Comparison of State Appropriations by Function and by Program to Actual Expenditures for the Two-year Institutions in the Tennessee Board of Regents System

COMPARISON OF STATE APPROPRIATIONS BY FUNCTION AND BY PROGRAM TO ACTUAL EXPENDITURES FOR THE TWO-YEAR INSTITUTIONS IN THE TENNESSEE BOARD OF REGENTS SYSTEM by Rosemary Y. Jackson The purpose of this study was twofold. The first purpose was to determine the extent to which the 14 two-year institutions of the Tennessee Board of Regents system expended funds in functional categories equal to the amount of funds provided by the appropriations funding formula for the same functional categories. The second purpose was to determine the extent to which the 14 two-year institutions expended funds for direct instructional purposes for each academic program equal to the amount of funds provided by the appropriations funding formula for direct teaching purposes for each academic program. Using an archival research design, appropriations funding data and actual expenditure data were collected for the period 1990-91 through 1996-97 relative to the first purpose. Data for only the years 1995-96 and 1996-97 were used for the second purpose. For each of the two purposes studied, the data were adjusted to reflect comparable funding and expenditure data. The final evaluation involved a comparison of the percentage of funding expended by function and by college for the first purpose and the percentage of funding expended by academic program and by college for the second purpose. The evaluation of the percentage of funding expended by function revealed that most colleges and the system as a whole expended approximately 90% or more of the funding for the function for which funds were allocated by the appropriations formula. This level was determined to be positive, because some funding is typically set aside for transfers to plant funds for renewals and replacements. The evaluation of the percentage of funding expended for direct teaching purposes revealed that most colleges and the system as a whole expended approximately 60% or less of the funding for direct teaching purposes. This is permissible according to the policies of the TBR and THEC. The funding formula for direct teaching is based on enrollment and an average ill Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. full-time faculty salary amount. However, most colleges use part-time faculty to teach a portion of its student-credithours; thus, excess funds accrue from this area and are available for use in other areas. Based on the findings of this study, two recommendations are offered. A review of the funding formula with regards to potentially needed modifications is recommended for the specific functions in which either substantially more or less than 100.0% of the funding was expended. Additionally, a formal analysis of the proportion of student-credit-hour enrollment taught by part-time faculty should be made to assist in determining if the funding formula calculation for direct teaching activities should include an element for the proportion of student-credit-hours taught by part-time faculty. CHAIR: Dr. Terrence Tollefson