2002 NLPES Surveys

2002 NLPES Surveys

Education topic ideas: Given that education expenditures account for the largest portion of state budgets, what are some ideas you have for good education-related evaluations?

(Editor’s note: Surprisingly, a few of our legislative program evaluation offices indicate that they haven’t done any recent education studies. Nonetheless, the following responses suggest a variety of promising education topics for program evaluations—ranging from preschool programs to K-12 to higher ed.)

Ethel Detch, Tennessee Offices of Research and Education Accountability, Comptroller of the Treasury

Half of our office focuses specifically on K-12 education so we spend quite a bit of time in this area. Evaluation concepts that are applied to other parts of the government can also be applied to education. Are schools achieving the desired outcomes? Is it more difficult to provide an education to certain segments of the population? If so, what is the state's responsibility? Are schools focusing their resources, professional development dollars, etc. on identified goals? There has also been an explosion of useful research that can now help identify what practices lead to more "successful" outcomes than others. Our office has done recent relevant reports and briefing papers on Pre-k programs, testing, reading , and family resource centers. We are also completing our first set of studies of the schools across the state that have been placed "on notice" of probation by the Department of Education. As for higher education, our office did a report in February 2001 entitled, "Measuring Performance in Higher Education" that compared Tennessee to other states and developed a sort of "model" performance measurement system for higher ed to use. Alicia Mitchell, Ohio Legislative Office of Education Oversight

Post secondary Enrollment Option (high school students taking college courses)
Role of two- year colleges in teacher preparation
Funding of charter/community schools in other states
Correlation between parent involvement and student outcomes (achievement)
Study of motivation behind parental choice (regarding school options) and their perceptions of school performance.
Value of all-day kindergarten
Teaching strategies in smaller class sizes
Increasing the academic achievement of low-income students and minorities
Evaluation of Ohio’s implementation of the federal Leave no Child Behind Act.

Wayne Welsh, Utah Office of the Legislative Auditor

Centralization versus Decentralization of Education Administration.
School Closure Procedures.
Medical School Admission Practices.
School Construction.

Christine Chavez, New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee

Education performance audits and reviews conducted by the New Mexico LFC performance audit unit are:

School bus transportation program audit. There was concern funding for transportation was increasing at an accelerated rate. The audit covered the entire program, from state oversight to local operations. As a result, the legislature amended state law regarding school bus transportation.
Instructional materials operational audit. Audit focused on adoption process, adoption list, delivery of textbooks and depositories. As a result, the State Department of Education implemented administrative changes by reducing the number of items on the adoption list and how instructional material funds could be used by school districts.
The State Department of Education process for accrediting schools. Our data collection system audit focused on processes and validity of data used in the accountability program, school district report cards, school funding, school ratings and oversight. Topics of interest are: How valid is the process and data used for rating and ranking schools and districts?
Special education oversight and monitoring as it relates to funds generated, over identification of students, and service delivery.

Jane Thesing, South Carolina Legislative Audit Council

Our audits in education have focused on reviews of specific higher education institutions and an overall review of our law requiring performance funding in higher education. In K-12 we completed an influential review of school bus purchases and operations (SC runs school buses on a statewide basis). We also completed a review of the implementation of our state's health education law. We have a new state system for accountability of K-12 schools, including school report cards and a standardized testing program. This program and others like it seem to be prime areas where reviews will be needed.

Tom Sykes, Washington Joint Legislative Audit Review Commission

[Washington] JLARC has done a number of K-12 studies in recent years, and is currently conducting a major capital budget study on higher education facilities preservation and renewal issues. The web-links for our education studies completed since 1996 are:

The “best practices” reviews that OPPAGA does in Florida have gained some interest among Washington’s legislators, but have not yet “jelled” to the point of being implemented. Other study ideas, related to educational outcomes for students, might include: evaluations of post-school performance (education, earnings, labor market status) of graduates of our public K-12 and higher education institutions; comparisons of educational performance of charter schools with regular K-12 schools; evaluations of different models/formulas for state-level K-12 school financing; evaluations of outcome criteria for special education and bilingual education programs; evaluations of different financing models for K-12 school and higher education facilities construction, renovation, renewal and preservation.

Gary VanLandingham, Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability

We have identified major cost savings in school district facility management, student transportation, and food service operations. Comparing the costs and outcomes of vocational education programs offered by various providers (such as school districts, community colleges, and other entities receiving state funding for these programs) can identify ineffective and costly programs.

Craig Kinton, Texas State Auditor’s Office

Provision of Special Education Services to Youth in Correctional Facilities Schools are required to provide services to students with disabilities, but what happens when those students are expelled, placed at an alternative campus, or sent to a youth correctional facility. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), youths with disabilities in correctional facilities are entitled to special education and related services; however, IDEA was developed to be implemented in a school setting. Conflicts between institutional security and educational needs make implementation of IDEA in correctional facilities challenging. To assess the adequacy of special education programs in correctional facilities, state auditors could conduct evaluations of these programs. These evaluations could include the results of performance-based measures such as high school completion and college enrollment, mastery of State curriculum, employment, and recidivism. The results of these evaluations could improve corrections special education programs and develop “best practices” in providing special education services in correctional settings.

Heather Moritz, Colorado Office of the State Auditor

K-12: We've recently done performance audits of the Colorado preschool program, the State's "Read to Achieve" Program (i.e., intensive reading programs for second and third graders funded through tobacco settlement dollars), licensure issues/background checks for educators, and school accountability reports (“school report cards”).
Higher Education: We've recently looked at the issue of student loan defaults. Currently, we are reviewing personnel issues within the higher education system and conducting an investment review at the University of Colorado's treasury.

Kate Wade, Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau

Truancy abatement
Open enrollment
Public school choice
School-to-work programs
Credit transfer programs between technical colleges and four-year institutions

Philip Durgin, Pennsylvania Legislative Budget and Finance Committee

Effectiveness of information technology spending in schools because it's a big-ticket item. (I.e., do they use the computers and what do they use them for?)

Rick Riggs, Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit

We did an audit of school district budgeting procedures that turned up a number of problems with how districts account for their money, how expenditures are categorized, etc. The audit included a proposed new budget format that would be comparable across districts, that would allow the public and the boards of education to really know what got spent on what, etc. The audit, "School District Budgets: Determining Ways to Structure the Budget Document to Make It Understandable and Allow for Meaningful Comparisons," can be found at http://www.kslegislature.org/postaudit/perf_audit/rptlist.html#EDUCATION.

Roger Brooks, Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor

This depends largely on what problems are salient in each state, what reliable data are available, and what research has been done by other entities. In Minnesota, we have recently done evaluations of early childhood programs; the merger of state universities, community colleges, and technical colleges; school district finances; the high school league (which oversees high school activities, including athletics); and special education. We'd like to study charter school finances and maybe the higher education tuition reciprocity program.

Kirk Jonas, Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission

Several recent studies on education are available on [Virginia] JLARC's web site: http://jlarc.state.va.us In addition, staff are currently preparing a study on educational best practices which will be completed in 2003.

Stephen Fox, New Hampshire Office of Legislative Budget Assistant, Audit Division

We have recently conducted performance audits of the special education fund (known as the Catastrophic Aid Fund), School Construction and Renovation Programs, and the Vocational Rehabilitation Program. We are in the process of working with the House Education Committee to define additional possible performance audit scopes for educational related topics.

Michael Nauer, Connecticut Legislative Program Review and Investigations

Last year, we evaluated Education Cost Sharing System and formula. Last year and this year, we’re evaluating Board of Education Services for Blind Voc-Tech school system (2000) State Board of Trustees for Hartford School System (state takeover) (1999).

John Norris, Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts

Have not done any, but studies could include analysis (deeper than a compilation) of best practices in K-12, review of alignment of public perception of higher education mission with higher education policy.

James Barber, Mississippi Joint Legislative Program Evaluation and Expenditure Review Committee

PEER is presently analyzing the method and formula used by the Legislature and Mississippi Department of Education to fund Mississippi school districts.

Greg Hager, Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, Program Review and Investigations Committee

We recently conducted a lengthy study of our state Department of Education that looked at the entire structure, functions, and staffing of the department. We found many duplicative or similar functions along with overlapping activities. many staff members could not give us a clear picture of their functions.

David Greer, Louisiana Office of the Legislative Auditor

We recently conducted a lengthy study of our state Department of Education that looked at the entire structure, functions, and staffing of the department. We found many duplicative or similar functions along with overlapping activities. many staff members could not give us a clear picture of their functions.

Dena Winningham, Tennessee Division of Post Audit, Performance Audit Section

Accountability for student learning.
Funding for higher education (funding formula).

Maria Chun, Hawaii Office of the Auditor

It would be good to look at special education programs and the impact of IDEA/Section 504. The State of Hawaii has been under the Felix consent decree since 1994, and is required to create a system of care to provide necessary educational and mental health services to qualified handicapped children. Costs related to the decree, for FY2000-01, are estimated at $328 million.

Ken Levine, Texas Sunset Advisory Commission

We have not performed much work in education over the last few years. However, we just completed reviews of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the State Board for Educator Certification. One of the issues emerging from those studies is the need for better coordination of education from pre-kindergarten through college. To look at this issue right, one must be willing to step on many toes, from teachers groups, to K-12 regulators, to regents of state universities. We will likely be back in the middle of this discussion in two years when we review the Texas Education Agency.

Jim Pellegrini, Montana Legislative Audit Division

Just getting through the local control (K-12) and academic freedom (university) issues has limited our work to physical plant and purchasing areas. We presented an informational report on faculty workload. I would be interested in other topics that have proved useful.

John Sylvia, West Virginia Legislative Auditor’s Office

Our agency does not perform audits on the state's educational system. I do not have any thoughts or ideas in the area of education-related evaluations.

Jon Wise, Michigan Office of the Auditor General

Michigan has approximately 550 local school districts and more than 150 charter schools in the K-12 system; 27 community colleges, each a local unit of government; and 13 state universities on 15 campuses. Three university boards are elected by statewide popular vote, and the other 10 boards are appointed by the Governor. Therefore, our system is quite decentralized. We don't have any specific ideas for good education-related evaluations to list here, but we encourage readers to look at our education-related audit reports on our website.

Sylvia Hensley, California Bureau of State Audits

We do not select the topics of our audits. All of our audits are either requested by the Legislature or mandated in law. During the past five years, our audits of education programs have tended to address specific state issues. For example, we have reviewed the Department of Education’s implementation of the State’s Standardized Testing and Review program and its monitoring of programs administered at the local level, the California State University’s vendor payment system and credit card program, and faculty compensation issues at the community colleges to name a few. (These and all the reports we issue are available on our searchable Web site.) Because our reports generally focus on specific State issues, we offer no suggestions.

Jim Henderson, Idaho Office of Performance Evaluations

We have been assigned but have not yet began an evaluation involving residency requirements at state universities and have, in the past, done some preliminary work on state funding of Head Start. Because this is such a hot topic, it’s a little surprising we haven't been more involved. I would be interested in looking at some ideas as I have none.

Joel Barrera, Massachusetts Senate Post Audit and Oversight Bureau

Would be interested in your results. We have not done any audits in this area.

Paul Bernard, Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts

Right now we do not have any specific ideas for good education-related projects.

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