Abstract The US higher education system comprises diverse institutions, making peer benchmarking essential for accountability and resource allocation. This study examines the budget structure of Purdue University Northwest relative to IPEDS peer institutions from 2017–2022, focusing on instructional and non‐instructional expenditures, staffing, and faculty composition. Using pooled panel regression models, we analyze associations between budgetary inputs and student outcomes, including retention and graduation rates. Results indicate that instructional expenditures, student–faculty ratios, and faculty composition are significantly associated with student success. The findings offer policy‐relevant insights for budgeting design, strategic planning, and resource allocation to improve institutional effectiveness and equity.
Abstract School districts operate in an unstable revenue environment, with changes in state transfers being a source of uncertainty. District savings, in the form of unrestricted general fund balance, could provide a tool for maintaining budget stability. This study provides the first cross‐state examination of school fund balance. First, descriptive statistics illustrate variations in state laws regarding district fund balance and in the average balance levels. Second, districts adjust savings based on revenue risk exposure, but the capacity to save also matters. Lastly, districts starting a year with a higher fund balance experience smaller spending gaps when state aid declines.
ABSTRACT Cuts in state aid impose fiscal stress on local governments and require cutback management strategies whose short‐run fiscal and performance implications remain uncertain. This study examines the school districts' first‐round fiscal and performance responses to the elimination of adjustment aid for 126 New Jersey school districts during the 2018–19 school year. Using a panel data set of 2,190 district‐year observations from 2013–14 to 2018–19 and a differences‐in‐differences research design, the study finds that the elimination of adjustment aid is associated with reductions in fund balance and modest reductions in current expenditures, but no evidence of an increase in local revenues. The findings also suggest that districts experiencing the loss of adjustment aid increased student‐to‐teacher ratios, while showing no practically significant changes in standardized test scores. Overall, the findings suggest that districts responded to the elimination of adjustment aid through short‐run fiscal buffering strategies while maintaining district‐wide student achievement during the study period.
Performance-based budgeting (PBB) has been widely implemented, yet its consequences remain underexplored. This study investigates PBB implementation in Indonesia through multiple case studies of three ministries-education, health, and infrastructure. The finding indicates that performance information is used predominantly for control, which often leads to unintended effects, including sectoral egos, risk aversion, and an inward organizational focus. Despite target achievement, service quality and real-world issues persist. These findings demonstrate how bureaucratic culture, multilevel governance, and institutional capacity shape the outcomes of PBB reforms, offering new insights into the dysfunctional consequences of PBB in complex public sector settings.
Traditionally, clean energy project developers relied on tax equity financing, where they partner with investors who have large tax liabilities and can use tax credits more efficiently. The IRA expanded the tax credits and introduced a mechanism that allowed developers to "sell" their tax credits: transferability. This study captures the project-level mechanics oef tax credit design to examine whether interactions with existing provisions of the tax code and their timing reduce the effectiveness of tax credits and how that influences the relative present benefits of transferability and tax equity financing.
