By Jeanne Herb. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 21% of New Jersey adults have some type of disability. CDC reports that people with disabilities are disproportionately affected by chronic diseases [...]
By Michael S. Hayes, Ph.D. The School Reform Funding Act of 2008 (SRFA) was designed to create a new school funding formula to end a long cycle of failed legislative attempts to reduce school spending inequalities across the state. Interestingly, the SRFA created its own revenue inequalities through the provision of “adjustment” aid to school [...]
By Jim Samuel. Open data and artificial intelligence (AI) are vital for future value creation. The value of aligning open data with AI development and deployment requirements has been elaborated upon in the Garden State Open Data Index (GSODI) 2023 report [...]
By Abigail Alcala. The Perkins Act, or its most recent iteration, which went into effect in 2019, called Strengthening Career and Technical Education in the 21st Century, is facing the end of its run in the coming year of 2024 [...]
by Mauricio Astudillo Rodas Public organizations are expected to improve people's lives by correctly delivering goods and services. These organizations must be transparent and accountable to different actors because constituents expect good use of their taxes. In this matter, the public sector is immersed in a set of rules and procedures that control every aspect [...]
By Stephanie Walsh In the context of governmental services, administrative burdens refer to the costs and barriers experienced by individuals. When burdens are high, the costs associated with benefit of public goods or services hinder accessibility. Past research has identified administrative burdens throughout the public sector – in public benefits, the justice system, healthcare, and [...]
By Josephine O'Grady. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance program (LIHEAP) is a federal block grant program that assists low-income families with the cost of paying their utility bills in areas including extreme heat and cold, household revisions to improve energy efficiency [...]
By Jeanne Herb. Over the past year, the New Jersey State Policy Lab has provided support to a collaborative effort of the Rutgers University Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and the New Jersey Department of Environmental protection [...]
by Michael Lahr, Tia Azzi, and Maia de la Calle, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service It is vital for New Jersey policymakers to understand what affects municipal tax rates. In this brief, we analyze local government spending and attempt to equalize effective municipal tax rates across New Jersey’s counties. To do this, we identify the variables [...]
by Maia de la Calle, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™) To gain a clear understanding of racial and ethnic disparities related to poverty, it is most important to focus on the poverty rate rather than the poverty count. According to the results presented in Figure 1.1, a much greater share of Black (17.3 percent) and [...]
