The problem of this study is to determine the soundness of the Gilmer-Aikin Law financially and administratively. No attempt will be made to apply the principles of the law to any particular area or school district, but the law will be considered as a whole as it will apply to the schools of Texas in general.

Thesis advisor: Zhushan Li / Educational public private partnerships (PPP), referring to the shared delivery of education services by the government and private providers, have been increasing in recent decades, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Yet to date, there has been limited research on their role in the education landscape, in part due to the difficulty of classifying PPP schools in large-scale datasets, which typically classify schools as either public or private. In addition, few studies have assessed PPPs and school quality assurance indicators typically associated with them.  The study had two purposes. First, to explore the possibility of classifying PPP schools in a large-scale dataset using a statistical method. And second, to use these classifications to examine the differences between PPP, public, and private schools on school quality assurance measures, including but not limited to achievement. These analyses were performed using data from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), with schools from six of the global emerging economy countries: Brazil, China, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and Turkey.  Schools were classified using a two-step clustering method using funding and management variables. This revealed three good-quality clusters with a silhouette measure of cohesion and separation of 0.6 (IBM, 2015b; Wendler & Gröttrup, 2016). These were classified as public, private, and PPP based on the characteristics of each school type. With these classifications, the study assessed the relationship between school type and achievement in mathematics, science and reading, and 24 school quality assurance measures from PISA. The analyses controlled for school resources and socio-economic and cultural status. The study found that overall, PPP schools performed better than public schools on three indicators, and better than private schools on five indicators; public schools performed better than PPP schools on one outcome and better than private schools on three outcomes, although with mostly small effect sizes. Private schools did not outperform other school types on any outcome. A country wise analysis showed that these results differed by country. The study highlights the possibility of using two-step clustering to identify PPP schools, the effects of shared funding and management on school performance, and the importance of context in examining countries’ education policies. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation.

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Purpose . The purposes of this study were to (a) examine and describe the purpose and characteristics of responsibility center management (RCM) systems at two institutions of higher education, (b) describe the RCM system used at each institution at the school level of the organization, (c) examine and analyze the implementation of RCM at each institution, (d) identify the advantages and disadvantages of RCM systems at each institution, (e) examine and describe the impact of the RCM system on various constituencies affected by implementation of the process at each institution, and (f) provide data which may assist institutions of higher education in determining whether or not to institute a RCM model to assist administrators in the budgeting process. Procedure . The researcher conducted 12 interviews. Respondents included one provost, one chief financial officer (CFO) and one dean from each institution, and six faculty (three from each institution) who had knowledge of, in varying degrees, and/or responsibility for the school-level implementation of RCM systems. These individuals provided information regarding their perceptions of their respective RCM systems and related activities associated with the implementation process at each institution. Twelve content analyses were developed; two provost content analyses, two CFO content analyses, two dean content analyses, and six faculty content analyses. Two case studies were developed from the content analyses: one case study between the faculty and the administration at each institution. In addition, the researcher developed a cross-case summary from the case studies. Conclusions . The administrators in this study felt that RCM systems were implemented at each institution whereas; the faculty reported that this was not the case. Other significant findings included: (a) all the respondents indicated that each person or office might assume different roles depending on the stage of the RCM process however, good budget planning and performance was facilitated by stable environments; (b) ten out of the twelve respondents reported they could be responsible for their programs and accountable for fiscal integrity if they acted upon accurate and timely information; (c) four out of the six faculty pointed out that RCM implementation was more difficult at smaller institutions primarily, in increasing efficiency and reallocation of resources; (d) two administrators and six faculty raised concerns that information usually flowed downward in the authority hierarchy; (e) two administrators and six faculty indicated that tension resulted from the academic centers wanting more decentralization than the administration; (f) four out of the six faculty reported RCM implementation had occurred on paper only, without sufficient faculty input, and with insufficient information regarding the system's implications; and (g) all the respondents further indicated that they reserved judgment on the implementation of RCM systems until decentralization and autonomy for the academic centers is embedded in the institutional culture.

This study is designed to identify traits that enable the novice professional to advance toward expertise in fundraising in higher education. The goal was to develop a conceptual framework that explains how the novice professional can advance toward expertise in fundraising in the higher education sector. This study found that CFREs employed in higher education tend to be Caucasian females between 41 and 60 years of age who move between jobs more commonly and tend to have less formal education than the older males now heading toward retirement. Male or female, younger or more mature, CFREs in this study tended to have fallen into their current careers by accident or without formal training for the profession. CFREs tend to rely upon annual conferences and informal networking for professional development rather than formal education. CFREs in this study identified several traits requisite for expertise in the field, even if they did not exhibit some of those traits themselves. Based upon these findings, a model for skill acquisition in higher education fundraising is proposed, and based upon that model a set of recommendations is offered for revisions to the current qualification and testing of CFREs and for the development of curriculum that will foster expertise. This curriculum is both replicable at multiple sites and expandable to other institutions and to online delivery, providing the industry with a means by which to prepare more fundraising professionals to meet the growing need in the sector.

This bounded collective case study is an exploration of five school districts that have come under California state receivership and have received comprehensive assessments from the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team. It is detailed from the point of receivership through the initial comprehensive assessment report. Each case is situated within the timeframe in which each district had their budgets negatively certified, their request for a state loan granted, their receivership by the state declared and the initial steps toward recovery identified. The five California school districts chosen for this study are a sample of the population of school districts that have requested loans from the state of California since 1984. Of this population of thirty-two, seven have come under state receivership. Of these seven, five school districts have had comprehensive assessments mandated by the state of California and conducted by the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team. These five school districts selected as the sample for this study are: Compton Unified School District, West Contra Costa Unified School District, West Fresno Elementary School District, Oakland Unified School District and Vallejo City Unified School District. This study utilized the results from three data sets: district profiles which included demographic and financial data; the comprehensive assessment of the five selected school districts conducted by the FCMAT in the financial management area; and practitioner interviews at the district, county and state levels. The findings provide a roadmap for school districts in determining its risk of insolvency. The common demographic, financial conditions and fiscal practices are identified and how these conditions and practices lead to fiscal insolvency is presented. These conditions and practices have been organized into a high risk model that provides a hierarchy of predictors divided into primary, secondary, and independent risk areas that describe how these conditions and practices can be utilized as indicators of impending fiscal crisis. The systemic impact on fiscal solvency in the areas of; governance, human resources, facilities, and most importantly student achievement needs to receive further research.

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A pre–post case study was conducted to examine how target revenue funding from Texas House Bill 1 (2006) has impacted the school districts within the Texas Education Service Center Region X area. Forced by the courts, the Texas Legislature was required to fix the Texas school finance system because of a de facto statewide property tax it had created by capping school district’s maintenance & operations tax rate at $1.50. Texas Governor Rick Perry used this opportunity to reduce school district M&O taxes by one-third. The Texas Legislature passed House Bill 1 (2006), the Public School Finance and Property Tax Relief Act, in response to the courts and to address a continuous decline in state funding support for public education. The Public School Finance and Property Tax Relief Act reduced local school districts’ property tax rates and revenue with the assurance that these funds would be exchanged for state aid. Local school property taxes were reduced over two years, 2006–2007 and 2007-2008, by 33%. In order for the State of Texas to meet the state aid funding guarantee from House Bill 1 (2006), each school district was frozen to its 2005–2006 revenue per weighted student, which was called a district’s revenue target. This study examined the impact target revenue has had on these school districts by analyzing and comparing revenues and expenditures prior to and following the law’s implementation. Specifically, changes in per-student revenue, per-student expenditures, and district fund balances were assessed.