How are teacher pension benefits funded? Under traditional plans, the full cost of career teachers' benefits far exceeds the contributions designated for them. The gap between the two has three pieces, which may (with some license) be mnemonically tagged the three R's of pension funding: "redistribution," "return," and…

How are teacher pension benefits funded? Under traditional plans, the full cost of a career teacher's benefits far exceeds the contributions designated for them. The gap between the two has three pieces, which may (with some license) be mnemonically tagged the three R's of pension funding: "Redistribution, Return, and Risk." First, some…

In the past few years, dozens of states, localities, and schools have proposed or enacted "free college" policies, also known as College Promise programs. While a handful of states have run Promise-like programs for decades, the 2014 launch of the Tennessee Promise and the Obama administration's focus on the concept catalyzed several…

This report describes the establishment and delivery of Illinois career and technical education (CTE), the existing condition of Illinois CTE based on fiscal year 2021 data, and the future developments and recommendations for CTE in the state as required by Illinois School Code 105 ILCS 435/2e. Illinois CTE focuses on providing equitable…

Community colleges across the country are plagued with tight budgets--caused in part by state disinvestment and chronic federal underfunding. For rural community colleges, these challenges are even more acute, as their needs are greater and the costs of providing services higher. The COVID-19 pandemic has only deepened the prosperity gap between…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a nationwide assessment of state-level environmental education (EE) organizations to determine the components that are essential to the establishment and success of these organizations. E-mail surveys were used to collect data from North American Association for Environmental Education state affiliates, and…

Most public elementary and high school teachers are covered by health insurance provided by their employer while they are employed. In most cases, these health plans are managed at the state level. At retirement, teachers with sufficient years of service are allowed to remain in the health plan. Retiree health plans for teachers vary widely across…

Discusses the history of backup reference service in the state of New Jersey including the transition from regional backup service; describes the current statewide service; and considers future service possibilities in light of recent trends, including a decrease in the number of reference questions being received in libraries. (LRW)

In 1987, the first Commission on the Future of Independent Higher Education charted a path for independent colleges and universities in New Jersey. Many changes have taken place in New Jersey higher education in the 15 years since this "Boyer" report was issued, and in 2000, a new Commission was formed to review progress since the 1987…

Responses made by the 23 states in the article "The All-State Career Education Choir" are analyzed here. Responses are broken down into the areas of definition, growth, model individuation, leadership, cooperation, effects, future focus, and needs. (CT)

The three major presidential candidates express their views on three questions relating to vocational education: (1) what role will vocational education play in the nation's goals; (2) what priority does federal support of vocational programs hold; and (3) how will you spend funds slated for state and federal employment and training programs? (CT)

The need for environmental education programs for citizen groups and schools alike is defined, together with the need to plan for such education. To bring about this process a state plan for environmental education is advocated. Such a plan is viewed as a four-part, comprehensive and long-range chart for planned change. To function effectively,…

The authors suggest that it will take a new dimension of teamwork under the Perkins Act to meet the challenges of the coming decade. Vocational education can be improved, they say, by close collaboration among the new state councils on vocational education, the state boards, the newly required technical committee, and a host of other groups. (CT)

Discussion of state information networks highlights the network entrepreneurs, state network development, the third decade of networking, and six potential issues of special concern to state library networks: decentralization, standards, linkage, technical obsolescence, security, and appropriate technology for small libraries. (EJS)

Describes the development of the Federal State Cooperative System (FSCS) for Public Library Data, a system that combines the annual collection of data from public libraries by state agencies with the reporting of national public library statistics by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Future plans are also discussed. (six…