“The most important role of technology is to create time.
Information technology epitomizes this role.
And wealth creation is ultimately about time,
freeing human time from labor.”
— George Gilder
“Hatred of the rich is the
beginning of all wisdom”
— H.L. Mencken
Today we break down the literature that informs the finances of the real assets of education settlements. We examine a few publicly available university annual budget documents and, lately, have been looking ahead at innovation in distributed ledger solutions, digital currencies and blue sky conceptions of a circular economy which has captured the imagination of trendsniffers in every nation.
Since our 2016 estimate of $300 billion — triangulated from several private and public databases; the number that measures construction spend coupled with operations and maintenance — a fair estimate of growth is likely closer to $500 billion now. Based upon the US Census Bureau monthly construction spend reports we have seen a slight uptick in construction spend. We still see construction activity running at an $85-$90 billion clip.
During 2024-2025 we will be breaking down this subject into manageable segments as interest in it clarifies. For now it is enlightening to approach finance standards with an examination of a few operating budgets:
University of Michigan Budget Book 2024
Harvard University Budget Overview: September 2023
University of Minnesota 2022 Final Capital Budget Requests with Governor’s Recommendations
The 2022-2023 Budget: Overview of the Governor’s Higher Education Budget Proposals (California)
Prince George County Public Schools Operating Budget 2022
University of Illinois Deferred Maintenance
Central Michigan University Capital & Deferred Maintenance Budgets
Every dollar passing through the business or academic side of the education industry has rules for how it is received and tracked.* At the moment we track, but do not dwell, on the grant management standards asserted by state and federal funding agencies. When we do, we place them on the agenda of the appropriate colloquium.
Money, money, money… 😳 pic.twitter.com/Ssyz5PQPVV
— Agnieszka Herrmann (@AgaHerrmann) February 4, 2022
Appropriate use of public funding underlies some — but not all — of the accounting burden of the education industry. We steer clear of the grant management requirements public funding agencies place upon the education industry; maintain focus on the titles developed and published by organizations that have a due process platform. For example:
Accredited Standards Committee X9
Financial Industry Standards: Program of Work
Data Center OIX-2 Certification
Sustainability Accounting Standards Board
There are several trackworthy non-ANSI accredited standard developing organizations:
Sustainability Accounting Standards Board
Real Estate Information Standards Board
Send bella@standardsmichigan.com an email for a detailed advance agenda. To join the colloquium today use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.
More:
Community FY22 Appropriations Request Letterdocx
Letter-Tax-Provisions-American-Jobs-Families-Plans-061421
Half the people working in schools aren’t classroom teachers—so what?
The post-pandemic #WiseCampus transformation requires significant capital to meet the sustainability goals of its leadership. Campuses are cities-within-cities and are, to a fair degree, financed in a similar fashion. Tax-free bonds are an effective instrument for school districts, colleges and universities — and the host community in which they are nested — for raising capital for infrastructure projects while also providing investors with, say $10,000 to $100,000, to allocate toward a tax-free dividend income stream that produces a return in the range of 2 to 8 percent annually.
An aging population may be receptive to investment opportunities that protect their retirement savings from taxation.
Curious about the municipal bond market? Check out the MSRB’s new resource “Municipal Market Basics” to start your journey through the MSRB’s newly updated Education Center: https://t.co/BIMBxWpKGkhttps://t.co/PLhtaXzdD9 pic.twitter.com/FVARkkYZAD
— MSRB (@MSRB_News) November 28, 2023
Once a month, we walk through the prospectuses of one or two bond offerings of school districts, colleges and universities and examine offering specifics regarding infrastructure construction, operations and maintenance. We pay particular attention to details regarding “continuing operations”. Somehow the education industry has to pay for its green agenda. See our CALENDAR for the next Finance colloquium; open to everyone.
The interactive map provided by Electronic Municipal Market Access identifies state-by-state listings of tax-free bonds that contribute to the construction and operation of education facilities; some of which involved university-affiliated medical research and healthcare delivery enterprises.
If you need help cutting through this list please feel free to click in any day at 11 AM Eastern time. Use the login credentials at the upper right of our hope page. We collaborate with subject matter experts at Municipal Analytics and UBS.
Issue: [Various]
Category: Administration & Management, Finance, #SmartCampus
Colleagues: Mike Anthony, John Kaczor, Liberty Ziegahn
*We see the pandemic as a driver for a step-reduction in cost in all dimensions of education communities. We coined the term with a hashtag about two years ago.
*College and university infrastructure projects are classified with public school districts under the rubric “municipal bonds” at the moment. CLICK HERE for more information.
More:
Duke Law Review: Don’t ‘Screw Joe the Plummer’: The Sausage-Making of Financial Reform
Sui Jie, et al
Department of Economics and Management, Tianjin Normal University of Vocation and Technology
University endowment fund archives are very valuable document collection in the development of the University Foundation. With the advent of the era of big data, the management of university endowment fund archives presents many features, such as intelligence, convenience and high efficiency. We analyze problems about the management of university endowment fund archives under the background of the era of big data. Finally, the suggestion is put forward how to promote the efficiency of university endowment fund archives under the background of the era of big data.
CLICK HERE to order complete paper
Bitcoin and Open-Source
Bitcoin is developed under an open-source model and released under the MIT License. As an open-source project, the Bitcoin source code is publicly accessible, allowing users to examine, modify, and distribute it within the terms of the MIT License.
Yet,…
— Satoshi Nakamoto (@satoshi) December 8, 2023
“Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms” is a popular Irish folk song with lyrics written by the Irish poet Thomas Moore. It was first published in 1808 as part of a collection of Moore’s works called “Irish Melodies.” The lyrics of the song are based on a poem by the Irish poet Anne Boleyn (c. 1747–1801).
The melody is traditional Irish, and it is often performed as a slow air or a ballad. The song expresses themes of love, fidelity, and the enduring nature of true affection. Over the years, it has been recorded by many artists and remains a beloved classic in the folk music repertoire.
NFPA 150 Fire and Life Safety in Animal Housing Facilities Code has entered its s025 revision cycle. Many education communities are responsible for animal safety in academic units, research enterprises. museums and even — as in the United Kingdom — large farm animals that wander freely on campus with students, faculty and staff. The number of colleges and universities that permit students to live with their pets has expanded; and with it the responsibilities of university administration.
From the document scope:
This standard shall provide the minimum requirements for the design, construction, fire protection, and classification of animal housing facilities. The requirements of NFPA 150 recognize the following fundamental principles:
(1) Animals are sentient beings with a value greater than that of simple property.
(2) Animals, both domesticated and feral, lack the ability of self-preservation when housed in buildings and other structures.
(3) Current building, fire, and life safety codes do not address the life safety of the animal occupants. The requirements found in NFPA 150 are written with the intention that animal housing facilities will continue to be designed, constructed, and maintained in accordance with the applicable building, fire, and life safety codes.
The requirements herein are not intended to replace or rewrite the basic requirements for the human occupants. Instead, NFPA 150 provides additional minimum requirements for the protection of the animal occupants and the human occupants who interact with those animals in these facilities.
A full description of the project is linked below:
Fire and Life Safety in Animal Housing Facilities Code
Access to the 2022 Edition is linked below:
We provide the transcript of the back-and-forth on the current 2022 edition to inform how education communities can contribute to the improvement of this title; a subject that stirs deep feelings about animal safety in research enterprises.
Public comment on the Second Draft of the 2025 Edition will be received until March 27, 2024.
We have been advocating risk-informed animal safety concepts in this document since the 2013 Edition and have found that it is nearly impossible to overestimate the sensitivity of educational communities to the life safety of animals — either for agriculture or medical research.
We maintain the entire NFPA catalog on the standing agenda of our Prometheus colloquia. See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.
Kids raised right….
— Carissa (@njoyzgrl81) April 6, 2024
Issue: [11-1] and [19-5]
Category: Fire Protection, Facility Asset Management, Academic, Risk Management
Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Josh Elvove, Joe DeRosier
More:
”Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.„ Psalms 51:10
Have a blessed Sunday all who feed humanity! #dairy #beef … pic.twitter.com/BG68A4Sn5h— Ion Moraru 🇺🇦 (@IonMoraruDairy) February 18, 2024
‘Tension and Uncertainty’: How a diverse technical committee rife with opposing viewpoints created the new NFPA 150 https://t.co/sqam82C0G7 pic.twitter.com/BvcveX6dwM
— NFPA (@NFPA) December 31, 2018
Bibliography:
National Institute of Health: Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals
International Building Code: Section 304 (Business Group B): Animal hospitals, kennels and pounds
Terrestrial Animal Health Code
IEEE Guide for Animal Deterrents for Electric Power Supply Substations
IEEE Livestock Monitoring System
Ventilation Design Handbook on Animal Research Facilities
HVAC Design in Animal Facilities
USDA Animal Welfare Information Center
US Department of Agriculture: Animal Welfare Act and Animal Welfare Regulations
S. 4288: Reducing Animal Testing Act
Protecting Animals When Disaster Strikes
New update alert! The 2022 update to the Trademark Assignment Dataset is now available online. Find 1.29 million trademark assignments, involving 2.28 million unique trademark properties issued by the USPTO between March 1952 and January 2023: https://t.co/njrDAbSpwB pic.twitter.com/GkAXrHoQ9T
— USPTO (@uspto) July 13, 2023
Standards Michigan Group, LLC
2723 South State Street | Suite 150
Ann Arbor, MI 48104 USA
888-746-3670