Budget Beat – January 11

Fiscal Cliff’s Impact on West Virginians

In his blog post this week, Stuart Frazier explains the impact the fiscal cliff negotiaions will have on West Virginians including the good (extension of Child Care Tax Credit) and the bad (expiration of Payroll Tax Holiday) policies that were part of the compromise. Read more about how the decisions in Washington will affect us and our paychecks.

Just the Facts

WVCBP’s Jobs Count is a monthly report on data released by the government on how different employment sectors are faring. So it suprised us this week when Charleston Gazette columnist Phil Kabler accused uscomparing apples to oranges in our reporting of the jobs numbers last month. Sean O’Leary’s blog post this week sets the record straight.

Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation – Report on State Policy Infrastructure

The WVCBP is proud to be a grantee of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. Yesterday the Foundation released an innovative report on the importantce of organizational infrastructure to implementing policy changes. Here’s a brief excerpt from the Executive Summary:

Ideally, a robust infrastructure for impact on state policy would include a mix of well-connected, high-performing organizations that anchor and support a diverse ecosystem of partners using a range of strategies in order to advocate on structural issues that influence economic opportunity and poverty. Progressive policy infrastructure organizations pursue important end goals that benefit low-wealth communities and help them change the conditions that underlie poverty. Equally important, they bolster and leverage the efforts of other groups working to move people and places out of poverty.

Education Audit – Numbers Behind the Headlines

Headlines about the Board of Education audit abound but what are the numbers behind the news? Learn more in Sean’s blog post about where are education dollars go. You may be surprised!