Policymakers, parents and stakeholders are demanding improvements in public education by raising metrics of academic success, pushing for progress in low performing schools, and raising the bar on teacher and leader effectiveness. Differences in funding formulas, allocations and revenue have created disparate funding across the states. These variations in spending per student impact the educational opportunities provided as states ramp up their educational reform. This session highlighted various options states can implement to address the critical budget deficits.

The Condition of Education, an annual federal report mandated by Congress, provides compelling evidence that the tapestry of public education in the U.S. is changing. On Thursday The National Center for Education Statistics released its 2012 report, which contains data  issued annually since 1975. The report is a compilation of information from the Center’s own statistical surveys, as well as other data sources, to provide a big-picture look at the condition of all areas of American education.

Spending more on education won’t necessarily result in better student achievement.

That was a message from Ulrich Boser, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, who spoke at the Education Policy Task Force Friday morning. A study from the center looked at productivity in schools across the country.

Policymakers, parents and stakeholders are demanding improvements in public education by raising metrics of academic success, pushing for progress in low performing schools, and raising the bar on teacher and leader effectiveness. Differences in funding formulas, allocations and revenue have created disparate funding across the states. These variations in spending per student impact the educational opportunities provided as states ramp up their educational reform. This session highlighted various options states can implement to address the critical budget deficits.

New academic standards in Kentucky will bring with it a new way to measure whether students are learning what they’re supposed to learn. In Kentucky, which became the first of 46 states to adopt common core state standards, it’s a case of out with the old and in with the new. Until this year, the state used an end-of-year assessment known as the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System – or CATS – to measure academic proficiency in its 174 school districts. Beginning this month, however, a new assessment called Unbridled Learning will launch from the starting gate.

Today, The Council of State Governments joined with nine organizations representing state and local governments to urge Congress to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA. The current version of ESEA, known as the No Child Left Behind Act, expired almost five years ago, and broad reforms are long overdue.

Teachers will have to meet additional standards before being granted tenure under a bill signed into law by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. That is one provision of a sweeping education reform package that opens the door to charter schools in areas with consistently ineffective schools.  Jindal signed a trio of education reform measures on April 18: House Bills 974 and 976 and Senate Bill 581.

In the world of higher education, invisible borders can become insurmountable financial barriers. Let’s say a student living in Columbus, MS is considering several four-year universities. One in-state option would be the University of Mississippi, roughly two hours away or Mississippi State University, more than three hours’ drive from home. Or, just an hour away in Tuscaloosa, AL, he or she could enroll in the University of Alabama. Because of a law enacted in Alabama, out-of-state residents, like someone living just across the border in Columbus, MS., could receive the same in-state tuition rate as an Alabama resident.

The same rules have not applied, however, to an Alabama resident wanting to enroll at a public university in Mississippi. For example, if someone from Tuscaloosa wanted to enroll at the Mississippi University for Women (which, despite its name, is co-educational) in Columbus, she or he would have to pay the out-of-state tuition rate. That’s more than twice Mississippi's in-state tuition rate.

House Bill 1095, signed into law by Gov. Phil Bryant, will level the playing field, allowing public universities in Mississippi to charge out-of-state students the same tuition paid by Mississippi residents. With full time tuition costing less than $5,500 per year, Mississippi can tout one of the least expensive higher education systems in the nation.