This report explains how State Entity (SE) Program grantees are using or proposed to use the technical assistance (TA) set-aside portion of their Charter School Programs (CSP) funds for these activities. This report also describes SE activities to ensure subgrantees are equipped to meet the needs of all students, and specifically students with…

The first of three "bright spot" briefs dives deeper into examples of how states are leveraging ARP funds to improve SEL for all students. The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act (2021) provides a $122 billion historic federal investment to help states and districts safely reopen schools while addressing students' academic, social, and…

Many states struggle with collecting reliable and valid state-level data that can be leveraged to maximize the use of funds. This is particularly challenging when providing early intervention services in states where Medicaid uses clinic rates that are lower than the natural environment rates covered by state or federal Part C funds. This state…

Concerned with low on-time graduation rates, state lawmakers continue to turn to outcomes-based funding (OBF) as one policy approach to support postsecondary degree attainment and workforce goals. Policymakers have also been confronted with constituent complaints about student debt loads, course schedules and academic programs that force students…

As chairman of Oregon's Senate Education Committee, Mark Hass kept hearing about the growing population of unemployed young adults age 24 and younger who had no education beyond high school. Until now, cost has prevented many high school graduates from even exploring a higher education. Hass is sponsoring a bill that would enable recent high…

There was a golden era, in the 1960s and 1970s, when beaming lawmakers smiled on community colleges. Public funds flowed like a river that nourished the nation's two-year institutions. Enrollments grew and everyone was happy, naturally. Over the past few decades, public funds have dried up, and formerly munificent politicians are now beleaguered…

In 2016, there was an increasingly dramatic divergence between state economies in the West. Most states in the region benefited from an ongoing economic recovery, but states reliant on the energy sector for tax revenues were hit hard by the global decline in oil prices. This resulted in varying budget situations in legislatures across the…

Higher education pays off handsomely for society. Yet on a nationwide basis, states' support for higher education per full-time-equivalent student has fallen to just $6,290, the lowest in 15 years. A dedicated source of funds for higher education is problematic. But what if state and federal lawmakers applied the impeccable logic of the gas tax to…

Due to extensive research, we now know that in spite of extraordinary success in expanding access to American higher education over the last 60 years, far too little has been done to ensure that students complete college, even when they take 50 percent more time to complete the degree than full-time attendance should require. Obstacles to success…

The education system of the United States is not adequately preparing a large proportion of its students for college, career-training, and, ultimately, jobs that provide enough income to support a middle class standard of living. Because the education system has failed to attain hoped-for outcomes, some states are investigating new systems,…

With increasingly widespread calls to raise educational attainment levels without substantially growing public investment in higher education, policymakers and others have devoted growing attention to the role of financial aid programs in providing access to, promoting affordability for, and incentivizing success in college. Given relative levels…

Though school choice has proven to be popular, barriers remain in some states as a result of so-called Blaine Amendments and similar policies to prevent education funding from following students to religious schools as a part of school choice options. If left to stand, these ignoble 19th century amendments will remain major impediments to the…

Public funding of private K-12 schooling through vouchers continues to be a contentious issue across the U.S., even though a solid majority of Americans continues to oppose them. The voucher plans run the risk of legal challenge for how they handle the rights of students with disabilities and whether they violate state constitutional provisions…

The May 2012 State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) report, "The Broadband Imperative: Recommendations to Address K-12 Education Infrastructure Needs," pushed educators and policy makers nationwide to increase high-speed broadband access in schools, with specific recommendations regarding access, funding, and policies…

To be at the University of Arizona these days is, in some ways, to be under siege. The flagship university in one of the nation's fastest-growing states may have to eliminate some 600 jobs and merge dozens of programs to deal with two rounds of budget cuts imposed since June. Now the governor is telling the university and other state agencies to…