University of Nevada, Reno Professor of Education Policy and Finance Deborah Verstegen was recently honored at the National Education Finance Conference. The annual conference brings together legislators, higher education experts, K-12 educators and state agency personnel and organizations to collaborate on and discuss school finance. The topics discussed at the conference impact local, state and federal revenue generation, distribution and expenditures.

Verstegen, who has been a faculty member in the University's College of Education since 2004, has spent her career focusing on equal opportunity and justice in the area of education finance, and the fiscal aspects of education policy at the state and national levels. Most recently she authored a study providing comprehensive information on public K-12 education finance systems in each state.

According to the conference, recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award have contributed nationally to the improvement of education funding. Verstegen has served as a consultant to local, state and national organizations and governments. She has twice been a member of the board of directors of the American Educational Finance Association, is on the NEFC Board of Advisors and was editor of the Journal of Education Finance. Additionally, Verstegen created an equality statistic later given her name, the Verstegen Index, and is coauthor of the most widely used text in the field of finance and policy, "Financing Education in a Climate of Change."

"This national recognition is a testament to the tremendous amount of influence Deborah's work has had across the country," Ken Coll, University College of Education dean, said. "This national recognition from her peers is well deserved."