Increased state spending and one-time federal pandemic funds have contributed to record K-12 funding levels in recent years. The state of California provides the majority of K-12 funding for the state. California's per pupil spending is slightly above the national average. California's school funding formula allocates additional funding to…

These technical appendixes accompany the study, "Funding California Schools When Budgets Fall Short." The study explores how the Great Recession impacted funding for California's K-12 system, how prepared districts are for potential funding cuts, and what policy choices could forge a more financially resilient system. Using data on…

To prepare for the future, state policymakers can learn from the past -- specifically, the Great Recession and the COVID-19 Recession. Drawing on lessons learned from both time periods, the authors of this brief set out to answer the following questions: (1) What lessons from past economic crises might help state policymakers and advocates prepare…

School districts and state education systems across the country are in the midst of an increasingly challenging fiscal environment. In many states, funding for K-12 education remains below pre-recession levels in what has been called a "punishing decade for school funding" (Leachman et al., 2017), despite efforts in recent years to…

Ohio educates 1.6 million children attending school in big cities, suburbs, and small towns. For years, the school funding system pitted communities against each other and private and charter schools against public schools. This executive summary presents key findings from the full report that describes how the state funds public K-12 education…

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the global and U.S. economy more profoundly than any other event since World War II. Just as the subprime mortgage crisis ushered in an 18-month economic decline and an ensuing state budget crisis, the current economic slide threatens to leave us in an even larger fiscal hole. Since COVID-19 hit, millions of…

A result of the last recession was the closure or merging of many higher education institutions (HEIs) throughout the New England region. In October 2019, the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) in convened a group of economists and higher education leaders at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston to talk about "The Future of Higher…

For decades, state disinvestment in public higher education, paired with inequitable funding across institution types, has undermined states' ability to provide accessible and affordable higher education opportunities. In recent years, varied higher education stakeholders began calling for an end to state disinvestment through a reimagined…

Given the stakes and the current economic climate, U.S. higher education officials across the country are stepping up their advocacy efforts, making their voices louder and more persistent than ever. They are vying for the attention of states struggling with increased demands for limited revenues, most choosing to divert dollars from higher…

After a number of years of enrollment growth at the nation's community colleges, total headcount enrollments leveled off in fall 2011 from the previous year. A collaborative analysis of the American Association of Community Colleges and the National Student Clearinghouse shows an enrollment decrease of almost 1% from fall 2010 to 2011. Despite…

As students around the country begin the 2011-2012 school year, many of them will be returning to districts that have been forced to restructure their operations in the face of budget cuts. Leaders of those school systems have sought to avoid cuts that they believe would weaken instruction. But they also believe the reductions will put a strain on…

Schools are facing a new reality in planning and funding facility projects. When there are fewer students filling classroom seats and there is less money to address the space needs in areas where there is enrollment growth, the inevitable conclusion is that an education institution pursuing construction and renovation projects will have a tough go…

Most athletics programs, if forced to raise $300-million to renovate a football stadium, would not set an ambitious endowment goal at the same time. The University of California at Berkeley is trying to do both. The university's California Memorial Stadium sits directly over an earthquake fault: it needs a major seismic retrofit that will take…

The 2011-2012 school year was the worst in a decade for progress in access to high-quality pre-K for America's children. To some extent this reflects the effects on state governments of the worst economic downturn most living Americans have ever experienced. Yet, this is not the whole story. The 2011-2012 results also reflect the effects of…

The 2012 "State Preschool Yearbook" profiles state-funded prekindergarten programs in the United States. The "Yearbook" compares each state program's standards against a checklist of 10 research-based quality standards benchmarks. Although the benchmarks against which the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER)…