Education

High-quality and equitable education opportunities, ranging across early childhood, K-12, technical education, higher education and apprenticeships, are pivotal for the economic prospects of working people and their children.  Disparities in education funding and the resulting inequities in the programs and services provided to children and adults of different incomes and races can determine the earning potential for someone’s entire life.  EARN groups analyze how state and local school taxes are raised and how education funding is parceled out, showing the impact of current education policies and suggesting reforms that can improve educational outcomes and economic conditions for working families.

Publications

Kansas Public Education: The Foundation for Economic Growth

  • April 1, 2016
  • Staff Report

Kansans have long recognized that education is key to economic growth. In 1874, the Territorial Legislature took the first steps to increase school attendance by passing a compulsory school attendance law. The rationale: “education was key to the state’s growth and development, since a literate and skilled citizenry could help build business and industry.” Over 150 years later, as state lawmakers seek to “make the Sunflower State the best place in America to raise a family and grow a business,”2 the link between education, workforce, and economic growth endures. Then as now, investment in public education directly correlates to Kansas’ stake in the national and global economy.

Unfortunately, Kansas struggles to keep pace with the investments necessary to ensure K-12 education remains relevant and responsive to workforce demands. Following a recent series of tax policy changes, the state continues to lose ground as job growth lags and revenue continues to trend downward.

Kansas faces big challenges. We are dealing with recurring budget crises. We are not making strategic and long-term decisions. We are not talking about the investments necessary to fund K-12 education. We are not talking about the opportunity cost of not investing in education. We are not generating enough private sector jobs.

For Kansas to remain competitive, policymakers and the governor must recommit to supporting K-12 public education, a critical part of the workforce development pipeline, with the resources necessary to create the next big economic surge.

Reverse Credit Transfer: A Completion Strategy that Indiana’s Earned

At a time when Indiana is falling short of its higher education completion goals and the proportion of Hoosiers with some college but no degree exacerbates the skills gap, an education process called ‘reverse credit transfer’ can help address both needs. This strategy would award associate’s degrees to students who have earned all the right credits but who missed out on a diploma after transferring from community college to a four-year university.

This report finds that over half of the students who transfer from Indiana’s community colleges to four-year universities have no degree after six years. Meanwhile, there are almost 890,000 Hoosiers with some college education, but no degree to show for it, including over 600,000 with a year or more of studies. At the same time, only 33.8 percent of Indiana’s working population has at least an associate’s degree, well short of its goal of 60 percent attainment by 2025. These Hoosiers are often stuck in low-skill, low-wage jobs, and are the target population for reverse credit transfer.

Earning an associate’s degree through reverse credit transfer would benefit Indiana’s students, employers and the state. Students with an associate’s degree earn an average $5,000 more per year than those with some college education, but no degree, and are nearly a third less likely to be unemployed. Going along with increased personal earnings, for every Hoosier who earns a degree through reverse credit transfer, the state stands to gain $292 per year in increased revenues. If Indiana can convert a third of its ‘some college, no degree’ population to associates degrees through reverse credit transfer, the state stands to gain an additional $59,259,356 each year.

While a dozen other states have received grants of up to $500,000 to implement reverse credit transfer programs, Indiana has been left behind because to date the state has not articulated a cohesive statewide plan. This has become an issue of competitiveness, as states and neighbors such as Ohio have used reverse credit transfer to advance their ‘number one priority’ of college completion.
The report makes six recommendations for Indiana to create a reverse credit transfer program and to become competitive for potential grants: 1. incorporate a coordinated reverse credit transfer program into the state’s existing completion strategy; 2. cast the widest net possible to get degrees for the most students possible; 3. scale up to a statewide approach that includes as many majors and degree pathways as possible; 4. reach back and boost completion by including ‘near completers’ from previous years; 5. communicate effectively and keep student costs to a minimum; and 6. use best practices from other states to Indiana’s benefit.