Feb 18, 2021 4:13 PM EDT
Many states slashed higher education funding last year, fearing the pandemic would torpedo state revenues. The higher education sector, no stranger to steep cuts during economic recessions, braced for further budget reductions in the 2022 fiscal year.
But many public higher education officials’ worst fears have not been realized at least not yet, experts say. Governors’ proposed state budgets are a mixed bag, with several states pushing to increase higher education funding or at least restore last year’s cuts.
“We’re seeing almost as many budget proposals protecting or bolstering higher ed as we are cutting higher ed,” said Sunny Deye, program director for postsecondary education at the National Conference of State Legislatures.
There are growing concerns about big gaps among students in first grade classrooms across California next fall as thousands of families opted to skip kindergarten this school year.
California, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa and Kentucky are looking at spending more on colleges and universities in the upcoming fiscal year. Georgia, Hawaii, Nevada and North Dakota eye cuts.
Brandon Bishop
Brandon Bishop joined SHEEO as a policy analyst in October 2019. In this role, Brandon’s areas of focus are: supporting the SHEEO Membership Survey and writing the SHEEO Membership Report, supporting SHEEO’s racial equity work, and working on the Frontier Set project. Additionally, Brandon provides research support for various other projects at SHEEO, ranging from evidence-based policy making to rural, postsecondary education. Some of Brandon’s publications include the “2020 SHEEO Membership Report” and the “State Agencies and Systems of Higher Education Leading for Equity.” Before joining SHEEO, Brandon was a state relations associate at Education Commission of the States. While in graduate school, Brandon interned at the Colorado Department of Higher Education, supporting the department’s work with the Talent, Innovation, and Equity grant. Brandon holds an M.A. in higher education from the University of Denver and a B.A. in political science from Ari