College students in prison are ineligible for state-funded financial aid in most states. This is because state policymakers adopted policies that explicitly ban incarcerated students from receiving aid. How and why did state policymakers do this? This study explores this question through qualitative case studies of two states where incarcerated…

In this report, Pre-K Now, a campaign of the Pew Center on the States, evaluates gubernatorial proposals to determine which leaders see voluntary, high-quality pre-kindergarten programs as essential. The news is good: The majority of governors are prioritizing pre-k, and though more modest than in recent years, gubernatorial proposals for FY10…

The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) follows education budgets and legislation during regular and special legislative sessions, from governors' proposals through final legislative actions in the 16 SREB states. This report includes legislative Web site addresses and descriptions, by state, of gubernatorial budgetary requests and proposals…

The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) follows education budgets and legislation during regular and special legislative sessions. The Legislative Reports follow education and budget issues from governors' proposals through final legislative actions in each of the 16 SREB states. The reports include bill numbers and legislative Web site…

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) Statewide Survey provides policymakers, the media, and the public with objective, advocacy-free information on the perceptions, opinions, and public policy preferences of California residents. Inaugurated in April 1998, this is the 125th PPIC Statewide Survey in a series that has generated a…

When in 2006 California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger asked a panel of education experts to recommend an overhaul of the state's troubled public schools, observers hoped the celebrity chief executive was about to bring his unique brand of postpartisan politics to an issue that sorely needed it. However, that optimism faded when Schwarzenegger,…

This article provides insight into the California state budget process and gives an overview of California's growing deficit. The author examines the decline in personal income gained from stock options and capital gains as a means of illustrating the economic factors that resulted in a $28 billion deficit. Next, the author turns his attention to…

The relationships between state government funding methods and instructional innovation in public higher education are explored in this study. It is argued that stimulating instructional innovation is socially and educationally productive and that fiscal and budgetary strategies available to state-level decision-makers may be used to stimulate…

The feasibility of awarding a single annual appropriation for the operating budget to the University of Alaska was investigated in 1982. Study methods included a literature review and a survey of practitioners concerning the advantages and disadvantages of a single appropriation versus several appropriations. In addition to surveying directors of…

The recent dramatic growth of postsecondary education is reviewed, and the context in which the state legislature and the higher education community will probably interact in the future is described. The era of rapid economic growth following World War II was accompanied by even more rapid increases in demand for college educated workers.…