Stephen V. Coffin

Stephen V. Coffin, Ph.D., MBA, MPA, is an Adjunct Professor of School Finance and Higher Education Economics and Finance for Montclair State University’s Graduate School of Education and an Adjunct Professor of Finance as well as Higher Education Finance and Economics for the University of Dayton’s Online Ed.D. Program.

In addition, Dr. Coffin taught School Finance and Higher Education Economics and Finance as a part-time instructor for Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Education and doctoral students Higher Education Finance and Economics as well as School Finance as an adjunct instructor for Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education.

Dr. Coffin earned his Ph.D. in education at Rutgers University, an MBA in finance from New York University, and an MPA in public administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University. Dr. Coffin’s research focuses on education finance and economics; charter schools, community economic development; educational business administration; equal educational opportunity, and resource equity.

Dr. Coffin provides his proprietary N.A.P.R. Budgeting Model for K-12 schools and districts as well as higher education through teaching and consulting services.

Dr. Coffin’s dissertation, State policy determinants of charter school market share, identified the predictive strength of state policies as well as supply and demand influences that determine the charter school share of the public education market and the influence of charter school enrollment on overall enrollment in public education. Dr. Coffin found that parental interest in public and charter schools is heightened by their preferences for specific peer groups and lower-cost alternatives to private and religious schools.

Dr. Coffin serves on four editorial review boards, the National Education Finance Academy, the New Jersey Association of School Business Official’s (NJASBO) Legislative Committee, Education Committee, and Public Relations Committee as well as NJASBO’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.

As the Chair of the Education Law Association’s (ELA) Finance Special Interest Group, Dr. Coffin reviews state and federal court cases, analyzes only those cases that advance an education finance law issue, and identifies the meaning for educators, administrators, and policymakers. He provides the education finance implications stemming from constitutional mandates as well as state and federal court decisions. Dr. Coffin publishes his assessments in the ELA’s Ed Law Update.

Dr. Coffin serves on seven AERA SIG’s, Fiscal Issues, Policy, and Education Finance; Charters and School Choice; Politics of Education; School Turnaround and Reform; Law and Education; Leadership for Social Justice; and Queer Studies.

He is a former school business administrator, has performed management consulting for KPMG and IBM, and has published books, journal articles, chapters, and reports as well as co-authored the United Nations Report, A Study of the American Educational System.

Select Rowman & Littlefield Books

Coffin, S. V. (Ed.) (2023). Overcoming the educational resource equity gap: A close look at distributing a school’s financial and human resources. Rowman & Littlefield.

Coffin, S. V. (Ed.) (2021). Higher education's looming collapse: Using new ways of doing business and social justice to avoid bankruptcy. Rowman & Littlefield.

Coffin, S. V., & Cooper, B. S. (Eds.) (2017). Sound school finance for educational excellence. Rowman & Littlefield.

Coffin, S. V., & Cooper, B. S. (Eds.) (2018). School district financial leadership: Making district funds work systemically and systematically. Rowman & Littlefield.

Cooper, B. S., McCray, C. R., & Coffin, S. V. (Eds.) (2017). Why school leaders need vision: Managing scarcity, mandates, and conflicting goals for educational quality. Rowman & Littlefield.

Recent Publication

Coffin, S. V. (Ed.) (2023). Overcoming the educational resource equity gap: A close look at distributing a school’s financial and human resources. Rowman & Littlefield.

Table of Contents

Foreword — Charles J. Russo

Section I: Overview

1. Mission — Stephen V. Coffin

2. Value Proposition — Stephen V. Coffin

Section II: Constitutional Requirements

3. Lest There Be Any Doubt: Constitutional Sovereignty as the Basis for Education Reform in Kentucky — William E. Thro

4. State School Funding Formula-based Inequities — Stephen V. Coffin

Section III: Inequities in Human Resources

5. Teachers: Adopting a Culturally Grounded Asset-Based Mindset — Corinne Brion

6. Culturally Proficient Professional Development — Corinne Brion

7. Special Education — Keith Dewey and Stephen V. Coffin

8. Resource Inequities among Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students — Thomas Barger

Section IV: Inequities in Crucial Services

9. Early Childhood Education — Karin Garver

10. School-based Healthcare Services — Camille A. Clare and Tanya O. Rogo

11. Consumer Education for Attaining Life Goals — Luke Greeley

Section V: Innovation

12. Combatting Diseconomies of Scale — Stephen V. Coffin

13. Gaining Public Support for Public Funding of Public Education — Stephen V. Coffin

14. Achieving Economies of Scale and Building Fiscal Capacity in Large School Districts — Stephen V. Coffin

15. K-12 N.A.P.R. Budgeting Model — Stephen V. Coffin

Section VI: Conclusion

16. Rescue Plan — Stephen V. Coffin

17. Redlining Education — Stephen V. Coffin

19. Achieving Educational Resource Equity — Stephen V. Coffin

State school finance formulae cause funding inadequacy, allocative inefficiency, and educational resource equity gaps. Legislative and court-ordered remedies have failed to solve the disparities among schools and districts. This book’s ground-breaking innovation shows how to shift the public education finance paradigm to fund K-12 public education properly, fully, and equitably by eliminating the duplicative and unnecessary layer of county government nationwide and repurposing those tax dollars while implementing economies of scale to achieve allocative efficiency.

Books in Progress

Coffin, S. V. (Spring, 2023). Solving higher education’s Cost-Value Paradox: Making college education affordable, lower cost, allocatively efficient, and equitable while maximizing students’ Return-On-Investment. [Manuscript in production]. Rowman & Littlefield.

Coffin, S. V. (Summer 2023). Ramifications of K-16 education enrollment competition, scarce resources, allocative inefficiency, and market failure. [Manuscript in preparation]. Rowman & Littlefield.

Coffin, S. V. (Fall, 2023). Higher education finance and enrollment management for a sustainable and equitable college education. [Manuscript in preparation]. Rowman & Littlefield.

Coffin, S. V. (Fall, 2023). Strategic school finance for leading-edge equitable public education. [Manuscript in preparation].

Coffin, S. V. Stop blurring the lines between public education and privatization: Reinventing the business model to save public education. [Manuscript in preparation]. Rowman & Littlefield.

Coffin, S. V. Creating a model state school finance formula to achieve equal educational opportunity and school finance equity. [Manuscript in preparation]. Rowman & Littlefield.