Education Finance Policy

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate

This course examines several key components of education finance from a policy perspective. Students will be guided in an examination of the financial and related resource allocation issues that are integral parts of public education policy in the United States. Students will gain exposure to different leaders in the field of education finance and learn to think about resource allocation from the perspective of the student experience, equity, and student success. Material will equip students with skills needed to be better consumers and users of education finance information at all levels in the system. Students will gain familiarity with budgets, spending related policies, and data sources for financial information and wrestle with challenges of productivity and tradeoffs. Learning will take place via class discussions, assignments and readings, an interactive class blog on timely policy dilemmas, and will culminate in the presentation on an education finance topic of choice or a hands-on analysis project with a state or local education agency.