A plan to gradually shift ongoing pension costs to state universities and community colleges surfaced in the Illinois House Thursday and could be the model for shifting pension costs for K-12 schools.

Presidents of public universities are taking home bigger paychecks, and a growing number are raking in more than $1 million.

Legislators seemed concerned the state's higher education budget could not support adding degree programs at community colleges.

The House plan boosts state spending across the board by 7 percent.

When the Democratic-led House takes up its budget tomorrow, speeches will be made and a half-dozen or more floor amendments will be offered but Republicans - now in the minority - say they don't plan to prolong the debate or delay the vote.

The sixth-annual Tennessee Pork Report is chock-full yet again, of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement of taxpayer money by state and local government officials. Despite a changing political landscape in Tennessee, wasteful government spending has not disappeared.

An evaluation of the current system of higher education accreditation as well as proposed reforms on all of the most important dimensions and demonstrates how public policies addressing one issue can create or exacerbate problems in others.

In some cases, the institutions of higher education in Misouri are doing a great job; in others, not so well. The purpose of the report is not to be punitive, but to address ways higher education in Missouri can be more accountable and transparent. The report is designed to showcase information and data of interest to students, parents, alumni, and taxpayers.

Are students learning the things they need to know? Is there a healthy exchange of ideas? Are trustees upholding the public trust? Are taxpayers getting a good value for their money? These are the kinds of questions to which the people of Minnesota deserve answers. It is the goal of this report card to provide answers and to help Minnesota—a state rightly known for its passion for education—be a national standard bearer for excellence, accountability, and efficiency in higher education.

At the most basic level, the course on which Illinois' public universities find themselves is unsustainable. Costs are rising too quickly, and quality is not high enough.

Texas is well-placed to build on existing strengths relative to other states in the areas of tuition costs, student loan indebtedness and civic education requirements. Moreover, our legislators and universities have committed to increasing graduation rates, online learning opportunities and accountability in public higher education.

A guide to needed reforms in pensions, taxes and higher education, among other areas, with  two types of goals that are important when working towards limiting government: long-term policy objectives that show the end-game goals and short-term policies that steer public policy towards the long-term goals. This guide provides both.

Ten ideas to cut waste and balance the buget without raising taxes, including more efficient K-12 funding, spending high education tax dollars more wisely and rein in state employee salaries and benefits.

In light of Oregon facing a budget crisis, the Taxpayer Foundation has issued a master list of budget balancing ideas that do not require raising taxes. These ideas have been collected from Oregon lawmakers, think tank groups, taxpayer organizations, unions, policy analysts, Democrats, Republicans and even ideas utilized in states across the nation.

Establish limited priorities for Oklahoma’s state government. Once limited priorities are set, everything else should be considered according to these priorities. The state currently has hundreds of agencies, boards, and commissions; it’s no wonder there is chronic overspending and regular “revenue shortfalls.”

ALEC has a variety of model legislation addressing several different aspects of higher education, including accountability, quality and funding.