Facilities Financing: Monetizing Education's Untapped Resource. Working Paper 2011-04

Autor/in	Kothari, Himanshu
Institution	American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Titel	Facilities Financing: Monetizing Education's Untapped Resource. Working Paper 2011-04
Quelle	(2011), (27 Seiten) PDF als Volltext (1); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (2) Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Economic Climate; Economic Impact; Educational Finance; Elementary Secondary Education; Financial Support; Educational Facilities Improvement; Context Effect; Academic Achievement; Educational Equipment; Charter Schools; Cost Effectiveness + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Wirtschaftslage; Ökonomische Determinanten; Bildungsfonds; Finanzielle Förderung; Schulleistung; Ausrüstung; Charter school; Charter-Schule; Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse; Kosten-Nutzen-Denken
Abstract	Like most everyone, schools have been forced to tighten their belts to survive in today's economic downturn. School leaders have been cutting budgets for afterschool activities, classroom equipment, and staff, all in an era of increasing academic expectations. It is little surprise, then, that facilities issues have been relegated to the bottom of the to-do list. However, the enormous costs and burdens of outmoded facilities arrangements represent an immense opportunity for the nation's school systems. In this paper, the author explores the causes of the nation's $300 billion funding shortfall in K-12 facilities and offers concrete recommendations to address this troubling trend. The author posits that public-private partnerships are a promising avenue for tapping the resources needed to address capital needs, but that current financial conditions in K-12 scare off potential investors. By overhauling facilities financing and exploring innovative approaches, policymakers can create the space for private investors to support school facilities. Helping schools better meet their facilities needs, the author argues, entails: (1) Holding educators and schools accountable for academic "and" financial performance; (2) Loosening regulations that limit the reach of charter schools and other nontraditional programs; and (3) Creating more opportunities for schools to take advantage of nontraditional financing options. Enacting such measures, the author asserts, will allow for a more stable and investor-friendly system for financing facilities. He explains, "Once established, uniformity, liquidity, and stability can foster increased partnerships between public and private parties, bringing more resources into the sector and allowing educators more time to tend to their profession." (Contains 6 figures and 9 endnotes.) (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. 1150 Seventeenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 202-862-5800; Fax: 202-862-7177; Web site: http://www.aei.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2021/2/06