The $25 billion budget proposal passed by the House for next year contains $268 million less in state funding than what was sought by Gov. Bobby Jindal.

The Senate budget represents a 3.7 percent increase from projected spending for this fiscal year.

The state's colleges and universities will have to take at least $200 million in additional budget cuts based on the way the state budget bill is now structured, higher education officials said.

South Carolina's Senate Finance Committee unanimously advanced a budget that provides higher raises to state workers, pays for long-deferred maintenance at all public colleges, and spends more money on special needs students.

The budget needs another vote in each chamber, but lawmakers appear to be on track to meet Friday's constitutional deadline.

Iowa's three regents universities would receive $545 million if Branstad signs the legislation, which is $23 million more than the institutions got this year.

Reflecting increased state tax revenues in recent months due to an improving economy, the bill provides $50 million for the Accountability Block Grants used by school districts for kindergarten and pre-school programs. The accountability grants were zeroed out in Corbett's proposal.

In all, the Legislature approved more than $1.67 billion in spending, in areas as diverse as higher education, prisons, economic development and agriculture. The total budget for the new year is expected to come in at $6.24 billion.

The Arizona Legislature approved an $8.6 billion budget for fiscal 2012-13 on Tuesday, eliciting a mix of reactions.

Lawmakers are weighing whether to use Louisiana's "rainy day" fund to help fill a $211 million gap in this year's budget.

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.

Merely spending money is not enough - the question arises: is Washington getting good value for its public expenditures? Washington spends a lot on colleges, but relatively few of its citizens graduate from college. Moreover, the evidence suggests costs are rising rather significantly over time. Staffs are typically increasing faster than student enrollments. For all the concerns about inadequate state support heard from university leaders, the evidence shows Washington treats higher education more generously than most of its neighbors or other American states, while in some respects it may get less in results.

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.”

With shrinking budgets and growing demand for immediate solutions, lawmakers need to know what questions to ask and where to turn for fast, reliable information to make informed higher education policy decisions.

The time has come for openness and accountability in post-secondary education. The best way to achieve this is through performance audits, which look at all facets of an institution-from student input/outcome data to faculty process data to all aspects of financial data. This project is to develop areas of process for a Performance Audit Guide used to evaluate how public (and/or private) institutions use student, public, and donor funds to meet the institutions' primary missions.

The Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP) identified 25 ways to reduce college costs and has produced an extensive book-length study to explore them.

This paper examines the broader economic studies that attempt to correlate expenditure with results. He finds that the results are not as favorable as they are often said to be, and he offers some explanations for why.

The document explains why and how New York state developed such massive budget deficits and identifies programmatic changes to begin closing the gaps, including privatization and competitive contracting, cost reductions and tax policy goals to promote economic growth.

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