This white paper, examines state policies to improve affordability, encourage full-time enrollment, and incent timely completion of postsecondary credentials and degrees. The authors found that existing grant aid programs do not provide sufficient support to allow students with documented need to cover tuition costs and living expenses, nor do…

Substantial increases in federal support for higher education over the last decade or more have made the federal government the largest direct investor in U.S. higher education. That increase however, has not produced the expected level of increase in college educated people in the workforce. This is largely for two reasons. First the investment…

The U.S. Department of Education (Education) established the Race to the Top (RTT) grant fund to encourage states to support school reform efforts. In 2010, Education awarded 12 RTT grants totaling nearly $4 billion, making RTT the largest competitive grant fund ever administered by Education. Individual grantee awards ranged from $75 million to…

This Quick Reference Document has been prepared by the Regional Resource Center Program Fiscal Priority Team to aid RRCP State liaisons and other Technical Assistance (TA) providers in understanding the general context of State questions surrounding Maintenance of State Financial Support (MFS) and Local Educational Agency (LEA) Maintenance of…

This letter is submitted to comment on the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) proposed revisions to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's (ARRA) State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF), as published in the September 23, 2011, Federal Register. Overall, the Data Quality Campaign believes the proposed changes strike a sensible balance: they…

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the federal stimulus package, will over the next two years provide all states with federal funding to support early learning opportunities for 3- and 4-year-olds. This investment clearly reflects Washington's acknowledgement of the link between high-quality early education and the nation's…

Every day, millions of three- and four-year-old children attend early education programs. The range of early childhood education program models includes, among others, state-funded pre-k, Head Start, and child care programs. Children attend these programs in public schools, private schools, colleges, businesses, community-based centers, and homes.…

The document analyzes monitoring procedures in use by other federal programs in an attempt to help the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped (BEH) develop its own procedures for waiver reviews. Waivers are explained as a request for exemption from P.L. 94-142's (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act) fiscal non-supplant requirements.…

There are three areas in which federal grant outlays to California could be affected by reduced local spending brought about by the pasage of Proposition 13. The biggest impact on federal outlays probably will result from matching and maintenance of effort requirements in federal assistance programs. Both base federal aid on the amount of the…

By challenging the security of bureaucratic fiefdoms, the functionalists are put on the defensive. (Author/JN)

This report describes how federal State Student Incentive Grant (SSIG) allocations have affected state expenditures on student grant programs, what state grant program directors believe would happen to their programs if SSIG funds were cut, and why members of the National Association of State Scholarship and Grant Programs (NASSGP) believe that…

This report summarizes testimony of Franklin Frazier, Director of Education and Employment Issues, the Human Resources Division of the Government Accounting Office, concerning the need for improved federal leadership in helping states utilize the "order of selection" provision (in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973) to provide rehabilitation…

Examines the impact of the U.S. government's block grant fiscal policy on the funding policies and program services in drug and alcohol abuse prevention. Uses a case history of Pennsylvania's experience with block grant funding mandates to document the administrative and programmatic considerations affecting policy implementation at the state…

This report of the President's National Advisory Committee on Adult Basic Education describes the current Federal Adult Basic Education program, and summarizes a study of selected Federal programs with adult basic education components. The report also contains eight recommendations which the committee believes are essential to the further…

This Children's Defense Fund report summarizes findings of a national survey, which indicate detrimental effects of Federal budget cuts in health care funds on economically disadvantaged mothers and children. Suggests that health funds for mothers and children are more important than defense expenditures and tax cuts for the non-needy. (MJL)