Inside Higher Ed - State budget season is here, and with a few notable exceptions—California and New York among them—many states are entering it with a significant surplus. Read the full article. Thanks to a number of factors—including increased tax revenue, lingering pandemic stimulus funds and, at least in oil- and gas-rich states, boom times for the energy…
Education
Public News Service - West Virginia's teachers' union warns that new proposed tax cuts will further shrink school budgets and drive more educators out of the profession. A crippling number of vacancies are straining school operations, and the number of non-certified teachers that have left their jobs has doubled since 2018, according to the state's…
Daily Athenaeum - WVU President Gordon Gee will be heading out west later this month to give a guest lecture on higher education at Kansas State University. Read the full article. Gee, who Kansas State describes as a “renowned leader in higher education,” will be discussing the current and future state of land-grant universities, according…
Mountain State Spotlight - Jim Butcher greeted the Boone-Madison librarians as he checked out his fifth book in two days. The four he picked up the previous day were for pleasure, but the one today was research: a theological book he hoped would inform his sermons at Madison Baptist, where he’s a pastor. Read the…
Beckley Register-Herald - Over the last few months, I’ve been all over the state talking to parents, teachers, firefighters, local elected officials from both parties, and small business owners about the harm that would be done to our state if two constitutional amendments on the November 8 ballot are approved. Read the full op-ed. Amendments…
Martinsburg Journal - Over the last few months, I’ve been all over the state talking to parents, teachers, firefighters, local elected officials from both parties, and small business owners about the harm that would be done to our state if two constitutional amendments on the November 8 ballot are approved. Read the full op-ed. Amendments…
The Intelligencer - Over the last few months, I’ve been all over the state talking to parents, teachers, firefighters, local elected officials from both parties, and small business owners about the harm that would be done to our state if two constitutional amendments on the Nov. 8 ballot are approved. Read the full op-ed. Amendments…
Mountain State Spotlight - President Joe Biden fulfilled a long-awaited campaign promise on Monday when he announced the formal launch of the administration’s student loan forgiveness program, opening up applications for borrowers across the country to apply for up to $20,000 in student loan relief. Read the full article. The launch, which came after a brief…
Public News Service - The battle over property taxes and education in the Mountain State has intensified as Election Day nears. Read the full article. Opponents of Amendments 2 and 4 have argued that funding for public services and local control over education are at stake. West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy executive director Kelly Allen said Amendment…
When economic times get tough and state revenues decline in West Virginia, higher education funding is often the first thing to be cut in the state budget. This is counterintuitive for a state looking to grow and diversify its economy. Investments in higher education lower tuition costs for students, reduce student debt origination, lead to…