Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Press Release, January 28, 2010

As states begin preparing for the third year of a fiscal crisis brought on by the recession, governors' new budget proposals contain cuts to core services -- like education and health care -- and state workforces well beyond those they have already made, according to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The proposals threaten to increase hardship and unemployment and weaken the economy by reducing overall demand.

Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, January 28, 2010

From the summary:
States are facing an unprecedented budget crisis, as the recession has caused the greatest declines in state tax revenues on record. Below is some background on the fundamentals of state finances and the depth of the problems states face today.

Source: Zoë Neuberger and Tina Fritz Namian, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, January 29, 2010

From the summary:
In anticipation of Congressional reauthorization of the federal child nutrition programs, some have called for increased federal reimbursement rates for school meals to improve their nutritional quality. Under current rules, however, federal payments for free and reduced price meals are not used solely to underwrite the cost of producing those meals.

Source: Paul N. Van de Water, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, February 3, 2010

From the summary:
Because rising health care costs represent the single largest cause of the federal government's long-term budget problems, fundamental health reform must be part of any budget solution.

Source: Konstantinos Pouliakas, Ioannis Theodossiou, IZA Discussion Paper No. 4734, January 2010

This paper engages in an interdisciplinary survey of the current state of knowledge related to the theory, determinants and consequences of occupational safety and health (OSH). First, it synthesizes the available theoretical frameworks used by economists and psychologists to understand the issues related to the optimal provision of OSH in the labour market. Second, it reviews the academic literature investigating the correlates of a comprehensive set of OSH indicators, which portray the state of OSH infrastructure (social security expenditure, prevention, regulations), inputs (chemical and physical agents, ergonomics, working time, violence) and outcomes (injuries, illnesses, absenteeism, job satisfaction) within workplaces. Third, it explores the implications of the lack of OSH in terms of the economic and social costs that are entailed. Finally, the survey identifies areas of future research interests and suggests priorities for policy initiatives that can improve the health and safety of workers.

Source: Sherrilyn M. Billger, IZA Discussion Paper No. 4739, February 2010

In our current challenging budgetary environment, school closures remain a potentially attractive choice. With a large panel of Illinois schools from 1991 to 2005, I investigate which factor contribute to school closures. Among elementary schools, declining enrollments and rural locations coincide with closures. However, schools with higher per-pupil spending are ceteris paribus less likely to close. Furthermore, better test scores also yield lower probabilities. High expenditures contribute to junior high closure, but the most significant predictors are the proportions of black and low income students. Administrators may claim that low enrollments and high spending motivate school closures, but in Illinois, that is not the whole story.

Source: John Schmitt, Center for Economic and Policy Research, February 2010

From the summary:
This report reviews unionization rates, the size and composition of the unionized workforce, and the wage and benefit advantage for union workers in each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia, using the most recent data available and focusing on the period 2003-2009. Pooling data from the monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) over that period yields a sample size large enough to look at the experience of even the smallest states.