By Kelly Field (Chronicle.com) Washington Defying a threatened presidential veto, Republicans in the House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday that would tie student-loan interest rates to the free market. If enacted, the bill, HR 1911, would prevent interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans from doubling on July 1, and put an end to the temporary fix […]

The North Carolina General Fund Revenue Report and Economic Outlook for April 2013 developed by the Fiscal Research Division of the General Assembly can be seen here.  This report is an update provided by the General Assembly’s Fiscal Research Division that summarizes revenue for the current fiscal year and outlines the risks to revenue receipts for […]

On Wednesday, March 20, Governor Pat McCrory released his proposed 2013-15 State Budget (UNC System begins on page 43). This is the first step in the state budget process. Throughout the spring, the Senate and House of Representatives will develop and negotiate budget proposals until an agreement is reached and a final budget recommendation is sent to the […]

By Allie Bidwell www.chronicle.com Deep federal spending cuts that both Democrats and Republicans had hoped to avoid were set into motion March 1, as Congress failed to act in time to prevent or postpone the reductions. The $85-billion cut to the federal budget, known as sequestration, leaves colleges uncertain about how reductions in federal appropriations will […]

Senator Daniel Inouye, a Hawaii Democrat and long-time chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, died Monday evening at 88. Inouye was a Medal of Honor-winning World War II veteran and represented Hawaii in the Senate for four decades. Leahy In Line Vermont Democrat Patrick J. Leahy is likely to succeed Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii as chairman of […]

  PBS NewsHour has an informative summary of what’s at stake in the fiscal cliff negotiations as it relates to education. The aspect of the “cliff” that would impact education budgets most directly is sequestration — mandatory cuts to discretionary federal spending. The White House Office of Management and Budget estimates sequestration would reduce discretionary […]

Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced that 61 applications have been selected as finalists for the Race to the Top-District (RTTT-D) competition. The 2012 RTTT-D program will provide close to $400 million to support locally developed plans to personalize and deepen student learning, directly improve student achievement and educator effectiveness, close achievement gaps, and […]