Kenneth Kriz, the interim vice chancellor for finance and administration and a distinguished professor of public administration at the University of Illinois Springfield, has been awarded the 2024 Jesse Burkhead Award from the journal Public Budgeting and Finance for his 2023 article, “Capital Appreciation Bonds and the Cost of Borrowing.” The award recognizes the best article published in the volume for the year.

Kriz co-authored the article with Temirlan Moldogaziev, an associate professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. The article explores the use of Capital Appreciation Bonds (CABs) by independent school districts (ISDs) in Texas, highlighting their appeal for managing financial resources over multiple fiscal years.

The study presents empirical evidence that CABs are often utilized by jurisdictions facing both service and fiscal pressures. Despite concerns over high borrowing costs and future debt burdens, the article suggests these fears might be overstated and supports legislative limits on debt repayment ratios as prudent. The analysis focuses on Texas ISDs, which have issued the majority of CABs in the state, revealing that while CABs can be a valuable tool for rapidly growing areas, they should be approached with caution in regions with less predictable growth.

Kriz joined UIS in 2018 as a distinguished professor of public administration and director of the Institute for Illinois Public Finance. His research focuses on subnational debt policy and administration, public pension fund management, government financial risk management, economic and revenue forecasting, and behavioral public finance. In 2023, he was named interim vice chancellor for finance and administration at UIS.

Before joining UIS, Kriz taught at Wichita State University, where he was the Regents Distinguished Professor of Public Finance and director of the Kansas Public Finance Center. He has also taught at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the University of Tartu in Estonia, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Minnesota.

Kriz earned a doctorate in public finance and policy analysis from Indiana University, a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Colorado at Denver, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Iowa. He is also a veteran of the U.S. Navy.

Kriz will be honored with the Jesse Burkhead Award during the annual conference of the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management, to be held Sept. 26-28 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Burkhead Award carries a $2,000 honorarium.

The award is named after Jesse Burkhead, who had a distinguished career as a professor of economics and public administration at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and was the editor of Public Budgeting and Finance during its early years.