Texas Legislator Representation and State Appropriations to Public Postsecondary Institutions in Austere Times

• In Event: 73.032 - Educational Policy Reform and Issues of Justice

Abstract

In the post-Great-Recession era, public higher education institutions face the tough balancing act of maintaining a high quality faculty and student body, keeping tuition payments down, and dealing with almost annual cuts in legislative appropriations. Despite a moderately sized body literature on higher education appropriations, studies rarely look at who is making the appropriations, what districts they represent, and how different characteristics of legislators might make a difference in an institution’s appropriations. Research on representation focuses on voters, interest groups, and legislators, not institutions of higher education. We seek to combine the two frameworks set out in the higher education appropriations and political science literature to determine what representational factors, in times of economic hardship, impact university and community appropriations.

Authors

• Christopher Russell Marsicano, Vanderbilt University - Peabody College

• Jason A. Grissom, Vanderbilt University

• Gingle Lee, The Education Trust