In attempts to reign in the costs of pensions, state lawmakers legislate pension reform. Challengers to those reforms often bring suit, alleging violations of state law, contracts, and the Constitution.

State officials have a deep bag of tricks to "solve" budget gaps. In reality, these gimmicks result in state budget that appear at first glance to be balanced, but looking past the smoke and mirrors reveals that they are very unbalanced. This month's updates come from California, Minnesota, New Hampshire and New York.

Michigan is poised to became the second state to "pause" implementation of the Common Core State Standards for math and language arts education Tuesday after the state Senate approved a budget barring funding for the guidelines.

Democrats in the Washington Legislature are backing away from a plan that would have raised money by extending a business tax, as lawmakers sought an elusive budget compromise Wednesday in the final week of an overtime legislative session.

"Nevada and all across the United States, cities and states that were once flush with cash are running out of money needed to pay for libraries, safe streets, clean drinking water, and yes, schools," writes analyst Meredith Whitney.

Pensions are eating up 60 to 65 cents of every new dollar of revenue that state government collects.

Michigan lawmakers finished sending Gov. Rick Snyder a $48.7 billion state budget, notable not just for what's in it but also for what didn't make the cut - his proposed $2.5 billion in new spending for road repairs and health insurance for low-income adults.

Income taxes would be cut across the board, private school vouchers would expand statewide and public school spending would be allowed to increase under provisions added to the state budget in the early morning hours Wednesday.

Schools would see an additional $141.6 million in direct state aid under the Senate plan, compared with the funding formula the House passed in its version of the budget.

GASB's revised standards are more a slightly modified continuation of a disaster than a sharp turn towards transparency and sound management.