Capitol Comments

Ensuring Affordability of Higher Education

By Mary Branham Dusenberry

The cost of higher education across the country is skyrocketing. Tuition is increasing at a much faster pace than family income, and states are working to ensure higher education doesn’t become out of reach for the neediest students.

While states are strapped for funding in these tough economic times, some experts in higher education financing say there are ways to ensure tuition increases don’t get out of control.

Former Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton, who was recently appointed to the state’s Council on Postsecondary Education, said states should ensure universities are operating at high levels of efficiency. “If your institutions are running reasonably efficiently, if you cut funding, you’re going to cut quality or quantity,” he said.

Oklahoma Universal Preschool Program Produces Results

A new study found big gains in cognitive skills for students enrolled in Oklahoma's universal preschool.

The gains by 4-year-olds enrolled in the school-based prekindergarten program were as much as nine months in pre-reading skills, seven months in pre-writing skills and five months in pre-math skills, relative to their peers, researchers at Georgetown University found. That compares to the federal Head Start program, in which students had gains of six months in pre-reading skills, three months in pre-writing skills, and five months in pre-math schools, relative to their peers.

“The children in Tulsa’s pre-K and Head Start programs experienced substantial gains in pre-reading, pre-writing and pre-math skills above and beyond those that otherwise occur through aging,” said William T. Gormley Jr., lead author of the study, university professor and co-director of the Center for Research on Children in the U.S. at Georgetown University. “We found that negative effects of family and environmental risk factors can be lessened by a strong preschool program.”

Researchers also found that pre-K participation and Head Start participation were more powerful predictors of certain test outcomes than gender, free lunch eligibility, a mother’s education or whether the biological father lives at home.

Researchers believe the findings could influence policy and funding decisions across the country as many states consider expanding or restructuring their preschool programs.

Read about some of those changes in this article from State News and in a 2007 Trends Alert from The Council of State Governments.

States Need to Improve Access to Higher Education

Access to higher education matters now in a way that it hasn’t mattered in the last 30 or 40 years.

That’s according to Pat Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. He said while Americans have always been interested in access and quality of college education, the movement of baby boomers is really hitting home.

“We’re sort of the pig in the python,” Callan said during the Education Policy Task Force meeting Thursday.

Baby boomers have been not only the largest generation, but also the best educated. But now that generation is moving into retirement and out of the work force in the next 20 to 25 years.

Investing in Higher Education

The rising cost of tuition combined with decreased financial aid opportunities have put the squeeze on many Americans hoping to send their children to colleges.

Dan Hurley, director of state relations and policy analysis for the Association of State Colleges and Universities, said states must recognize “there is clearly an inverse relationship between state support that is provided to public higher education and tuition rates.”

Hurley will make the case for state investment in higher education during the policy session, “Investing in Higher Education,” Thursday afternoon.

Education Compact Enacted in Four States

The National Center for Interstate Compacts is excited to announce that the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children has now been enacted by Arizona, Connecticut, Kansas, and Kentucky.

In addition, the compact has been approved by legislatures and is now before the governors of Colorado, Florida, Michigan and Missouri. Upon enactment by 10 states, this interstate compact, which significantly ramps up measures to remove obstacles for military families as they move from state to state and transfer children from school to school, will become effective.

For more information, see the new Streaming Video.

Schools and Mental Health

Mental health plays a key role in a child’s ability to learn.

That’s the way Lisa Warhuus sees it. In fact, it’s part of Warhuus’ job as manager of Integrated Resources for the Berkeley, Calif., Unified School District to make sure students have a good environment – and any support services they need – to take full advantage of the classroom learning.

School districts across the country have incorporated mental health in one way or another into their efforts. And screening for mental health issues is a major part of the recommendations from President’s Bush’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.

States Face Higher Education Challenges

Higher education is becoming more expensive across the country. With rising tuition in many states and tightening of the credit market, families are finding it more difficult to fund their children’s higher education. What is your state doing to ease these problems? Share your thoughts for an upcoming State News article.

States Enact Education Compact

Kansas and Kentucky have enacted laws intended to ease the educational transition for military children as their parents move with different assignments to new locations. The laws establish the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children, which was developed by The Council of State Governments and the U.S. Department of Defense and will become operational when it’s adopted in eight other states.

Twenty-one other states are actively considering the measure, known as the Compact on Education Transition for Military Children, and 14 of those state legislatures have submitted bills in one or both chambers. Kansas adopted the compact April 9, and Kentucky followed suit April 10. Adoption in 10 states makes the compact operational.

"We are thrilled that Kansas and Kentucky are leading the nation in seeking uniform standards for school transition for military children," said Leslye A. Arsht, deputy undersecretary of defense for military community and family policy.

Compact Addresses Education of Military Children

As their parents move from base to base and state to state, children in military families often face major transition issues of their own.

Their school records may not arrive in a timely manner and the students miss out on advanced classes or classes that may serve their special needs. They may have to retake courses because the state they moved to has different requirements for graduation. On top of that, the children must deal with the emotional challenges of making new friends and becoming accustomed to a new school, all the while dealing with seeing a parent head off to another—possibly dangerous—assignment.

Attorneys General Address School Violence

The National Association of Attorneys General last month released a report calling for federal and state leaders to address serious deficiencies in federal and state laws and educational policies that leave students vulnerable to violence in their schools and on college campuses.

Members of the NAAG Task Force on School and Campus Safety released the report that includes specific recommendations to address threat assessment, protocols for dealing with the mentally ill, information sharing among law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders, and crisis response planning and communications.

The 27-member Task Force, chaired by Colorado Attorney General John Suthers and Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch, was convened to update a 1999 report issued by NAAG to address issues surrounding school violence. Although much of the information in the 1999 report remains relevant, the ad hoc group was created to update recommendations and determine what issues have been brought into sharper focus as a result of the tragedy at Virginia Tech.

“The expectation that our students would learn in safe, secure environments that was for so long a part of our shared, national psyche has been shattered by Columbine, Jonesboro, Virginia Tech, and other eruptions of violence that occur with a disturbing frequency in schools and on campuses across America,” Lynch said in a press release.

“Whereas several of the reports issued in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech tragedy have been voluminous and exhaustive, the goal of our report was to be brief and concise and to stimulate dialogue among school administrators and policymakers on a few key issues,” Suthers said.