NCSLnet: National Center on Education Finance--State Projects and Assistance

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National Center on Education Finance

State Projects and Assistance

At the request of individual state legislatures, NCEF will provide background information about school finance issues, provide assistance in evaluating school finance systems or components of such systems, assist in the development of school finance formulas, and/or engage in research about school finance. Please access the links provided below to obtain additional information.

What NCEF Offers

Costs of NCEF Services

NCEF Staff

What the National Center on Education Finance (NCEF) Offers

The technical expertise to evaluate state school finance systems in terms of such widely accepted objectives as equity and adequacy.
The practical experience to assist state policy makers to modify their state school finance systems to meet legislative expectations.
Information about the structure of school finance systems, the status of litigation, and the implications of research about school finance.
The ability to explore alternative approaches to allocating state aid and the ability to investigate the impact of those alternatives.
The capacity to help legislative staff, as well as education agency staff improve their knowledge of school finance issues.
The capability to convene state level policy makers, particularly legislators and legislative staff to discuss school finance issues.
The knowledge and experience to deal with the complex issues associated with school finance in simple, rational ways.
The ability to examine data at the state, school district, and school level and explore linkages between spending and pupil performance. To examine revenue sources, how funds are spent and to investigate the impacts of state policy.
The ability to convene national policy organizations to discuss school finance issues. NCEF is well connected to such organizations as: The Education Commission of the States; The National Governors Association; The National Association of State Boards of education; The National School Boards Association; The National Education Association, and many others.
The ability to convene members of the research community, including members of the American Education Finance Association, the American Education Research Association, The Consortium for Policy Research in Education and others.

For more information on National Center on Education Finance contact Julie Bell @ (303) 364-7700 x 1351.

State Technical Assistance Costs

The National Center on Education Finance (NCEF) has three main levels of service that it can provide to State Legislatures:

One to two day visit to a state to meet with a State Legislature, a Legislative Committee, and or legislative staff to discuss general school finance issues, school finance litigation etc. Steve Smith (NCEF manager) and John Augenblick (NCEF consultant) will travel to the state to perform such activities at no cost to the state.
Short-term project to analyze the school finance system or a component of the system, including the preparation of a brief report and a 1-2 day visit to a state to discuss findings and recommendations. NCEF can provide 3-5 days of staff time and one trip to the state at no cost. Additional resources may be required for additional support.
Longer-term projects to study a major school finance issues, including gathering of data, analysis, preparation of report, and presentation. NCEF can provide a specific budget to a state after consultation about the size and scope of the study. NCEF will provide the first five (5) days of staff time and first trip to the state at no cost.

For more information on National Center on Education Finance contact Julie Bell @ (303) 364-7700 x 1351.

National Center on Education Finance Staff

The two staff at NCEF that will lead state assistance projects are John Augenblick and Steve Smith.

John Augenclick:

Dr. John Augenblick is a nationally know school finance expert and also serves as president of Augenblick & Myers (A&M), in addition to working for NCEF. Since 1976, John has provided assistance to numerous states and other entities on issues related to education finance. He designed major components of the school finance systems used in Ohio (1998), Mississippi (1997), Louisiana (1993), Kentucky (1990), and New Hampshire (1985 and 1999). In the past few years he has served as a consultant to: the Governor's Task Force on School Finance in Ohio (1997), legislative study groups in Indiana (1993), Kansas (1994), Mississippi (1996), Missouri (1998), Nebraska (1999), New Hampshire (1999), New Mexico (1997), and Pennsylvania (1994); the Office of Education Accountability in Kentucky (1999-2000); departments of education in Alabama (1999), Alaska (1995), Georgia (1999), Idaho (1999), Maine (1992), Minnesota (1996-2000), and Ohio (1997-1999); state boards of education in Kansas (1999-2000) and Louisiana (1999-2000) and to school board associations in Minnesota (1998-99) and South Carolina (1999-2000). He has also served as a consultant to the Alliance for Adequate School Funding (Ohio, 1993-97), the Colorado School Finance Project (1996-2000), Greater Phoenix Leadership (Arizona, 1996), the Kansas City School District (1997), the World Bank (1995), the Colorado State Auditor (1998), and the BellSouth Foundation (1997-2000).

Dr. Augenblick has also served as an expert witness in school finance litigation. He has worked with plaintiffs in Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, and Wyoming. He has worked with defendants in Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, and Wyoming.

For more information on National Center on Education Finance contact Julie Bell @ (303) 364-7700 x 1351.

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