Politically charged education issues roiled the 2022 races for seats on state boards of education, yet none of the boards flipped partisan control. However, majority parties expanded their representation on boards in Colorado, Kansas, and Utah so far. Of the 63 seats on the ballot for 12 state boards, 35 incumbent candidates were reelected. This…

The issue of school safety is of paramount concern but what is lacking is clarity on the best course of action aimed at bolstering safety in public schools. We sought to answer the following research questions: What topics are addressed in school board policies related to arming employees? What outlying policy topics are addressed in school board…

We survey 137 charter school administrators and 129 board members and find that U.S. charter school internal controls are perceived to be relatively strong overall. However, board independence, board communication of internal control responsibilities to school personnel, lines of communication between the board and school personnel, and reporting…

Policymakers and researchers often talk about "autonomous schools" as if there's a single, agreed-upon definition of what that means. In reality, there's no standard design for autonomous school policies, and school autonomy can mean a lot of different things. The policies that states have enacted vary widely in terms of their goals, the…

This report provides six mini-case studies of higher education policy reforms enacted in other states, exploring the important role that state policy leadership played in developing, promoting, and implementing these policies aimed at improving higher education outcomes, and discussing the relevance of each reform effort for California. This…

In the final sprint to polish Race to the Top applications, hundreds of school districts shunned a shot at a share of $4 billion in grants by refusing to sign on to their states' plans for the federal competition. California officials had secured the signatures of 790 local education agencies (leas) late last week, including most of the state's…

A growing number of states and school districts are experimenting with new approaches to paying teachers. These efforts to reform teacher pay can involve a range of state and local actors, including governors, state education officials, superintendents, local school boards, teacher unions, private foundations, community organizations, and local…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) State of American Business: U.S. Chamber of Commerce Says U.S. Could Face a "Severe Worker Shortage" Unless…

Formula budgeting for college and university facilities maintenance is recommended because: (1) formulas inject objectivity into the budgeting process by using quantified data; (2) formulas tend to improve the equitability of treatment of comparable institutions; (3) formulas are intended to provide adequate but economical budgets; and (4)…

Costs associated with colleges and universities are addressed in this two-part report. Part one, a 20-page overview, Snyder's "Recent Trends in Higher Education Finance, 1976-77 to 1985-86," reviews rising national trends in tuition, enrollment, degrees, expenditures, and expenditure per student. A wide diversity is noted among…