The Health and Social Service area of the state of Illinois’ budget has comprised roughly 40 percent of state expenditures in recent years. When leaders decide to cut the state budget, this area is inevitably on the chopping ...

As mandated by Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution, Congress is required to authorize and fund a complete count of the American population every 10 years. The form of the decennial census has changed over time, from a simple ...

School districts across the United States are developing systemic, district-wide approaches to support students’ social and emotional learning (SEL), due to the increasingly recognized role that students’ social-emotional ...

The state of Illinois finally ended its two-year budget impasse in July 2017 but continues to face a structural fiscal imbalance. We use comprehensive data supplied by the Illinois Comptroller to construct a time series ...

Despite enormous recent challenges, Illinois’ economy remains relatively healthy compared to other states. Median family income in Illinois has remained above the national average since at least 1984. After a relatively ...

Are we looking at a crisis or a chronic condition? Illinois’ fiscal situation has been precarious for at least a decade – and much longer if pension liabilities are considered. From FY 2003 to 2008, which were good years ...

According to the dictum “tax waste, not work," Illinois could avoid some increase to the personal income tax on productive labor efforts by instead taxing pollution emissions that contribute to climate change. This short ...

This report, the seventh in IGPA's Policy Spotlight series, examines the impact the pandemic has had on teachers and school administrators in Illinois. While some of these challenges predated the pandemic, many have been ...

Illinois needs to prepare now for the coming changes associated with climate change, according to IGPA's Climate Change Policy Initiative. A new report, "Preparing for climate change in Illinois: An overview of expected ...

This report provides an assessment of three state policies that are targeted at the hospital industry in Illinois. The authors take a close look at tax exemptions for not-for-profit hospitals, the Medicaid hospital assessment ...