SYLLABUS
APLS 471 - Public Financial
Administration
Spring 2007
Instructor:
Address:
Office: Social Sciences and
Telephone: 803-648-6851 (W) (ask
switchboard for
E-mail: carolb@usca.edu
Fax: 803-641-3461
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 8:45 to 9:15 am and
Monday and Wednesday, 9 am to 10 am, and by appointment.
Note: I am usually on campus five days a week. Please feel free to stop by my office. This semester I have face to face classes only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I will be in my office working on lesson plans, grading, meeting with students, and doing research on a daily basis!
I will check my e-mail every weekday during the semester.
Textbooks:
Budgetary Politics in American Governments, 4th edition, by James G. Gosling. NY: Routledge Press, 2006.
Materials on reserve in the USCA library and/or available from online sources. Since we just have one textbook you will be responsible for reading these additional materials as assigned.
Course Description:
Many scholars have noted that Americans have unrealistic expectations about
their government. On the one hand, we expect government to solve all of our
problems, from protecting us against terrorism to finding a cure for cancer. On
the other hand, we find ourselves dismayed by crumbling bridges and highways,
and a continuing problem with drug abuse. We want a high level of services to
be provided, whether we are talking about airline safety or recreation
programs, but we strenuously object to paying more for those services. We want
to provide for the poor and the elderly, but the most acceptable taxes are
those that also hit the poor the hardest. The national government is running
enormous deficits, but politicians are unable to agree on belt-tightening
measures. Over the last few years, state and local governments across the
country cut programs due to revenue shortfalls and even in today’s more
prosperous environment, it is hard to make up for lost time. The poor in
particular were hurt by drastic cuts in Medicaid. Many states are still faced
with hard questions about how to provide the most basic services in an anti-tax
environment. Some of you lack health insurance, and you know what the first
question is when you go to see a doctor! In
At the end of the day, this is all about politics, about choices we make, and about our view of what role government should play. It comes down to the priorities about programs and decisions that citizens and their governments make about allocating and spending money. During this semester, we will examine the way governments at all levels manage money and the political issues public managers must face when balancing their budgets. We shall examine the intergovernmental context, including the role of grants. One particular area that we will focus on is budgeting, often said to be at the heart of public management. At the national level, some wonder if we are once again, as in the 1960s, trying to have both guns and butter, and if the results will be as disastrous today as they were a generation ago. State and local governments are required to have balanced budgets, so they must cut programs or find alternative ways to pay for them, whether through raising taxes, imposing user fees, floating bonds, contracting out, or increasing productivity. We shall look at some of these alternative approaches.
In addition to your texts, there will be a number of readings on reserve in the library and in some cases, links to online articles. This should save you some money, as you will already have purchased one paperback text, and will also allow us to read timely material. By the end of the semester, you will have learned a little more about a very complicated subject, and have a better idea of what makes government run!
Our goals are: to improve your knowledge of public financial
management and how it can be a tool for developing and implementing public
policy, and to improve your communication skills -- comprehending, writing, and
using e-mail and the Web. Improved communication should be a goal of every
college course. Communication may be the most important quality of an educated
person. It is certainly a requirement for a viable democracy, whether it is a
republic or a popular democracy. It is no accident that countries like
We will accomplish our goals through a variety of means. We will discuss how the American political system works, we will examine how financial policy is made, and we will look at current issues (and remember that there are always at least two sides to every issue). We will utilize the resources of the Internet as a supplement to our texts. We will measure our success through tests, papers, and other written work, including email communications and your participation on a class discussion list (see below for specifics under "Grades").
How Your Grades Will be Determined :
1. Papers/Projects: In lieu of a formal exam, each student must write two papers. More details will follow shortly. Note that you may not use Wikipedia as a source and if I find you have copied or closely paraphrased material from Wikipedia, even if you cite it, you will receive a zero for the paper. The usual rules concerning plagiarism also apply and I will report all honor code violations as specified in the Student and Faculty handbooks. Each paper must consist of approximately 1775 words, exclusive of footnotes and bibliography (this is equivalent to one five page doubled spaced typed paper). You must consult with me in person or by email before selecting the topic. Each paper will receive a letter grade (translated into numbers). You must supply me with a mailing address to receive a copy of the paper with your grade and my comments (or come by my office). Each paper counts for 20% of your grade (40% total).
2. Class discussions via email: You will be subscribed to a class discussion list, using your USCA email address. The discussion list is APLS471web@listserv.sc.edu – All class discussion comments are to be sent to the list, not to me. You cannot send this list email from any other email address. Remember that everyone in the class will read your comments, and do not use it to communicate with any other student on an individual basis. For each unit, I will pose a discussion question on the list and after reading other comments already posted (which you are not to duplicate – you won’t receive credit if you just say, “I agree with the rest of the class” or “ I agree with so and so” – give a thoughtful and individual response!) you should respond to the question. Additional responses are welcome so that we can hold a virtual conversation! I will use a very simple grading system. Responses are graded as satisfactory, marginal (two marginals count for one satisfactory) and unsatisfactory – I will average the number of satisfactories into the total number of questions to get a percentage here. So if you completed 8 out of 10 assignments with satisfactory grades, that would be 80% on this portion of your work. I will notify you privately if you receive a marginal or unsatisfactory for any such assignments. This counts for 20 % of your grade.
3. Chapter Mastery Questions (Tests) on Blackboard: For each of the nine units in your text you will have a set of chapter mastery questions to answer. These are true-false questions posted on the Blackboard website (see instructions for logging on to Blackboard if you are not familiar with it). They are listed under the tests section because that way they will be automatically graded and recorded for me. You will have 35-30 questions for each chapter. Each set of questions must be answered within the window of time provided (usually about a week). This counts for 20% of your grade. We will not begin to use the text until the second week of class, in order to give everyone time to “get with the program,” and make sure they can get into Blackboard and also have purchased the book.
4. Other Written work/email assignments: Other written assignments will comprise the remaining 20% of your grade. This includes web-based assignments and assignments based on readings on reserve in the library or found online. If the assignments show thoughtful and complete preparation, even if partially wrong, they will be given an "S" for satisfactory. If they are incomplete, have excessive spelling and grammatical errors, or are somewhat lacking in effort or correctness, they will be given an "M" for marginal. Marginal work will receive one-half credit. If they are totally lacking in effort or correctness, they will receive a "U" for unsatisfactory.
Late assignments will not receive any credit and will be given a "U". If your computer goes on the fritz, you can fax me your work (803-641-3461) or hand-carry it to my office on campus. Don't contact me a week or two later to tell me you had computer problems! And always save a copy of your work.
To protect yourself from electronic glitches and crashes, save electronic and hard copies of all your work. Then if all else fails, you can bring them to me and I can then give you the credit you deserve for your hard work! For your electronic copies, use a new clean diskette that is devoted to just this course. Old diskettes are more likely to crash -- I lose about one per semester.
DO NOT use attachments in your answers. They cause too many problems. Copy and paste your answers from a word processing program to your e-mail.
Please note that while I will normally send written comments and grades on all written work within 48 hours of its due date, sometimes I can get behind. I'll try to use the list to let you know of any problems I have that affect the whole class. The two papers may take a while longer.
Honor Code:
All students are expected to abide by USCA's honor code. The honor code applies to all work done during the semester, including exams and papers. Plagiarism, copying and cheating are grounds for failing the course. If you have any questions about honor code violations, please contact me.
Rules regarding PLAGIARISM apply to all written work. Depending on the nature of the work and the precise offense, the penalty for plagiarism may be as light as a failing grade for the work or as heavy as an F for the course. If you're not sure what this means, contact me! If you quote directly from or closely paraphrase (just change a few words here and there) the text or something on the Internet (or any other source), you must use quotation marks and give a page number, for example (text 241). If you use someone’s ideas, give them credit! The point is, you must cite sources. You should read the portion of the student handbook that describes Honor Code Violations.
Disability Policy:
If you have a physical, psychological, and/or learning disability which might affect your performance in this class, please contact the Office of Disability Services, 126A B&E, (803) 641-3609, as soon as possible. The Disability Services Office will determine appropriate accommodations based on medical documentation
Junior Writing Portfolio Requirement:
Your instructor values good writing in this course. Please remember that the
written work that you produce in this class can be included in your rising
junior writing portfolio. For further information on the portfolio requirement
please consult your USCA Undergraduate and Graduate Studies Bulletin or
visit Dr.
Grading Scale
I will use a 10 point grading scale that works as follows: A: 90-100; B+: 85-89; B: 80-84; C+: 75-79; C: 70-74; D+: 65-69; D: 60-64; and F: less than 60.
Assignments