The $189.5 billion Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund was authorized by Congress to help address the urgent needs of schools brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first years of COVID-19, ESSER funding was critical to helping schools quickly and safely reopen and sustain in-person instruction. Three years later,…

Federal funding to support K-12 schools in responding to and recovering from the pandemic is primarily provided through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund, established through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Pub. L. No. 116-136 on March 27, 2020. This Annual Performance Report covers…

The 2017-18 State Budget Act allocated $5M to the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges (CCC) to support a Veterans Resource Center (VRC) grant program designed to help CCC establish or enhance on-campus VRCs. In an effort to better understand the current state of VRCs in the wake of this funding, Irvine Valley College (IVC)…

This paper examines the U.S. social insurance system, which we define broadly to include both programs supported by dedicated taxes and other federal programs that provide income support, assistance in meeting basic needs, or services to improve economic opportunity. The paper considers the social insurance system as a whole as well as its…

This study examined differences by age in service use and associated expenditures during 2005 for Medicaid-enrolled children with autism spectrum disorders. Aging was associated with significantly higher use and costs for restrictive, institution-based care and lower use and costs for community-based therapeutic services. Total expenditures…

Purpose: To examine rural-urban differences in the use of mental health services (mental health and substance abuse office visits, and mental health prescriptions) and in the out-of-pocket costs paid for these services. Methods: The pooled 2003 and 2004 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys were used to assess differences in mental health service use…

This report summarizes the roundtable "Infants and Toddlers in State and Federal Budgets: Yesterday's Choices, Today's Decisions, Tomorrow's Options" conducted by the Urban Institute, with support from the A.L. Mailman Family Foundation, on March 30, 2009. The roundtable's focus grew out of the widely perceived mismatch between sharply limited…

The Chilean authorities plan to raise budgetary allocations over the medium term for a variety of social programmes, including education, health care and housing. This incremental spending will need to be carried out in a cost-efficient manner to make sure that it yields commensurate improvements in social outcomes. Chile's health indicators show…

The second volume of the English-language The China Educational Development Yearbook offers international scholars a glimpse into key issues in Chinese education today from the perspective of Chinese academics, practitioners, and applied researchers. An edited translation of the 2009 volume of the Chinese-language "Blue Book of…