Far from providing relief for working families, recent proposals to eliminate school property taxes in Pennsylvania would increase taxes on the middle class while sabotaging the chance to adequately fund Pennsylvania schools for middle- and low-income families. This report provides the first estimates of the impact of property tax elimination…

Background: For a majority of the world's children, despite substantial increases in primary school enrollment, academic learning is neither occurring at expected rates nor supplying the basic foundational skills necessary to succeed in the 21st century. The significant lag in academic achievement tells us that simply making formal education…

Americans are struggling through the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression. In recent years, a significant body of research and analysis has documented the breakdown of the middle class and the impact of the current financial crisis on family income, housing, and jobs. But few reports have examined these impacts through the lens of…

The evidence advanced in this report demonstrates that using tax credits to fund scholarships for students is both well-established and sound practice. Three existing credits allow taxpayer funds to flow to faith-based organizations, and one of those, the Qualified Endowment Credit, rewards contributions to more than a thousand charitable…

According to Census Bureau data, the gap in after-tax income between the richest 20 percent of American households and the rest of the nation hit its widest point in 1984. The top fifth of U.S. households received 42.3 percent of all after-tax income that year, a gain largely at the expense of middle income households. Since 1980 the share of…

Maintaining a high service rate (defined as the proportion of high school graduates enrolling at a University of Wisconsin (UW) System institution for the following fall term) for Wisconsin high school graduates is one of the goals identified in the second phase of accountability reporting by the UW System. The population of 1999 Wisconsin high…

This newsletter issue focuses on the roles played by higher education finance and student financial aid in ensuring broad access to higher education. Specifically, the report discusses trends in family income and college costs that affect the need for student aid. The report finds that income remains a primary determinant of students' educational…

The initial impact of the Middle Income Student Assistance Act (MISAA) was analyzed by comparing student aid recipients and student aid packaging before and after the passage of the Act. Student aid records from a national sample of aid recipients attending independent colleges and universities from 1978-79 through 1979-80 were assessed. In…

The estimated percentage of full-time undergraduates who received aid in fall 1984 is reported, along with the total amount they received, the distribution of aided students by families' income level, and the composition of aid packages. Information is also provided on student debt, the use of special tuition plans, and how student employment…

Background: This is the fourth formal report describing the efficacy of the full-day, every day kindergarten program in the St. James School Division which was initiated in one school located in an economically-disadvantaged neighborhood in the 1997-1998 school year. The success of this undertaking led to the extension of the program in 1998-1999,…