Denisa Gándara, Meredith S. Billings, Paul G. Rubin, Lindsey Hammond
{"title":"“One of the Weakest Budget Players in the State”: State Funding of Higher Education at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic","authors":"Denisa Gándara, Meredith S. Billings, Paul G. Rubin, Lindsey Hammond","doi":"10.3102/01623737231168812","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Prior studies have documented the pattern of decreased state funding for higher education in periods of economic contraction (i.e., the balance wheel phenomenon). This qualitative case study examines how policymakers in California and Texas made decisions about funding higher education at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when policymakers faced an economic downturn. Data comprise 28 interviews with key state actors and 69 documents. The analysis expands prior understandings of how state policymakers make budgeting decisions that affect higher education by exploring how they perceive certain target populations as deserving or undeserving of state support. The study also sheds light on the tenuous relationship between policymakers’ views of higher education and their funding decisions.","PeriodicalId":48079,"journal":{"name":"Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2023-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737231168812","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Prior studies have documented the pattern of decreased state funding for higher education in periods of economic contraction (i.e., the balance wheel phenomenon). This qualitative case study examines how policymakers in California and Texas made decisions about funding higher education at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when policymakers faced an economic downturn. Data comprise 28 interviews with key state actors and 69 documents. The analysis expands prior understandings of how state policymakers make budgeting decisions that affect higher education by exploring how they perceive certain target populations as deserving or undeserving of state support. The study also sheds light on the tenuous relationship between policymakers’ views of higher education and their funding decisions.
期刊介绍:
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis (EEPA) publishes manuscripts of theoretical or practical interest to those engaged in educational evaluation or policy analysis, including economic, demographic, financial, and political analyses of education policies, and significant meta-analyses or syntheses that address issues of current concern. The journal seeks high-quality research on how reforms and interventions affect educational outcomes; research on how multiple educational policy and reform initiatives support or conflict with each other; and research that informs pending changes in educational policy at the federal, state, and local levels, demonstrating an effect on early childhood through early adulthood.