School of Education Budget Sustainability Action Plans
Campus-funded Programs
While understanding that the School of Education is not in a fiscal position to provide additional financial support for programs currently externally funded, each program can collaboratively build financial sustainability plans that move beyond fiscal year 2027. Work includes conversations with provost office with a focus on MATL, 鶹ѰEngage, and LA Program.
Status:
in progress
Explore ways to better integrate with the School of Education, in terms of both School of Education operations and programs, and/or the campus-serving programs and partners.
Status:
in progress
Consider and strengthen the overlap between programs and the overarching scholarly expertise and goals of the School of Education.
Status:
investigating
Graduate Education
鶹ѰBoulder School of Education offers all admitted PhD students a five-year funding package that provides tuition remission, a fellowship stipend, and assistantship salary which covers the standard cost of attendance. The funding is based on meeting the basic financial need of the student for the first five academic years of the doctoral program and entails assistantship work. Funding is contingent upon satisfactory academic progress and performance on the research and teaching assistantships.
To inform goal 1, the committee will audit PhD funding offers of AAU and 鶹ѰBoulder peers and compare with our funding package to consider parity, unique aspects of our funding offer, and opportunities for strengthening.
Status:
in progress
To inform goal 2, the committee will propose recommendations for (a) creating and maintaining infrastructure for planning, coordinating, and sharing PhD assistantship opportunities, (b) establishing guidelines for assistantship appointments considering equitable and relevant student experiences, funding capacity, and 5-year timeline, and (c)establishing guidelines for assistantship appointments beyond year five.
Status:
in progress
To inform goal 3, the committee will (a) audit PhD credit requirements of AAU peers and peer 鶹ѰBoulder PhD programs, (b) consider content credit requirements in relation to 5-year completion timeline, and (c) make recommendations re: dissertation credit distribution, course load according to semester/stage in program, etc. to guide advising.
Status:
in progress
This phase 2 work is set to begin in the fall 2025.
Status:
investigating
Leadership Structure & Support
Create systemic, transparent, and equitable processes around differential teaching activities, including course releases and types.
Recognition for workload of field-based courses, course enrollment size, course credits, and components. Incentivize new modalities, sizes and course configurations. Standardize number of course enrollment needed for TA support.
Status:
in progress
Centrally coordinate courses.
Coordinate courses, including for new larger undergraduate courses, within and across program areas to create a regular course rotation that balances the need to teach core courses while honoring instructor’s identity.
Status:
in progress
Examine teaching loads and course variation.
Explore creative ways to recognize indirect teaching and advising in faculty workloads; change base teaching load for tenure-track faculty; and service credit system. Review categories of service and ways to distinguish service, e.g. the nature of 20% service varies widely.
Status:
in progress
Reviewing leadership and admin roles. Standardization of Associate Dean positions and graduate program chairs. Support for teacher education structure. Tracking service.
Status:
in progress
Continuing to partner with C-Shift. Dividing HR and finance structure. Reviewing other support structures. Moving items to continuing budget for budget stabilization. Working on MOUs and funding agreements.
Status:
in progress
Work continues to advocate for the School of Education with its essential contributions to the university mission and community impact and unique needs.
Status:
in progress
Research
Presently, all of the Departmental Allocation of Indirect Cost Recovery (DAICR) from externally funded sponsored projects is utilized by the school to support research-related operations, and this will be made transparent. The subcommittee will propose a policy and implementation plan, based on a budget impact analysis and policies in other units within 鶹Ѱand at other universities, to share a portion of DAICR with investigators and possibly Centers.
Status:
in progress
Course buyouts refer to reductions in faculty teaching load that are funded by sponsored projects. The school’s practices on course buyouts have not previously been formulated into a policy, and one will be developed and proposed, based on a budget impact analysis and policies in other units within 鶹Ѱand at other universities. The committee will also take into account the issue of mismatch between the current buyout rate and merit formulas.
Status:
in progress
The subcommittee will prepare and administer a survey to the community on what supports for seeking and managing research people currently use and want to continue, what different supports people suggest, problems or “chokepoints,” and opportunities.
Status:
in progress
Clarify appointment, annual review, and reappointment policies and procedures for research faculty in the School of Education. Annual review changes being instituted in 2025. Iterative refinement to be based on input from stakeholders
Status:
in progress
Undergraduate & Teacher Education
Goal 1: Establish an Associate Dean for Undergraduate and Teacher Education
As the budget committee’s report indicated, creating centralized leadership for undergraduate and teacher education programs was a need in the school. A new associate dean position was crafted, posted, and filled simultaneous to the launch and initial meetings of the budget implementation committees.
Status:
completed
Goal 2: Pursue a new leadership structure for the Elementary Education Major
As the largest undergraduate program, the Elementary Education major leadership needs extend beyond the part-time faculty chair roles that have been in place since the program’s inception. The subcommittee investigated current needs and has proposed a new leadership approach.
Status:
in progress
Goal 3: Ensure parity around chair compensation for the secondary teacher education programs
Ensure parity of compensation and position descriptions for parallel leadership roles. Secondary teacher education programs are different in structure of leadership and numbers of students; the subcommittee proposed a compensation structure that is equivalent in relation to program chair workload and provides a consistent structure for faculty leadership positions over time.
Status:
in progress
Goal 4: Shift the Director of Field Experiences position from faculty to staff
The Director of Field Experiences is a full-time position, with no formal teaching assigned as part of the role. Thus, the committee is proposing shifting this position from faculty to staff designation at the Senior Director level.
Status:
in progress
Goal 5: Invest in Software
Software is needed to comprehensively manage the databases for the professional licensure components of our programs, which will increase efficiency and effectiveness. The committee is investigating and proposing software to pursue.
Status:
in progress
Goal 1: Consider strategic growth in non-teacher education programs
Considering pathways to strategic growth in non-teacher education undergraduate programs, such as the Education Minor, the Education Studies, and the Leadership and Community Engagement Major.
Status:
in progress
Goal 2: Coordinate and collaborate on recruiting and welcoming events
Establishing strategic coordination and collaboration for recruiting and welcoming events for Undergraduate and Teacher Education students.
Status:
in progress
Goal 3: Analyze costs and course enrollments
Analyze costs and revenue impacts for course enrollments, for example use a COI calculator to be shared with chairs to support course offerings conversations.
Status:
in progress
Goal 4: Determine capacity across education faculty
Determine capacity across faculty rostered in the School of Education to ensure infrastructure to support any decisions about undergraduate programs.
Status:
in progress