Our thanks to Dan Thatcher from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) for presenting on this week’s The Intersection: A Biweekly Education Policy Conversation. Dan joined us to provide an update on what’s happening in education policy at the state-level.
Key Takeaways:
Three Major Issue Areas | State education policy activity has centered around three big issues: budgets and finance (a perennial topic for legislators), teacher compensation (the focus of several teacher walkouts across the nation), and school safety (an area in which 60 bills have been enacted in 2017 and 2018).
Increasing Education Spending | State education expenditures have now surpassed pre-recession spending levels. However, costs of Medicaid and other health and human services – a competing priority for state leaders – also continue to rise.
Looking Ahead to Finance Reform | More than half of all states are considering changes to their K-12 school funding formulas. In 2019, NCSL expects to see substantial movement in the way states distribute funding to schools. Policy action around school finance will also likely pave the way for focused conversations around state education revenue.
For more on our conversation with Dan, check out the full webinar below! You can also view the full slide deck here.
We will be taking a brief break from our biweekly webinar schedule to celebrate the July 4th Independence Holiday. The Intersection will resume on Wednesday, July 18th at 1pm (EST). We hope you will be able to join us then!
