Senate Democrats want to direct $508 million more to Ohio schools over the next two years by eliminating part of a GOP-proposed tax cut for upper-income Ohioans.

A logjam on the budget broke swiftly late Wednesday as the House and Senate advanced water and school fund measures each was demanding of the other.

Gov. Rick Snyder and Republican legislative leaders reached an agreement Tuesday on how to divvy up nearly $702 million in surplus revenue as lawmakers race to complete the 2014 fiscal year budget by June 1.

House and Senate negotiators settled Friday on a roughly $100 billion state budget. It would reverse most of the historic spending cuts that socked Texas classrooms in 2011, give state employees a modest raise and still afford Republicans the political cover of not busting a cap on state spending.

Members of the Senate Finance Committee Thursday immediately started poking holes in a $25 billion state spending plan the House of Representatives approved last week.

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.

The Arizona Senate began a final sprint to adjournment Wednesday as a committee debated 10 bills that provide $8.8 billion to fund education, health and welfare, and expansion of Medicaid.

Even though the GOP has a legislative majority, leaders need Democratic support to take money for water from the state's rainy day fund because it requires a two-thirds vote.

Gov. Mike Pence on Wednesday signed into law Indiana's $30 billion, two-year state budget that keeps spending increases below the inflation rate and provides Hoosiers more than a billion dollars in tax cuts.

The chairman of the Appropriations Committee said it worked to fund the state's priorities and recognized the need to maintain a healthy rainy day fund, or cash reserve balance.

Public schools grew staffing at a rate four times faster than the increase in students over that time period. Of those personnel, teachers' numbers increased 252 percent, while administrators and other non-teaching staff experienced growth of 702 percent, more than seven times the increase in students.

Research shows that all forms of school choice tried in the United States have led to improvement in academic outcomes for students who remain in public schools or have led to no effect on academic outcomes for students who remain in public schools. Thus, the evidence on academic outcomes is one-sided. Greater school choice does not harm academic outcomes for students who remain in public schools.

America's public schools saw a 96 percent increase in students but increased administrators and other non-teaching staff a staggering 702 percent since 1950, according to a new study of school personnel by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.

Prepare to engage in the budget process by familiarizing yourself with the data available and speaking with your school board officials.

ALEC's 17th edition of the Report Card on American Education contains a comprehensive overview of educational achievement levels (performance and gains for low-income students) for the 50 states and the District of Columbia (see full report for complete methodology). The Report Card details what education policies states currently have in place and pro

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.

Gov. Mitch Daniels Numerous signed legislation that implemented his wide-ranging reform agenda, including expanding the school options available to Indiana families through vouchers and charter school opportunities and increasing accountability for both schools and teachers.

The proposed House budget would eliminate online learning for grades K-6, displacing more than 2,000 students. This would neither save the state money nor serve the interests of Washington's students.

These data are taken from the National Public Education Finance Survey and show major categories of revenue and expenditure for each public school district for fiscal 2004 through fiscal 2008.

This primer does not make policy recommendations. Instead, it explains how revenues are raised for Michigan's elementary and secondary public school system; how money is distributed to education programs and school districts once it is collected by various taxing authorities; and how districts budget monies for the various activities involved in operating schools and other educational programming.

Converting these statistics into actual budget savings involves a combination of straightforward "eat your vegetables" cuts, and process innovations like privatization that generate savings through "second-order" incentive changes throughout the system.

Public officials can help alleviate their budget crunches by offering competitive, not exorbitant benefits.

Student-centered funding systems have demonstrating results in equalizing funding for all students, closing the achievement gap and improving high school outcomes in school districts across the United States. This school finance mechanism seems especially suited for Indiana where the majority of school funding is already allocated at the state level.

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.

Online learning would provide students with much educational options.  It offers a real prospect of superior results, coupled with lower costs.

Technological advances are continually creating new opportunities to effectively educate Colorado's K-12 students through online learning. Colorado needs to look forward in protecting an environment for innovation, while balancing needed accountability for cyberschool operators.

despite constraints that are both political and self-imposed, we believe that it is quite possible to reduce unnecessary and wasteful spending throughout the New Mexico budget. In order to provide a guide for policymakers, the Rio Grande Foundation has compiled a list of specific budget reduction ideas.

Texas should open up virtual education in Texas and also allow greater flexibility within the public education system itself.

Weighted student formula changes that. Using weighted student formula’s decentralized system, education funds are attached to each student and the students can take that money directly to the public school of their choice. Reason Foundation’s Weighted Student Formula Yearbook examines how the budgeting system is being implemented in different districts and, based on the real-world data, creates a series of “best practices” that states can follow to improve the quality of their schools.

Close failing schools, open charter schools and replicate great schools.