| Ph. D., Senior Research Fellow and a Managing Director of the Economic
Indicators and Education Finance Business Development Group at the American
Institutes for Research (AIR).
 Dr. Chambers is involved in research addressing a wide range of issues
related to resource allocation in K-12 education and the implications
for school finance and productivity. In his role as Co-Director of the
Center for Special Education Finance (CSEF) for the last six years, he
has helped to set the national agenda for research in special education
finance in collaboration with staff at the U.S. Department of Education,
Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). A major outcome of this work
was the funding of Special Education Expenditure Project (SEEP), which
Dr. Chambers is currently directing and which will come to a conclusion
during 2004.
Dr. Chambers has directed numerous resource allocation and cost studies
focusing on federal and state categorical education programs including
special education. He is currently concluding a study focusing on defining
"adequate education" in the state of New York. This study could
have impact across the nation by providing methodology for determining
state funding to ensure equitable education outcomes. During 2002, Dr.
Chambers was appointed by President Bush to serve on the President's Commission
on Excellence in Special Education to help formulate a recommendation
for reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA). In the past decade, Dr. Chambers has directed two major studies,
for the Planning Evaluation Service in the U.S. Department of Education,
focusing on resource allocation and federal programs that are operated
under the Improving America's Schools Act (IASA). He is currently directing
a study of targeting and resource allocation of federal funds as part
of a larger evaluation of the No Child Left Behind legislation.
Dr. Chambers was elected to serve as the president of the American Education
Finance Association during the 2001 -2002. Formerly, Dr. Chambers served
as president of the Associates for Education Finance and Planning (AEFP,
Inc.), a California corporation that conducted research on school finance
issue from 1981-90. Prior to his work with AEFP, he was the Associate
Director of the Institute for Research on Educational Finance and Governance
(IFG) located at Stanford University (1978-85). He has also been a faculty
member at the University of Rochester (1975-78) and the University of
Chicago (1973-75).
Dr. Chambers is a nationally recognized expert in the analysis of patterns
of resource allocation and cost variations in educational organizations.
He is also one of the country's foremost authorities on the development
of resource cost adjustments, which are used for improving the equity
of school finance formulas. He has been a consultant to state legislatures
and served as an expert witness on issues related to school finance.
Dr. Chambers earned his Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University in
1975 where he specialized in economics of education, labor economics,
urban economics, and applied microeconomics.
Send e-mail to Jay Chambers.
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