“State Efforts to Combat Teacher Shortages: A look at new laws and investments in the Midwest” ~ PDF Legislative Tracker: 2023 Enacted Laws Introduction Interest in being a classroom teacher has waned in recent years, and state policymakers are having to confront how best to incentivize qualified applicants to fill long-existing vacancies, keep current educators in the classroom, and encourage more people to enter the profession. Whether it includes adopting licensure accommodations, offering financial aid, or providing upskilling opportunities, the tactics that Midwestern states are taking to ..read more

For years, Ohio Sen. Bill Reineke has been a leader in his state on issues related to workforce. That includes his sponsorship of major legislation as well as membership on the Governor’s Executive Workforce Board. He is now helping lead a regionwide effort on workforce as chair of The Council of State Governments’ Midwestern Legislative Conference. This topic is the focus of his MLC Chair’s Initiative. In support of the initiative, CSG Midwest is producing a series of articles, research briefs and policy sessions for the region’s legislators related to this initiative. In this interview with ..read more

Innovation in workforce policy and development is the focus of the 2024 Midwestern Legislative Chair’s Initiative of Ohio Sen. Bill Reineke (pictured to the right). In support of the initiative, CSG Midwest is producing a series of articles, research briefs and policy sessions for the region’s legislators on this initiative. Below, we explore the State of the State addresses delivered by Midwestern governors in early 2024 and focus on their ideas for building talent pipelines and addressing workforce shortages. We look at four common policy strategies: Boost rates of postsecondary attainment ..read more

Already one of six states that builds off the federal Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, Wisconsin is now expanding the reach of its state-level credit as the result of AB 1023, a measure that passed with near-unanimous legislative support and was signed into law in March. The credit reimburses qualifying families for child care expenses incurred while parents or guardians work or look for work. The amount of Wisconsin’s credit has been raised from 50 percent to 100 percent of the federal Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit; additionally, the maximum amount of qualifying child care-related e ..read more

New laws in Iowa and South Dakota are setting a new floor for what teachers in those two states must be paid. With the enactment of SB 127, South Dakota joins the group of states that sets in statute a minimum salary for starting teachers. The initial threshold is $45,000 for fiscal year 2025 and will be adjusted annually based on a “target teacher salary” that also is set in statute. South Dakota school districts must begin paying the minimum starting teacher salary with the 2026-’27 school year. Iowa already required that a minimum salary be paid to teachers, but this year’s HF 2612 raises t ..read more

The idea seems simple: draw off the carbon dioxide (CO2) created during ethanol’s fermentation process at myriad Midwestern production plants before it enters the atmosphere and send it via pipelines to sequestration wells to be stored deep underground. But two recent pipeline proposals faltered in the face of local opposition in the form of county-level setback requirements and landowners fighting the potential use of eminent domain. These developments drew attention from Midwestern legislators as they wrestle with both ongoing questions over the siting of pipelines and newer questions about ..read more

In 2022, the last year of available federal data, state child protection services (CPS) received an estimated 4.3 million referrals alleging child maltreatment. The number of children involved in those referrals: about 7.5 million. Ultimately, though, most of these young people and their families did not receive any CPS-related supports or services. “Families who come [to the attention] of child welfare have one set of needs, and they come to a system that is designed to do something else,” says Katie Rollins, a policy fellow at the University of Chicago’s Chapin Hall. According to Rollins, th ..read more

During the last three months of 2023, state governments collected more than $758 million in taxes from sports betting, a 26 percent jump compared to the final quarter of 2022. Among the states bringing in the most tax receipts: Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. Nationwide, only New York and Pennsylvania collected more than these three Midwestern states, which accounted for 90 percent of the total in this 11-state region (see bar graph for state-by-state information). The end-of-year data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s “Quarterly Survey of State and Local Revenue.” With the exception of Wisconsi ..read more

The CSG Justice Center has created two new resources for policymakers: 1) “Five Ways States Can Reduce Violent Crime”; and 2) snapshots for each of the 50 states on what the most up-to-date data show about trends in crime, arrests, behavioral health, workforce, recidivism and more. This article describes each part of the five-point plan. For state policymakers, staff at the CSG Justice Center is available to help unpack the data and dig deeper into how to improve community safety. Please contact the CSG Justice Center’s Madeleine Dardeau to learn more. #1: Solve more cases of violent crime Nat ..read more

The long-term consequences for habitually missing school are numerous. A student falls behind in reading comprehension during the pivotal early grades. Social-emotional development is diminished. And it becomes more common that a young person will not graduate on time or will drop out of school entirely. In every Midwestern state, students are considered “chronically absent” if they miss 10 percent or more of the school year. This attendance problem worsened during the pandemic, and despite a return to in-person learning, rates of chronic absenteeism have yet to drop back down to pre-pandemic ..read more