School Finance Research Articles

‘It’s a struggle’ – the role of the school Health and Well-being Lead in supporting families in poverty

This article explores one primary school’s response to addressing poverty experienced by children and families, within a post-Covid context. It draws on a small-scale qualitative case study exploring the role of the Health and Well-being Lead (HWBL) in a primary school in a relatively affluent market town in the south-east of England. A psychoanalytical approach was taken to understand the data drawing on the researchers different situated experiences and knowledges. Participants included children, parents and staff at the school. All parent participants shared their financial challenges, which they referred to as ‘struggles’, with many relating to the impact of the cost of living and adverse unexpected events. Staff raised concerns about how cuts to support services and funding for schools had contributed to and exacerbated challenges due to long waiting lists and a lack of early intervention. The role of the HWBL was recognised by both parents and staff as an important resource within the school. Integral to this role was a non-judgemental and empathic approach, which created an open and trusting relationship with parents. Despite the apparent success of the role, it was evident that the workload and the increase in ‘struggles’ experienced by families was having an impact on both the HWBL and other staff. While we acknowledge that such a role could benefit other schools, we argue that this will only be successful and sustainable if the government also addresses the need for early intervention, funding and the workload crisis in children’s services and schools.

KOMPETENSI KEWIRAUSAHAAN KEPALA SEKOLAH DALAM MENINGKATKAN MUTU STANDAR PEMBIAYAAN

The principal has a very important role, one of which has competencies that can support his duties, namely personality, managerial, entrepreneurship, supervision, and social. The purpose of this research is to find out the principal's entrepreneurial competence in improving the quality of financing standards at SMPIT Al Mar'atush Shalihah Islamic Boarding School Bekasi City. The method used in this research is qualitative method. The data collection techniques used are interviews, observations and literature studies. This study shows that the entrepreneurial competence of the head of SMPIT Al Mar'atush Sholihah, can be implemented by setting a direct example by involving himself in entrepreneurial activities with all school members with full responsibility. The quality of financing standards has increased very satisfactorily so that schools can meet all school financing, provide assistance to orphans and dhuafa children who attend SMPIT Al Mar'atush Shalihah and add entrepreneurial equipment and equipment. This states that the principal has entrepreneurial competencies that must be possessed by a school principal in entrepreneurial activities, so that the quality of school financing can be fulfilled properly.

The State School Mental Health Profile: Findings from 25 States.

State-level leadership and conditions are instrumental to local and regional comprehensive school mental health system (CSMHS) quality, sustainability, and growth. However, systematic documentation of state-level school mental health (SMH) policy, infrastructure, funding, and practice is limited. Using a multi-phase, multi-method process, we developed the State School Mental Health Profile (State Profile) to offer a comprehensive landscape of state SMH efforts. State leaders in 25 states completed the State Profile once over a 3-year data collection period. Mixed methods results are reported in 8 domains. State education agencies were reportedly most involved in SMH technical assistance, advocacy, leadership, funding, and service provision, with mental health agencies reported as second most involved. Nearly half of state respondents reported having a state-level SMH director or coordinator. Policies with the greatest perceived impact require implementation of and funding for SMH services and supports. Despite leveraging multiple sources of funding, most states emphasized lack of funding as a primary barrier to establishing CSMHSs. All states reported staffing shortages. The State Profile can assist multi-agency state leadership teams to self-assess policy, infrastructure, and resources to support CSMHSs statewide. Findings point to areas of opportunity to advance equity across resource allocation, service provision, and policy development.

Pelatihan Pengelolaan Organisasi Pesantren bagi Pengurus Pondok Pesantren Al Urwatul Wutsqo Jombang

This service is designed with the aim of providing training in managing Islamic boarding school organizations to the administrators of the Al Urwatul Wutsqo Jombang Islamic Boarding School. As an Islamic educational institution, Islamic boarding schools play a crucial role in shaping the character of students and providing holistic education. To ensure sustainability and sustainable development, effective and efficient management is needed. Through this training, it is hoped that administrators at the Al Urwatul Wutsqo Jombang Islamic Boarding School can develop their managerial skills, understand and implement best practices in managing Islamic boarding schools. Mastery of modern management concepts, strategic planning, human resource management and Islamic boarding school finances is the focus in improving organizational governance. In this way, it is hoped that Islamic boarding schools can provide the best service to students, achieve better educational and da'wah goals, and strengthen their organizational foundations to support long-term development. Overall, it is hoped that this training will make a positive contribution in advancing Islamic boarding schools as quality and competitive Islamic educational institutions.

Contexts of Convenience: Generalizing from Published Evaluations of School Finance Policies.

Recent attention to the causal identification of spending impacts provides improved estimates of spending outcomes in a variety of circumstances, but the estimates are substantially different across studies. Half of the variation in estimated funding impact on test scores and over three-quarters of the variation of impacts on school attainment reflect differences in the true parameters across study contexts. Unfortunately, inability to describe the circumstances underlying effective school spending impedes any attempts to generalize from the extant results to new policy situations. The evidence indicates that how funds are used is crucial to the outcomes, but such factors as targeting of funds or court interventions fail to explain the existing pattern of results.

IMPLEMENTASI APLIKASI “SIAS / SISTEM INFORMASI AKUNTANSI SEKOLAH” DALAM PENYUSUNAN LAPORAN KEUANGAN SEKOLAH MUHAMMADIYAH DI KABUPATEN BOJONEGORO

Community service activities aim to provide understanding and skills for the Muhammadiyah School Treasurer in Bojonegoro Regency regarding the preparation of financial reports using the "SIAS / School Accounting Information System" application. Community Service begins by giving a pre-test to participants so that the presenter can find out to what extent the material or materials to be taught have been mastered by participants regarding asset management. The next stage is counseling about the use of the application. The final stage is the final evaluation / post-test which is used to determine participants' understanding of the material that has been provided. The methods used in service activities are lectures, training and assistance in using the SIAS application. The result of this service is to provide literacy to Muhammadiyah School Treasurers so they are able to understand and apply the use of the SIAS application so that in the future they can organize and manage finances properly and correctly. This activity provides positive value in terms of effectiveness and efficiency in managing school finances.

Analisis Pengelolaan Keuangan Sekolah Di Yayasan Madrasah Aliyah Darul Qalam

This research was conducted with the aim of understanding how to use the principles of openness and responsibility in the field of school finances at Madrasah Aliyah Darul Qalam. How to research using one type of research, namely the type of field research (field research) using a qualitative descriptive approach. This study found that the application of the principles of openness and responsibility at the Darul Qalam Madrasah Aliyah Foundation has gone quite well, that is, there is interference from all the school environment, starting from the committee, treasurer, teachers and others. The fact is that all implementation of financial reports is open and in accordance with applicable regulations. Keywords: Transparency, Accountability, Management School Finance

Is White Evangelical Antistructural Theology Related to Poor Health Outcomes?

Structural factors are important determinants of health. Because antistructuralism has been identified as a tenet of White evangelical theology, we explored if there is an association of the percentage of White evangelicals in a US county with two county health outcomes: premature mortality and percentage of fair/poor health. Regression analysis was performed with data from 2022 County Health Rankings and the American Value Atlas from the Public Religion Research Institute. Every percent of evangelicals in a county is associated with 4.01 more premature deaths per 100,000 population and 0.13% fair/poor health. After controlling for income, education, political ideology, and county school funding adequacy (a proxy for antistructuralism), the associations remain positive and significant. We hope these findings could inform dialogue and critical analysis among individuals of evangelical faith, particularly fundamental and Pentecostal subsets, regarding a belief system that is inclusive of individual dimensions and health-promoting structural policies like school funding, Medicaid expansion, and antipoverty programs. These findings also demonstrate the importance of considering cultural factors like religion and political ideology in population health outcomes research.

WORST CHOICE FOR SCHOOL CHOICE: TUITION TAX CREDITS ARE A BAD IDEA AND DIRECT FUNDING IS WISER

School choice is on the rise, and states use various mechanisms to implement it. One prevalent mechanism is also a uniquely problematic one: the tax credit. Tax credits are deficient at equitably distributing a benefit like school choice; they are costly, and they invite fraud. Instead of using tax credits, states opting for school choice programs should use direct funding. Direct funding will more efficiently achieve the goals of school choice because it can be regulated like any other government benefit, even if it ends up subsidizing religious private schools. Tax credits’ prevalence is not inexplicable, of course. It is based on a prior legal understanding that states were constitutionally restricted from directly funding religious schools. Historically, states that wanted to include religious private schools in their school choice programs therefore felt pushed to use tax credits as their only constitutionally viable option. However, the landscape has changed. The Supreme Court held in 2022 that direct funding of religious private schools is not only constitutionally permissible, but it is required if a state funds non-religious private schools and provides no neutral basis for excluding religious ones. The initial reason for tax credits’ popularity therefore no longer exists; both tax credits and direct funding alike are constitutionally acceptable. It is time, therefore, to revisit the merits of tax credits and ask whether, knowing what we know now, it is worth disposing of them in favor of direct funding. This Article answers that question with a resounding yes. Tax credits carry significant disadvantages—specifically, inequitable distribution and difficulties in regulation—that direct funding does not. Now that the law is clear, states choosing to sponsor school choice should discontinue their use of tax credits in favor of direct funding.

Factors associated with Mediterranean diet adherence in a sample of high socio-economic status children from southern Spain.

The present study examined the association of BMI, fat mass, physical activity engagement (PA), maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max), screen time and academic performance (AP) with Mediterranean diet (MD) adherence in a sample of high socio-economic status (SES) children. A non-randomised design was used. A multilinear regression model was developed using backward elimination. Analysis included variables pertaining to age, BMI, VO2max, fat percentage, AP, PA engagement and screen time. All participants had a high SES and so this variable was not included as a predictor. Data met the assumptions required for multiple regressions in terms of linearity, homoscedasticity, normality, independence and non-multicollinearity. Two state and three mixed funding schools in Granada, Spain. Data were collected from 244 children aged between 10 and 12 years. Better AP, higher PA engagement and lower screen time were found to be predictive of MD adherence. These variables explained 22·9 % of the variance in data measuring adolescent MD adherence. The present study suggests that, in addition to SES, PA, AP and screen time are important components to consider when targeting improvements in MD adherence in children. It is, therefore, concluded that interventions targeting improvements in PA, AP and screen time are needed to promote MD adherence in children, regardless of SES.

Masalah Pembiayaan Pendidikan di Indonesia: Kenaikan Biaya Pendidikan

The cost of education is becoming increasingly expensive. According to an article quoted by detikedu citing BPS statistics, the cost of education rises by 10% to 15% each year. It should be realized that unequal education as a result of the high cost of education will affect all elements of social life. Education is not only expensive in public and private schools or educational institutions. This research uses a literature research approach. The literature search used keywords such as "education financing problems in Indonesia", "rising education costs", "high education costs", and other keyword combinations relevant to the topic. Education financing consists of investment costs, operating costs and personal costs. One of the most important aspects of achieving optimal educational goals is managing expenditure appropriately in accordance with the necessary financing needs. It is a sad reality that, due to lack of resources, disadvantaged children will continue to drop out of primary, junior secondary and senior secondary school, and will never have the opportunity to go to university. Some factors that contribute to the rising cost of education include: 1) Ineffective and inefficient school financing budgets, 2) Lack of democratization and transparency in school management, 3) Weak supervision and control of school fees by the government, 4) Lack of teacher welfare.

Utilization of Fiscal Resources in Fee-Free Education Policy: The Case of Selected Community Secondary Schools’ Heads in Tarime Urban District

This study investigated the capacity of heads of schools in utilizing the fiscal resources for implementing fee free education policy (FFEP) in community secondary schools. The study employed descriptive research design with a quantitative approach where stratified sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 190 respondents. Questionnaires were used to collect data and SPSS served as an analysis tool in interpreting the collected data. The findings revealed that heads of schools supervise and monitor the expenditure of school funds as per government directives and financial regulations although they do not provide accurate financial information of their schools. On the other hand, the study found that heads of schools do not properly keep records of staff in planning and allocation of fiscal resources related to implementing FFEP. The study concluded that although heads of schools do not delegate the mechanism of financial matters to capable staff, the prioritization of financial allocation according to the needs, helped successful implementation of the FFEP. The study recommends that heads of schools should keep records of staff properly in planning and allocation of fiscal resources for implementing FFEP. This goes together with the heads of schools giving accurate financial information of their schools and involving important stakeholders in decision making and matters concerning school budget.

Pengelolaan Pembiayaan Pendidikan pada Jenjang Pendidikan Dasar (Studi Deskriptif Penggunaan Dana BOS Sekolah)

Bantuan Oprasional Sekolah (BOS) are one of the school's financial sources for carrying out educational activities at school. Schools are obliged to plan the allocation of funds carefully and calculatingly, as well as monitor the use of funds for operational and capital costs, as well as provide administrative and physical (material) evidence of how funds are used. However, unfortunately there are still many schools that are still indifferent to managing school finances, especially BOS funds. For this reason, this research aims to determine the management of education financing, in this case BOS funds, as a guide for other institutions in managing BOS funding in accordance with established regulations. The method used in this research uses a qualitative descriptive method with data collection using observation, interview and documentation techniques. The results of this research are: a) planning a budget by identifying goals, determining priorities, describing goals into measurable operational performance, analyzing alternatives for achieving goals with cost-effectiveness analysis, making recommendations for alternative approaches to achieving targets. b) budget realization by making real expenditures according to needs and physical evidence. c) carry out budget supervision and control, supervision carried out by certain parties within the school whose official function is to carry out supervision such as the principal and treasurer of the BOS, as well as the education office and the BPK as external supervisors of BOS finances in the school.

Implementation of Mayor Regulations of Probolinggo Number 20 of 2021 concerning the School Budget Activity Plan Application Program (ARKAS) at the Education and Culture Service

This article aims to explain how to implement the school budget activity plan application (ARKAS) in Probolinggo City. This ARKAS application has been implemented in the Probolinggo City Education and Culture office and is used to improve service quality. To increase educational resources needed for school development and RKAS can also function for the government as a monitoring and evaluation tool for school development. This research aims to determine the implementation of accountability reports regarding school financing every year in Probolinggo City. This research uses descriptive qualitative methods with data collection techniques through in-depth interviews. Researchers conducted interviews with 5 employees who understood ARKAS and several parents at elementary schools in Probolinggo City. The implementation of the ARKAS application information system at the Department of Education and Culture in Probolinggo City includes: 1) resources as constituents in the form of funds and equipment as well as all parties involved in the regional government to monitor the budget system and simplify the service system; 2) bureaucratic structure as a determinant of budget programs in planning activities involving all parties in the school in order to successfully prepare and create an environmentally friendly environment; 3) the character of policy implementation as a determinant of budget guidelines in the education budget as a planning tool, namely planning supervision of educational institutions to obtain fast service; 4) environmental characteristics as a determinant of budget guidelines and includes openness of information providing services with an easy and reliable system.

Citizen Preferences and Awareness of Tax Revenue Options: Public Opinion on South Carolina’s “Tax Swap”

Tax complexity makes it challenging for citizens to understand how taxes imposed by state and local governments affect their tax bill. This paper considers citizen awareness and preferences for tax revenue options in the presence of tax features that increase complexity. The researchers mailed a survey questionnaire to a random sample of South Carolina voters measuring their level of knowledge and preferences for school tax funding during the last half of 2021. A sizable majority of respondents report the property tax as their least preferred option to fund school operations when compared to sales tax or commercial property tax, with variation in support by ideology, homeownership, and partisanship. However, respondents are broadly uninformed of current school tax funding mechanisms regardless of college degree attainment, ideology, and other important indicators. Most respondents are not aware of the “tax swap” that replaced residential property tax with a one-cent sales tax to fund South Carolina school operations.

Education Funding and Sustainable Development Goals in Public Senior Secondary Schools in Akwaibom State of Nigeria

This study examined the relationship between education funding and sustainable development goals in public senior secondary schools in AkwaIbom State. Two research questions and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The study adopted the correlational design, using 142 school principals determined through multi-stage procedure and simple random sampling technique as sample from the population of 251 principals of the 251 public senior secondary schools. The instruments for data collection were Education Funding Scale (EFS) and Sustainable Development Goals Scale (SDGS) which were validated by educational experts with reliability coefficients of 0.91 and 0.89 respectively, determined through Cronbach’s Alpha Statistics. Research questions were answered with Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation (r) while hypotheses were tested with corresponding test of significance of correlational coefficient (r) with special zr-test at 0.05 level of significance and at 140 degree of freedom for two-tail test. The findings of the study revealed a positive and high relationship between government sector education funding and sustainable development goals, and private sector education funding and sustainable development goals. There is a high and positive relationship between education funding and sustainable development goals in public senior secondary schools in AkwaIbom State. Thus, funding enhances sustainable development goals. Based on the findings, the study recommended that, the government of AkwaIbom State should increase its budgetary provision for the education sector in order to match its words with actions and sustain the current high relationship between the variables of study. The private sector should always partner with the government in the funding of public secondary schools for an increased and sustained development in the sector and to maintain the current high tempo between the variables of study.

Новые возможности участия граждан в инициативном финансировании бюджетов общеобразовательных школ

The subject of the study is the state of financing of Russian schools. The purpose of the work is to identify opportunities for individuals and legal entities to participate in the financing of secondary schools. To ensure the competitiveness of Russian higher education, it is necessary to create a solid foundation for secondary education so that school graduates have the highest basic education, so that families do not have to bear the huge costs of additional private education in grades 10 and 11 (tutors and additional courses in preparation for the Unified State Exam) to successfully pass the final exams. To improve the quality of secondary education, it is necessary to massively and point wise finance targeted school projects. The article considers the problem of finding sources of financing for initiative budgets of secondary schools. The main drawback of the existing experience in financing initiative budgets in the Russian Federation has been identified, in which the final selection of projects for implementation and the final decision on the amount of allocated funding does not take place at the school board level (as it should be in accordance with the fundamental principles of initiative (participatory) budgeting, but at a higher level – as a rule, by a commission of officials the subject of the Russian Federation in which the school is located. The experience of Germany in terms of the organization of targeted transfer to secondary schools of financial resources received in the form of taxes from specific individuals and legal entities based on the taxpayer's choice is considered. It is proposed to provide school initiative budgets with their own sources of financing, independent of the decisions of executive authorities, based on two ways for parents of secondary school students to transfer part of the amount of parental income tax to the income part of the initiative budgets of schools where their children study, thanks, firstly, to modification of the existing tax deduction for education, bringing its size up to seven times the amount of parents' expenses for transferring money to the initiative budget of the school; Secondly, the permission for parents whose income is more than 5 million rubles per year to direct, at their choice, part of their income tax (levied at an increased rate of 15%) in a targeted manner to the initiative budget of the school where their children study. The economic effect of both methods is calculated using the example of one school.

Assessment of Political Influence on Management of Public Secondary Schools in Benue State, Nigeria

This study assessed political influence on management of public secondary schools in Benue State. To achieve the purpose of the study, two research questions guided the study and two hypotheses were tested. Survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study is 4228 comprising 304 principals and 3924 teachers from 304 public secondary schools in Benue State. The sample size of 423 out of 4228 principals and teachers in public secondary schools in Benue State representing 10% of the total population. A self-developed structured 24-item questionnaire titled “Political Influence and Management of Public Secondary Schools Questionnaire” (PIMPSSQ) with a reliability coefficient of 0.90. Mean (x) and Standard Deviation were used to answer the four research questions. Meanwhile, the chi-square (c2) test of goodness was used in testing the research hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that politics has high influence on funding of public secondary schools in Benue State. The finding also revealed politics high influence on provision of infrastructural facilities of public secondary schools. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that funds meant for the smooth running of public secondary schools should be made available and should be well monitored to prevent it from being diverted or embezzled. This can be achieved by putting machinery in place to monitor judicious use/utilization and distribution of funds devoid of politics in order that advantages to end users are expanded. Also, relevant and adequate facilities such as school buildings, classrooms, libraries, laboratories, workshops, teaching and learning materials should be provided and equitably distributed to the various schools at the right time for the achievement of high productivity in educational outcome in schools irrespective of their political connections and recognitions.

КРИТЕРИИ ОЦЕНКИ ЦЕЛЕСООБРАЗНОСТИ ИНВЕСТИЦИОННЫХ ПРОЕКТОВ С ТОЧКИ ЗРЕНИЯ ТЕХНОЛОГИЧЕСКОЙ НЕЗАВИСИМОСТИ

The article provides an expert assessment of the feasibility of developing investment projects in the context of individual areas of the strategy for ensuring technological independence. The expert assessment of various criteria for the feasibility of implementing investment projects in individual investment areas is substantiated. Methods for ensuring technological independence are analyzed. It is proposed to expand budget funding for free school and higher education.

Improvement Strategy in Virtual Education. An experience from Cuba

The complex context through which the pandemic is passing is unknown to no one, the radical changes in the way of life of the human being in general have been dramatic and difficult to face. The educational process in Cuba has not been a factor unrelated to these conditions, and the need to make use of new technologies to transfer said process and impart it in a purely virtual way has been a common challenge. The empirical work aims to develop a training strategy in the didactics of virtual learning environments, an idea agreed between the members of the board of directors of the School of Accounting and Finance. Thus, begins a teaching movement that under the imprint of profound changes in the teaching process, on the one hand, involves the debate of ideas and methods, and, on the other.