The Rhode Island General Assembly abruptly ended its 2017 legislation session on Friday evening, July 1, following a protracted disagreement between House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio related to the car tax. Eliminating the car tax was a high priority of Mattiello’s. But some lawmakers expressed concern that with revenues lagging by approximately $100 mil...
New Hampshire lawmakers ended hard-fought budget deliberations on June 22 and passed a two-year $17.7 billion budget along party lines. During House budget deliberations, Republicans faced opposition in their own party coming from the newly formed Freedom Caucus. The result was the Republican-dominated House failed to produce a budget, which hadn’t happened in several decades. The Republican...
The first regular session of Maine’s 128th state Legislature was exceptionally challenging, as lawmakers engaged in a bitter fight over the budget while wrestling with four ballot questions approved by voters in the November 2016 election. Lawmakers were divided on Question 2, which was approved by voters and would have imposed a 3% tax on those making $200,000 or more. Funds would be used t...
Two weeks into FY 2018, Gov. Charlie Baker signed a $39.4 billion spending package that increases spending by 1.7% over the prior year. He vetoed $320 million from the budget, including $222 million in spending for MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program. Baker has proposed reforms to MassHealth including a “gate” which blocks eligibility for full-time workers who have access to...
On June 7, 2017, Connecticut legislators wrapped up their session without passing a two-year budget. The failure to pass a budget or a provisional budget reflects a deeply divided Legislature with an 18-18 split in the Senate and a slight Democratic majority, 79-72, in the House. As lawmakers adjourned, Gov. Dannel Malloy chastised them for failing to break the deadlock and pass a budget.
A big s...
NEBHE Senior Fellow Stafford Peat teamed up with Sarah Linet, a policy specialist with the Great Schools Partnership, to write a piece for the online collaborative CompetencyWorks titled Debunking a Myth–Competency-Based Transcripts Don’t Disadvantage High School Graduates in the Admissions Process.
Peat and Linet note that a focus group of deans and directors of admission from the mo...
Some dates to save …
The New England Council’s Congressional Roundtable Series will feature talks by lawmakers and others in D.C. and New England, including U.S. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) at the Providence Biltmore Hotel on Monday, June 12 from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Thomas College will host an entrepreneur speaker and networking event on Tuesday, June 13 at the Thomas College Auditoriu...
The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) announces the appointment of Susan Lane as senior director of policy and research.
Lane has more than 35 years of experience working across campuses, P-12 districts, businesses and government to strengthen the reach of education though collaboration around common goals.
Most recently, as senior advisor to the commissioner for P-16 access and alig...
By 2032, the number of new high school graduates in New England is projected to decline by 22,000 to a total 140,273, according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education’s (WICHE) most recent Knocking at the College Door report.
New England’s challenge with an aging population and falling birth rates has been well chronicled. With fresh projections and an ever-changing polit...
Through its partnership with RadioHigherEd.com, NEJHE presents a podcast about the value and nuances of adopting a "student unit record" system.
The podcast features an interview with Aimee Guidera, president & CEO of the Data Quality Campaign, and Mamie Voight, director of policy research at the Institute for Higher Education Policy.
It is the third in a three-part series on student u...
The Rhode Island General Assembly abruptly ended its 2017 legislation session on Friday evening, July 1, following a protracted disagreement between House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio related to the car tax. Eliminating the car tax was a high priority of Mattiello’s. But some lawmakers expressed concern that with revenues lagging by approximately $100 mil... 
New Hampshire lawmakers ended hard-fought budget deliberations on June 22 and passed a two-year $17.7 billion budget along party lines. During House budget deliberations, Republicans faced opposition in their own party coming from the newly formed Freedom Caucus. The result was the Republican-dominated House failed to produce a budget, which hadn’t happened in several decades. The Republican... 
The first regular session of Maine’s 128th state Legislature was exceptionally challenging, as lawmakers engaged in a bitter fight over the budget while wrestling with four ballot questions approved by voters in the November 2016 election. Lawmakers were divided on Question 2, which was approved by voters and would have imposed a 3% tax on those making $200,000 or more. Funds would be used t... 
Two weeks into FY 2018, Gov. Charlie Baker signed a $39.4 billion spending package that increases spending by 1.7% over the prior year. He vetoed $320 million from the budget, including $222 million in spending for MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program. Baker has proposed reforms to MassHealth including a “gate” which blocks eligibility for full-time workers who have access to... 
On June 7, 2017, Connecticut legislators wrapped up their session without passing a two-year budget. The failure to pass a budget or a provisional budget reflects a deeply divided Legislature with an 18-18 split in the Senate and a slight Democratic majority, 79-72, in the House. As lawmakers adjourned, Gov. Dannel Malloy chastised them for failing to break the deadlock and pass a budget.
A big s... 
NEBHE Senior Fellow Stafford Peat teamed up with Sarah Linet, a policy specialist with the Great Schools Partnership, to write a piece for the online collaborative CompetencyWorks titled Debunking a Myth–Competency-Based Transcripts Don’t Disadvantage High School Graduates in the Admissions Process.
Peat and Linet note that a focus group of deans and directors of admission from the mo... 
Some dates to save …
The New England Council’s Congressional Roundtable Series will feature talks by lawmakers and others in D.C. and New England, including U.S. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) at the Providence Biltmore Hotel on Monday, June 12 from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Thomas College will host an entrepreneur speaker and networking event on Tuesday, June 13 at the Thomas College Auditoriu... 
By 2032, the number of new high school graduates in New England is projected to decline by 22,000 to a total 140,273, according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education’s (WICHE) most recent Knocking at the College Door report.
New England’s challenge with an aging population and falling birth rates has been well chronicled. With fresh projections and an ever-changing polit... 
Through its partnership with RadioHigherEd.com, NEJHE presents a podcast about the value and nuances of adopting a "student unit record" system.
The podcast features an interview with Aimee Guidera, president & CEO of the Data Quality Campaign, and Mamie Voight, director of policy research at the Institute for Higher Education Policy.
It is the third in a three-part series on student u...