The Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship (TELS) program was designed to meet the unique needs of the State of Tennessee, while also incorporating the hallmark elements of existing merit-based aid programs in other states. This manuscript provides a snapshot of TELS recipients and their outcomes, including narrative discussion on the current…

As policymakers in Madison redesign the state's child care subsidy program--known as Wisconsin Shares--it is important to understand the original vision for the program. This report investigates the development and implementation of Wisconsin Shares and its linkages to the state's landmark W-2 welfare reform initiative. In particular, the authors…

On February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law. Passed in response to the 2008 recession, the Act's purpose was to create jobs, pump money into the economy, and encourage spending. Through the Act, states received $1.2 billion in funding for the workforce investment system to provide…

In 2009, Excelencia in Education launched the Ensuring America's Future initiative to inform, organize, and engage leaders in a tactical plan to increase Latino college completion. This initiative included the release of a benchmarking guide for projections of degree attainment disaggregated by race/ethnicity that offered multiple metrics to track…

This report analyzes the Texas state budget for 2004-05, discusses the impact of the fiscal and policy decisions that were made, and serves as a roadmap to the service restorations that must be considered as the economy and state revenues rebound. In addition to the analysis of budget and policy changes in the body of the report, useful…

"Kids Count in Colorado!" is an annual publication of the Colorado Children's Campaign, which provides the best available state- and county-level data to measure and track the education, health and general well-being of the state's children. "Kids Count in Colorado!" informs policy debates and community discussions, serving as…

One of four being published on a five-state project on the dynamics of child care subsidy use, this report provides a detailed look at families receiving child care subsidies in Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Texas, and the factors associated with length of subsidy receipt and provider stability. Data were collected and analyzed by…

At the aggregate level it appears that the state share of public school financing has shifted from parity to dominance. However, there is substantial diversity among states. Through a synthesis of the literature on fiscal federalism, political culture, state politics, and public policy, explanations are offered for this interstate divergence.…

This document reviews the work of the Higher Education Coordinating Board of Minnesota during the 1987-88 period, highlights trends and conditions in Minnesota postsecondary education, discusses the major policy issues facing Minnesota, and presents the Board's legislative agenda for 1990-91. Board projects included adoption of a vision statement…

This final report on southern American cities cites as its major recommendation the need for each southern State to have articulated urban policy. Findings are summarized in the areas of State urban policies, intergovernmental relationships, economic development policy, planning and growth policy, annexation policy, and energy policy. Background…

Designed to provide a basis for sound child welfare policy decisions, this book presents current state and national data, as well as data from many cities and counties, on child maltreatment. The six chapters in the book present statistics on: (1) child abuse and neglect, including child abuse fatalities; (2) out-of-home care; (3) adoption; (4)…

This technical report provides a detailed presentation of the status of Minnesota postsecondary education, summarizes policy issues studied by the Minnesota Higher Education Coordinating Board, and reviews programs administered by the Board. Section 1 reviews enrollment trends and projections, student characteristics, and Minnesota's investment in…

This study examines spending on children and youth in Texas by constructing a comprehensive children's budget for 1978 spending. The study attempts to include not only data on spending through State government sources, but also other public sources of funds, charitable spending, and indirect Federal subsidies through tax exclusions. Total spending…

Currently available information makes a compelling case for investing in efforts to help families overcome child care, early education, and school-age care challenges and obtain the quality early learning and after-school experiences needed for children to succeed. This book presents a series of fact sheets concerning child care, early education,…

This Policy Research Brief summarizes longitudinal national statistics on the number and characteristics of persons with mental retardation and related conditions living in state institutions, their movement into and out of those institutions, the costs of state institutions, and the growing numbers of closures of these institutions. Findings are…