Standard 6

Element 2: Unit Budget

The primary source of funding for the School of Education’s budget is from state funds allocated from the university central administration. These dollars cover faculty, staff, and GTA salaries and fringe benefits, along with operating expense dollars. Included in the operating expenses is an allocation of $217,000 to support technology-related purchases and $750 per tenure-track faculty member for travel; other travel allowances from indirect cost recovery sources are available to each faculty member as well. A second source of income is differential tuition of $15.00 per credit hour. The School of Education dedicates a significant portion of these revenues to scholarships, student support services, and graduate and undergraduate student travel.

Table 6.1 displays the total state dollars by School/College and the dollars per FTE for the past two years. Funding for the School of Education is consistent with other units on campus.

Table 6.1: State Annual Support – FY 2005 & FY 2006

(Note: FTE count varies from the number reported elsewhere in this document as some professional staff personnel are included in this count. An example is the School of Education’s assistant dean.)

The School budget also includes funds obtained through endowment (fund raising) and indirect cost recovery dollars from grants. Table 6.2 displays the School’s endowment revenues for the past five years along with the number of donors. Most of these dollars are dedicated to student scholarships, though the Dean has access to unrestricted funds used for purposes ranging from faculty travel to alumni relations. The university was involved in a major development campaign through FY 05, accounting for the decline in revenues in FY 06. Currently, the School’s total endowment is approximately $11,340,000, with an additional $370,000 available in unrestricted funds.

Table 6.2: Endowment Fund Raising Totals 02-06

The final source of revenue is from indirect cost recovery dollars from externally funded grants. These dollars received a significant input in FY2006 when a one-time credit of approximately $1.3 million dollars was given to the School of Education in a negotiation with the KU Center for Research from revenues raised by the Center for the Educational Testing and Evaluation. These funds are earmarked for research and faculty support across all departments in the School of Education. Table 6.3 reports the total sponsored research and training expenditures by the School for the past five years, the number of faculty involved, and the research and overall rankings of public universities by the U.S. News and World Report. These figures display an increase in overall research expenditures by the School with a ranking in recent years in terms of research dollars expended in the top ten of all public universities.

Table 6.3: Research Expenditures, Faculty Involved, National Rankings

*Rankings from U.S. News and World Reports – Best Graduate Schools in Education
**Numbers of faculty who are Principal or Co-Principal Investigators on research and training grants.

The budgeting process for operating expenses, graduate student support (beyond base budget dollars), part-time faculty and any additional staffing for each department is estimated in the spring semester for the following academic year in negotiations between each department chair and the Dean. Monies for departments come from state, fund raising, and indirect dollars. These budgets are finalized in the early part of the fall semester based on university budget allocations and income for differential tuition, endowment, and indirect funds.

Two recent programs initiated by the unit are dedicated to support faculty research through the use of indirect cost recovery dollars. The Research Support Program is described as part of Standard 5, element 7 regarding professional development. The most recent research initiative is geared directly towards educator preparation. The unit will direct $50,000 a year for each of the next two years to support research on Teacher and Other Educator Preparation. Led by a steering committee from across the unit and including representation from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, faculty will be supported to address issues regarding teacher and educator preparation where there are gaps in the current research in the field. These funds are seen as an incentive to pursue larger grants and contracts in the targeted fields, and to provide a mechanism for supporting collaborative research efforts across departments and disciplines.

The largest change affecting the unit’s budget was the implementation of tuition differentials in FY 2005. This option was open to units across KU, where a plan had to be provided to students for their approval. The School of Education had a $15/credit hour fee approved, which was to be largely directed towards scholarships and student services support. Each year this revenue source brings approximately $725,000 - $825,000 a year to the School. The per credit hour fee will increase each year at the same percentage rate as tuition increases.