting and retaining strong preschool teachers. State policies can contribute to or resolve these problems in…

A major new financial phenomenon has appeared within the social services arena, with corresponding legislation poised to change how social services are delivered and who delivers them. While different programs use different terms--including, for example, Pay for Success (PFS) or Results-Based Financing (RBF)--the umbrella term encompassing all…

The management of resources is a central duty for school and college leaders, but one for which they are often under-prepared. Good, contextual information and guidance are vital, especially as increased marketisation, international comparison and decentralised governance put additional pressure on leaders to manage their resources astutely. This…

In this policy brief Title II of ESSA is examined. Title II of ESSA includes provisions for developing high quality principals. This brief elaborates two strategies the federal government can employ under Title II to support principal quality: (1) competitive grants; and (2) monitoring return on investment.

School finance litigation is often conceptualized as occurring in three waves, with the most recent wave, the third wave, beginning in 1989. Third wave litigation argues for improvements in school funding by claiming that schools are inadequately funded, resulting in students being deprived of their constitutional right to a certain level of…

I provide a broad frame for understanding racial disproportionality in special education by showing how the inequity is a byproduct of the educational debt. I used a single case study design that relied upon qualitative semi-structured interviews, document analyses, and school board meeting transcripts gathered from a mid-sized urban school…

We examine the correlates of district spending and revenue losses following the onset of the Great Recession and the role of fiscal federalism in mitigating these losses. We estimate whether spending and revenue declines were driven primarily by local labor market conditions or the degree of state fiscal centralization. Utilizing population level…

When policy advocates debate how best to ensure equity in public education funding, the topic of teacher pension reform rarely comes up. But, in fact, pensions represent a very large and fast-growing source of education spending, much of it distributed in ways that are, in a number of states, anything but equitable. When states subsidize teacher…

California's transition to a new governor, superintendent of public instruction, legislators, and members of the state board of education is an opportunity to reflect on the implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). Namely, has the school finance system achieved its original goals of promoting local control, equity, and greater…

The subject of public charter schools and students with disabilities is both important and sensitive. These students have the potential to benefit greatly from the smaller size and specialized focus of many public charter schools, but questions persist regarding whether all or even most charters are as receptive to enrolling students with…

As student loans, the cost of college tuition, and even value of higher education remain at the forefront of public discussion, one thing remains true: Affordability is central to adult learners' academic success, and money is one of the primary reasons why adult learners stop out before they graduate. This report takes a deep dive into the…

This is the executive summary for the study "How They Pay: The Voices of Adult Learners on College Affordability, and How Institutions are Responding." The study is based on data from a national survey of 996 adult learners, in-depth interviews with 47 adults from 14 institutions, and interviews with financial aid personnel from six of…

The Indiana Choice Scholarship Program (ICSP), which began in fall 2011, is a state taxpayer-funded financial aid program that helps low and lower-middle income Hoosiers to send their children to the private K-12 school of their choice. This voucher program has been extremely popular among families, as the number of students receiving scholarships…