Public Funding Of Education Research Articles

Why is free education so popular? A political economy explanation

AbstractThis paper analyzes the political support for different funding regimes of education in a one‐person, one‐vote democracy. We focus the analysis on four systems that have had a preponderant presence in the political debate on education: a private system, a public system that delivers the same resources to each student (universal‐free education), a public system that intends to equalize results, and a public system that aims to maximize the output of the economy. We show that a system of universal free education is the Condorcet winner. The level of income inequality and the degree to which income distribution is skewed to the right are key factors behind this conclusion. We also show that the voting outcome of public versus private funding for education depends crucially on the type of public funding under consideration.

Introducing the New Editorial Team

Dr. Amy Ellen Schwartz is the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Professor of Public Affairs at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, where she is also Professor of Economics and Public and International Affairs and Senior Research Associate at the Center for Policy Research. She also serves as the Director of the Institute for Education and Social Policy at NYU. Professor Schwartz’s research interests span a broad range of issues in education and social policy, public finance, and urban economics. Current projects include research into the causes and consequences of student mobility; the impact of neighborhood crime on urban students; the link between neighborhoods, schools, and child obesity; the impact of housing vouchers on children’s educational outcomes; and the effect of summer employment on urban youth. Professor Schwartz’s work has been published in a range of journals including the American Economic Review, Journal of Public Economics, Education Finance and Policy, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, The Journal of Human Resources, and the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. She is the editor of City Taxes, City Spending: Essays in Honor of Dick Netzer and coeditor of Measuring School Performance and Efficiency.

Performance-based public funding of higher education: European experience and practice of Ukraine

Purpose. The purpose of the article is to investigate the effectiveness of higher education funding in Ukraine and the EU member states in the face of global challenges and national reforms, as well as to substantiate measures to implement the performance-based approach in the medium term. Methodology of research. The following methods are used to carry out the study: historical and logical – in the study of contemporary challenges for education in the global environment, statistical and generalization – in assessing the domestic practice of higher education financing, comparison – in the analysis of financial and demographic pressure on higher education institutions in Ukraine and EU, synthesis – to substantiate the effects of implementing the performance-based approach for the allocation of public funding to the higher education system and priorities for its reformation in Ukraine. Findings. In order to investing in skills and capacity-building, needed to achieve cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and quality, higher education requires sustainable and adequate public funding. The article substantiates that the current challenges for education systems in the global environment are political and regulatory changes, globalization trends, stakeholder expectations, digitization, nature and structure of the labour market. The feasibility of using a performance-based approach in Ukraine in comparison to other mechanisms of public funding allocation in higher education has been proved, the key performance indicators used in the EU member states have been uncovered also potential effects of implementation have been identified. Originality. The effectiveness of public funding in Ukraine in comparison with EU member states has been determined. This allowed substantiating a set of recommendations for domestic higher education institutions concerning their adaptation to the long-term financial and demographic pressures. The key principles of the public policy, oriented at achieving the effects of economy and efficiency in the sphere of allocation and use of public funds in the higher education system, have been substantiated. Practical value. The proposed recommendations put forward for implementation can be used in reforming the system of higher education funding in Ukraine and will help to improve the performance of educational institutions. Key words: system of higher education funding; public funding of higher education; higher education effectiveness; performance-based funding in higher education.

(Southern) Urban, American Education: Myths and Methods

The advent of urban education, in America, brought about the recognition of the cultural and environmental ‘cognitives’ as they relate to students in industrialized states. The imperatives surrounding the education of these students require that educators factor diverse cultural identities, languages (foreign and dialects), ‘challenged’ economic situations, and limited funding for public education into their curriculum planning. The new frontier of Southern, urban education is looming before pedagogy and administrators presently. America’s Southern regions are booming with population and economic growth. Currently, the primary and secondary schools of the Southern regions rank poorly against their Northern counterparts. These (newly) recognized urban students lack fundamental proficiency in math, English, and Science. Most are IT illiterate. The deficient practices of the schools that educate or mal-educate these pupils must be acknowledged and hopefully changed. This paper seeks to explore the role historical elements of urban education and the methodologies (successful and non-successful) that are part of this discipline. Southern, urban education and the different and/or similar practices (past and present) will be explored with a focus upon the new challenges within.

Political Economy of the Parcel Tax in California School Districts

This article examines the effect of home price distribution on the likelihood of parcel tax adoption in California school districts. A parcel tax is a regressive tax imposed as the same amount per unit of property regardless of property values and requires a two-thirds supermajority vote to be adopted. Despite the growing role that local parcel taxes have in funding public education, it has not been fully understood how their regressive nature influences adoption. I argue that because the regressive tax imposes different marginal property tax rates for voters, the distribution of home prices within a district determines the likelihood of parcel tax adoption. Using the Heckman selection models with California school district–level data, I find that a large gap in home values within a district significantly lowers the likelihood of parcel tax adoption.

Exploring Departmental-Level Fundraising: Relationship-Based Factors Affecting Giving Intention in Arts Higher Education

Fundraising for higher education institutions is becoming more important as there is increasingly limited government funding for public education. With shrinking funding, university programs and departments may be expected to raise more income on their own. This study hypothesizes that higher levels of stakeholders’ (students and alumni) knowledge, awareness, involvement, satisfaction, and relationship with the department and its fundraising efforts are positively associated with fundraising success measured in intention to give and likelihood to recommend others to give. By using mixed methods research design and relationship fundraising as a theoretical framework, the study found that satisfaction and relationship are the most significant variables positively affecting giving intention. The qualitative results can explain why these variables matter to stakeholders’ intentions to give. Using a case study approach of examining one university’s arts administration department fundraising practice and its relationship to stakeholders, this research initiates academic and practical discussion on effective fundraising for higher education units.

Putting it together: Solutions-based collaboration to unite teams in higher education

As public funding of higher education and research continues to decline, philanthropy plays a critical role in helping universities achieve their missions. Gifts fill funding gaps to provide financial aid that equalises access to college and enables scientists to undertake transformative research. When it comes from corporations and foundations, however, philanthropy is often fraught with administrative challenges between the departments tasked with overseeing this support, typically university advancement and sponsored programmes. Academic administrators in the Corporate and Foundation Relations offices at three State University of New York (SUNY) research centres set out to address the complex issues between university advancement and sponsored programmes, the pre-award arm of university research. Due to intricacies in each other’s goals, objectives, methods, processes and measures for success, the departments often have misaligned functions and services that can hamper the growth of philanthropic support from corporate and foundation sources. This paper analyses the areas of management/structure, policy/protocol and engagement/outreach and discuss current challenges, best practices and pathways for solutions.

Education Crowdfunding and Student Performance: An Empirical Study

Despite the growing popularity of online public funding for education (i.e., crowdfunding), controversy persists about whether teachers’ efforts to use this channel are justified and whether donations thus received can actually make a difference in students’ academic performance. We present the first empirical evidence of the positive influence of online education crowdfunding after teachers successfully raise funds. Using data from California public school teachers and their students, as well as the teachers’ fundraising activities on DonorsChoose.org , we find significant academic performance improvements among students after their teachers receive donations through this platform. Such improvements in students’ academic performance are stronger when more local donors participate in teachers’ fundraising campaigns. Notably, teachers who attempt to raise funds online but are unsuccessful are still able to improve their students’ performance. These findings not only document the positive impact of online education crowdfunding on students’ academic performance, but also demonstrate that such impacts are at least partially attributable to the nonfinancial motivational benefits on teachers from receiving such donations. Our study therefore contributes to the literature on crowdfunding, as well as the ongoing debates surrounding the financing of public education.

How state pension subsidies undermine equity

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 pensions directly, rather than expecting local school systems to fund those pensions themselves, affluent districts tend to benefit the most.

Public Health, HIV Care and Prevention, Human Rights and Democracy at a Crossroad in Brazil.

On January 2019, Brazil's new far-right president Jair Bolsonaro was sworn into office. Bolsonaro's administration supports downsizing the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS), while increasing the size of the private health sector. The new administration might leave millions of Brazilians without medical care, including hundreds of thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS. Bolsonaro's administration, allied with a highly conservative Congress and sharp decreases in federal funding for public health, education and research, could jeopardize key health and human rights strategies focused on women, LGBTQ + individuals, Indigenous populations, and people living with HIV/AIDS.

Do Parental Work Hours and Nonstandard Schedules Explain Income-Based Gaps in Center-Based Early Care and Education Participation?

AbstractDespite increases in public funding for early care and education (ECE) programs in recent decades, low-income children ages 0–5 years are less likely to be enrolled in center-based ECE prog...

Returns to education in India: Capturing the heterogeneity

AbstractThe aim of this article is to estimate the marginal rates of return to various levels of education in India, across the entire wage distribution. For this purpose, unit level data from the 68th round of the National Sample Survey Organisation (India) for the year 2011–2012 have been used, and the technique of quantile regression has been applied. Average estimates were ignored, and the heterogeneity in rates of return was captured across the following disaggregations: (a) all India, public and private sectors, (b) gender, and caste groups (scheduled tribes [STs], scheduled castes [SCs], other backward classes, and others). The findings showcase that the rates of return increased with consecutive higher levels of education. However, this impact varies across the disaggregations examined. The returns are the least for STs and SCs as compared with others (the unreserved category), with the differences in the rates of return being maximum in the private sector. Additionally, women experience a higher rate of return than men. These findings have important policy implications with respect to strengthening the public funding of higher education and encouraging participation from the marginalised segments (STs, SCs), which is otherwise dismal.

UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN THE FRENCH REPUBLIC: STRUCTURE AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The article deals with the complex and multistage system of higher education of the French Republic. The structural features of higher education in France, its complex and multi-stage system has been considered. Attention is drawn to the role of the state in the field of higher education in France. The importance of the development of education for the national development of the country and civilization as a whole has been stressed. A strong centralized presence and role of the state in the field of education in France has been noted, in particular in the organization of the educational process and in financing the education sector, as well as in determining the fundamental principles of the educational process, the details of the curriculum at all levels of education, the organization of the procedure for receiving teachers, determining the content, recruitment teachers who become public officers, ensuring their continuing education; recruiting and training inspectors responsible for quality control of the education system; funding public education and subsidizing “private schools under contract”. The article focuses on the constant attention of the state to the problems of education. It highlights the openness of the French system of higher education and its accessibility for most of the population. The features of France’s higher education management system and the specifics of its legislative framework have been disclosed. Four Legislative Acts of the Ministry of Education are characterized, played an important role in its functioning. A more democratic and collegial management of universities for today has been noted. The relevance of the study of the structure and legislative framework of university education in France has been grounded. The types of higher education institutions in France and their features in the context of development trends have been investigated. The current stage of development of the system of French university education and the features of structural transformations have been considered. The features of the functioning of universities, “grand schools” and private higher education institutions have been disclosed. The article draws attention to the achievement of the French system of higher education and its uniqueness. The role and place of large schools in the system of higher education in France have been highlighted. Leading elite schools and universities have been mentioned, as well as the conditions for entering them. Attention was paid to the almost equal quality of education in the capital and in the province.

Финансирование образования: тренд на персонализацию

This article analyzes the ratio of funding higher education in Russia and foreign countries. It is shown, that at a similar cost structure in Russia compared to other countries, and their monetary value is three times behind the level of the OECD countries. On the basis of generalization of foreign experience of reforms in the management of the financing of higher education research identified the major trends in the financing of Russian higher education: university leaders support concentration, reliance on public higher education financing as the main source, poor use of publicprivate partnership arrangements and income from funds of the trust capital. The focus of the article is on the transition to investment financing models of education transfer management of resources based on principles of personalization, including such tools as performance based contracts, competitive funds and vouchers, based on merit, human capital contracts, as well as individual educational accounts (lifelong learning accounts) as personal investment resource. It is these mechanisms that begin to play a key role in the resource development of education.

Influence of Income Disparity on Child and Adolescent Education in China: A Literature Review.

This paper reviews how income inequality at the micro and regional levels influenced the inequality in educational outcomes for children and adolescents in China over the past decades. First, we find that the economic condition of the family influences children's and adolescents' education through home educational resources and parental involvement. Second, income disparity is significantly correlated with the regional differences in educational outcomes. Finally, the differences in the development of child and adolescent education between different regions are mainly due to the uneven distribution of educational resources, which is closely related to the public education financing system and local economic development.

Financiamiento de las escuelas elementales oficiales de Tlaxcala: una interpretación de la legislación educativa, 1857-1898

En el financiamiento de las escuelas elementales de Tlaxcala de 1857 a 1898 es posible mirar la paulatina centralización de la educación en manos del estado. En este artí­culo reconstruyo la polí­tica fiscal de las escuelas, a través del análisis de la legislación, en el que pongo especial atención al origen de los fondos de instrucción pública, los actores institucionales que los administraron y cómo se invirtieron. Las sucesivas reformas introducidas en la legislación sugieren que, en un principio, hubo una gestión local de los pueblos y ayuntamientos sobre los recursos económicos. Sin embargo, en 1882, con la llegada de los gobernadores porfiristas, el control local fue desplazado y los fondos de instrucción pública fueron recolectados y distribuidos por los representantes del gobierno estatal: el tesorero, el prefecto polí­tico y el gobernador.

The Financing of Educational Institutes in the European States: A Comparative Study

This paper deals with some aspects of the funding of educational institutions in European countries. It starts with some preliminary remarks on the legal framework of the right to education and its funding in Europe after the economic crisis. Then it briefly examines some recent trends in education spending emerging from recent Eurydice Reports. Finally, it focuses on a comparative analysis of public funding of private education in European countries. The analysis shows a general and growing trend – with some notable exceptions (e.g. Italy) – in supporting private grant-aided schools (i.e. Church schools) as a fundamental part and resource of the educational system, as long as they possess high quality standards, comply with the national curricula and respect European values.

Sources of income formation in establishments of higher education

The article is devoted to the research of the main tendencies and structure of public higher education financing. The purpose of the research. The purpose of the article is the analysis of higher education institutions financial support, to study the estimated financing, the composition of incomes of general and special funds, to justify the need to diversify sources of funding for educational institutions in order to increase their competitiveness. Methodology. Methodological basis of the research were general scientific, special and statistical economic research methods. Also monographic method was used, the method of logical generalization and system analysis. Results. It reveals the composition of the revenues of the general and special funds of the budget for the provision of training in accordance with the Budget Code of Ukraine. The statistical survey of the revenues of general and special funds of the state budget is carried out on the example of the leading classical, technical, agricultural and pedagogical institutions of higher education. The structure of the actual revenues of the special fund of the leading state assets of Ukraine is analyzed. It is revealed, that higher education system development depends exclusively on sufficient financial support, which allows to update the scientific and methodological base of the university. It is clarified, that the current state of the higher education system of Ukraine is characterized by a gradual decrease in the amount of state financing, reduction of own revenues of higher education institutions from the provision of educational services. Practical meaning. This analysis of generation sources income of higher education institutions can be used to assess the effectiveness of using financial resources by educational institutions and reforming the higher education system. Base on the research, it was determined the importance of reforming the financial provision of the higher education in Ukraine at the expense of budget funds. Prospects for further research. Further scientific research will be devoted to the issue of foreign experience in financing higher education in the market of educational services.

The mechanism of higher education funding in Ukraine: nationwide and local perspective

Despite positive transformations in higher education in Ukraine since 2014 when a new Law was introduced, the system of public funding still remains a highly centralized and strongly budgetary dependent based on the state planning methods, which in the situation of lack of resources becomes more imbalanced and inefficient.The current system of allocation of the “state order for training the specialists with higher education” does not ensure an equal and fair competition among top 10 universities and the rest, especially regional, and the system cannot guarantee state-funded places to all applicants with high results of the External Independent Testing exams. At the same time, only a small share of graduates work on the specialty they acquired. The situation on the labor market does not encourage graduates to be employed in public institutions, which is harmful for the public sector of economy, especially in the regions. It proves that the system of distribution and allocation of government funding between higher education institutions in Ukraine needs urgent reforming.The objective is to analyze the current system of higher education funding in Ukraine in its national dimension and local perspective, and to develop proposals for its improvement, considering the selected good practices and using the following methods: literature analysis, method of retrospective analysis to research budgetary expenditures, determining the Net Present Value for calculating the government cost. Finally, a feasible proposal to reform the mechanism of public higher education funding was developed.

Public funding of higher education: Who gains, who loses?

AbstractThis paper analyses the effects of public funding of higher education on individuals’ welfare, taking into account the hierarchical nature of the education system and the fact that parents may complement basic public education with private tutoring. Although public funding financed by a proportional income tax increases access to higher education, some of the agents who gain access lose in welfare terms. Moreover, it is shown that the marginal agent regarding access to higher education would always prefer a pure private funding system in which he would not send his offspring to higher education but would also not pay tuition fees or pay taxes.