Analytical methods for planning educational facilities in an era of declining enrollments

With declining enrollments, metropolitan school districts are faced with problems of property disposition. A school facilities planning and management model utilizing a linear programming approach enables assessment of alternative uses for school facilities. The objective in this study is to minimize expenditures subject to constraints which include a limit to distance traveled, racial ethnic quotas, and overhead costs, such as transportation, maintenance and energy. An economic post-optimal cost sensitivity analysis of the proposed options is presented and also a comparison of this approach to school management with others found in the literature.     

Do Limits Matter? Evidence on the Effects of Tax Limitations on Student Performance

The goal of this research is to determine if limits on the revenue-raising ability of school districts translate into constraints on the ability of these districts to affect student performance. We use the recent imposition of property tax limitations on school districts in the Chicago metropolitan area to determine if these limits have translated into slower growth in student performance. We find only limited evidence that student performance in districts subject to the tax limitations has fallen relative to student performance in districts not subject to the limitations.     

日本首都圈规划的主要进程及其历史经验

随着我国城市化进程的加速,都市圈的形成和发展成为我国城市空间格局演化的必然趋势,都市圈规划因而成为新一轮区域规划的热点问题.本文概括了日本首都圈的形成背景,介绍了历次首都圈规划的发展过程和特点.总结出日本首都圈规划以项目开发为核心、以法律制度建设为保障的实施机制,并进而提出对中国区域规划的指导意义.     

一般城市融入都市经济圈一体化进程的路径选择

就都市经济圈内一般城市融入一体化进程的基本方向和主要路径进行分析,指出其具体的路径选择主要包括培育统一要素市场,对接产业分工与协作,融入都市圈快速交通圈,打造通用信息平台,遵循区域发展总体规划实施城镇体系发展分区规划,交流与共享人才资源,创新政府公共协调制度等方面.一般城市通过上述方式汇入都市圈一体化进程,以此实现整个都市圈,进而实现城市自身利益最大化的发展目标.     

A mathematical programming approach to elementary school facility decisions

Beginning in the early 1970's, school districts throughout the United States were abruptly faced with a dramatic decline in enrollments. These declines required that many administrators adjust their planning procedures to include the effects of unused or under-used facilities. The most prominent of these decisions was the closing of selected schools. Most districts addressed this issue by establishing citizen task forces to analyze the current situation, to recommend how school facilities should be reorganized, and to develop the timing of these activities. These citizen task forces clearly operate in a political environment, and are necessarily concerned with qualitative social issues as well as those issues that are traditionally more quantifiable.

In this paper we develop and investigate the use of quantitative tools that enhance this decision making process. Specifically, we discuss the development of a zero-one integer program designed to assist in facility allocation problems faced by many school districts. The paper includes a demonstration case study using this model with data from the State College, Pennsylvania school district.     

“碎化”与整合:大都市区管治理论演进探讨

政治"碎化"是大都市区发展面临的棘手问题.根据看待大都市区政治"碎化"的态度及其解决方案,文章将大都市区管治理论演进轨迹划分为三次"潮流":主张建立大都市政府的传统区域主义、主张多中心管治结构的"公共选择"学派和主张网络化地方合作的新区域主义,进而分别阐述不同理论"潮流"的核心思想及其应用.     

Racial Fractionalization and School Performance

The literature on racial “peer effects” suggests that diversity improves at least some students' school performance. However, a literature in economic development posits that diversity may negatively affect school performance by undermining the efficient provision of education. This article empirically tests this claim, which we call the “public goods channel,” by examining the relationship between racial diversity and student performance in Ohio's school districts. We find that moving from a completely homogenous school district to one in which two racial groups have equal population shares is associated with a 7–17.5 percentage point decline in the passage rate on the state math exam, holding per pupil spending across districts constant. These results suggest that racial diversity is negatively associated with school performance but that the public goods channel is not responsible for this relationship.     

Economic Influences on the Structure of Local Government in U.S. Metropolitan Areas

There is a large degree of variation in the number of general-purpose local governments and school districts, per square mile and per person, among United States' metropolitan areas. Using data from 1982, this paper provides an empirical test of whether economic factors (especially variation in demand for local government services) partly account for these differences. The empirical findings show that after controlling for political, historic, and institutional factors, variations in the characteristics that affect demand for local government services do influence the number of local governments. This result is consistent with the hypothesis first put forth by Tiebout.     

Efficiency in public schools: Does competition matter?

The focus of many recent school reforms has been on changing the incentives faced by school administrators, mainly through increased competition. In this study, we assess whether competition amongst public schools influences the efficiency in which these schools operate, using a two-stage estimation procedure and data from the state of Illinois from 1997–1998. We find some evidence that public school districts become more efficient as neighboring districts become more efficient. However, such spillovers only occur if districts operate within a financially flexible environment.     

都市圈空间结构组织与范围划分研究——以兰州都市圈为例

以兰州都市圈为例,对都市圈范围划分和空间组织问题进行了较深入的分析.首先,分析了日常都市圈范围划分的依据与兰州都市圈规划范围的确定;接着,对兰州都市圈的结构特点与兰州都市圈的基本范围划分进行了分析,同时讨论了标准都市圈范围划分的重要性与原则方法,探索了都市圈规划与管理统计中关于范围问题的解决途径.     

Competition in the public school sector: Evidence on strategic interaction among US school districts

This paper provides evidence on strategic interaction among local school districts. The analysis makes use of a significant change in the institutional environment for school districts in Michigan in 1996, when the state established a voluntary inter-district choice program. The school districts' participation decisions are modelled as discrete choice decisions using a spatial latent variable model. Strong effects are found saying that lagged adoptions of neighbors positively affect the current probability of participation. A simple test exploiting limitations of student mobility in inter-district transfers suggests that the driving force for interdependencies among adoption decisions was competition for students.     

"空间失配"假设及对中国城市问题研究的启示

对美国学者在"空间失配"假设方面的研究及其对政策的影响进行了回顾,提出在研究中应重点关注在中国城市就业、城市交通规划、土地利用规划和城市改造拆迁四个方面应用"空间失配"假设的可能性和必要性.     

中国大城市交通问题及其发展政策

本文分析了中国城市化与城市机动车增长所带来的大城市交通问题的性质。提出大城市的交通规划和管理应把机动性和可达性有机结合起来。一是积极鼓励发展大容量的城市快速轨道交通系统 ,使之成为大城市交通的主骨架 ;另一是采取有效的政策措施 ,引导大城市中心产业向外扩散 ,减轻市中心区的交通和环境压力 ,积极推动多中心网络城市的发展。     

Mathematical analysis applied to school attendance areas

The objective of this paper is to develop a generalized mathematical model of pupil assignment within school districts. This model can then be used to examine various policies of student integration. Proposed bussing schemes, school location policies, educational parks, attendance boundaries, etc., can be tested for cost, travel time or other measures of efficiency. Extension to other areas of educational planning is feasible.

Mathematical programming techniques are used to assign resources (say school children) to facilities (say schools) subject to restrictions on facilities (say capacity limits) and resources (say a maximum travel time or a desirable range of school “mixtures”) so that a measure of performance, the “objective function” (say total cost or total time of travel) is optimized. The model is intended to allow examination of a wide range of objective functions and system constraints.     

上海里弄的空间变迁

通过对上海里弄的史料分析和实地调研发现,里弄空间变迁受制于近现代城市管理体制与方式的深刻影响,映射出独具特色的上海都市海派文化。建国前,租界和华界管理模式的不同影响着里弄的扩展方式,里弄在此过程中又演化出多种建筑类型,并产生了特定的空间形态。建国后,里弄空间变迁呈现出明显的阶段性特征,行政力量在此中发挥着重要作用,特别是当前里弄变迁与行政区划建制等具有密切联系。都市居住文化景观的空间变迁是城市管理、房产开发、体制改革等因素综合影响的结果。     

空间规划策略与城市竞争力提升——以南京市为例

基于城市竞争力视角对城市空间组织进行了重新解读和深入分析,从竞争资源、竞争载体、竞争实践三个方面论证了卓越的城市空间架构是提升城市竞争力的关键.从都市圈、市域、都市发展区、主城四个层面对南京城市空间影响其城市竞争力的发展格局进行了总体评析,并在此基础上以城市竞争力为导向,建构了未来南京城市空间发展的策略框架.     

Economies of scale for a state system of public school districts

A review of the different variables, school district samples, regression techniques and a priori assumptions utilized in recent studies clearly indicates that no standard model or set of procedures have been developed for the problems of economies of scale within the educational sector. Based on these studies and a brief discussion of the limitations of economies of scale models as a tool in policy planning, we present a generalizable model that can easily be applied to statistics now available in state departments of education to derive valuable new information about the existing cost-size relationships and opportunity costs that exist in a state system of public school districts. A recent application of the model in Oregon that illustrates its generalizability is described. An example of how economies of scale information might be used in policy planning and proposed district consolidations is also outlined.     

A model of local demand for education

A careful modeling of the spending behavior of local school districts in New Jersey is presented. The theoretical model relies on the common hypothesis of political competition leading to a median outcome as well as the assumption that school superintendents act as budget maximizers. The model is estimated for a sample of 177 school districts under three different aid formulas. Pooling of the cross sections suggests that the response of school expenditures to changes in variables other than those associated with school aid parameters has remained constant over time. The results are discussed in the context of recent theories regarding the effect of intergovernmental aid on the level of public expenditure.     

Budget decision making in large public school systems

This paper reviews and discusses results of a study of the budget process in fourteen large city school districts. Topics covered include incremental decision making, the use of “ratios” and “norms” in school budgeting, public participation in budgeting, relevant structural arrangements of local government, and the influence of boards of education on the allocation of resources. Finally, implications for the improvement of school management practices in large school districts are discussed.     

Medium term Prospects for the UK economy

Prospects for the economy several years ahead are even more uncertain than projections of the near future. e overnment policy is currently particularly uncertain e iven that a general election is due to occur in the next 15 months. This article presents three 'alternative scenarios', one based on Conservative Party policies, the others on the spirit of Labour Party policies.
The first case described is our central forecast. It is a continuation of current Conservative Party policies. The second and third cases are based on our interpretation of Labour Party policies. These policies are assumed to involve widespread use of government intervention, planning, wage and import controls. Monetary targets are relaxed or abandoned. We consider two possible out comes of such policies. Under one outcome the policies are relatively successjul in boosting output and employment without greatly raising inflation. Under the other out comes, output is lower than on current policies and inflationt much higher.