Education Finance and Policy
90-817
Units: 12
Description
Overview. The purpose of this Heinz public policy course is to introduce professional master’s students to the special problems of financing regional governments in a decentralized federal system with a special focus on k-12 education. As a public policy course it characterizes from different vantage points the salient features of current k-12 education finance and related issues, identifies areas where there are various ideas of how to improve or promote change, and reviews the underlying methodologies with numerous examples of how to both justify and implement such changes in education finance and policy.
The course is unusual in that it emphasizes both the constitutional and legal aspects of school finance and policy and draws together through problem sets and in class examples of the use actual school finance data maintained by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Also relevancy of the course is maintained via the instructor’s ongoing research in education finance and periodic involvement with the Pennsylvania State Board of Education, the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the school districts of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh on matters of school finance, teacher recruitment and retention and student achievement. [See http://paeducationquality.net/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP8a2VYqPcQ]
The course reviews theories of federalism from economic and constitutional perspectives, reviews the evolution of the United States from a confederation to a federation, examines financial and political problems associated with jointure, reviews alternative rationales for public financing and provision of education (k-16), distressed school systems and municipal governments, distributional effects of k-16 public education, the use of cost-effectiveness and educational production functions, school budgeting issues, the school property tax, school segregation (by race) in the US, intergovernmental relations and the design of school aid formulas, the measurement and implications of student achievement, teacher preparation and selection, and school governance issues. These issues are examined from positive and normative perspectives, and through the lens of economics and political economy. Class discussion examples will be drawn not only from Pennsylvania, but from other states, and internationally.
[1] Thanks to Christine Alagara for pointing this out in class some years ago.
[2] See http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/rs9f/pf04.html.
Learning Outcomes
In this course professional masters students interested in public education will learn how the provision of madatory attendance k-12 education has evolved in the United States and around the world wit special attention to how such education functions in a decentralized federal system. Both key problems in the financing and delivery of k-12 education are reviewed, and considerable attention devoted to such matters as school desegregation, school financial manaagement, the role of the local real estate tax and assessment system in supporting local costs of education, determinants of school learning outcomes, the role of teachers unions and school governance in impacting student learning outcomes. Problem sets using Pennsylvania school and student level data are an important part of the course.
Prerequisites Description
While the course is largely self-contained, the interested student will benefit from successfully taken a basic course in statistics, financial accounting, or permission of instructor. Having taken Public Finance will be helpful, but is not required. Note: students wishing to confirm their financial accounting and financial statement skills should obtain for $29 SolidFooting, and take this short, interactive course over Christmas break. See https://solidfootingaccounting.com/