Author

Elaine S. Povich, Stateline

Elaine S. Povich, Stateline

Elaine S. Povich covers consumer affairs for Stateline. Povich has reported for Newsday, the Chicago Tribune and United Press International. She also has worked as a freelancer for the Washington Post, the Fiscal Times, Governing, Kiplinger and AARP Bulletin.

Hit the snooze button: States debate later high school start times

By: - September 18, 2023

California and Florida have become the first states to require later public school start times, a response to reams of research showing significant advantages for high school students who can get more sleep by beginning their day at 8:30 a.m. or later. But such changes come with difficult ripple effects — upended bus schedules, later starts […]

Plagued by teacher shortages, some states turn to fast-track credentialing

By: - July 26, 2023

Faced with alarming teacher shortages, Virginia last month agreed to partner with a for-profit online teacher credentialing company, hoping to get more teachers into classrooms faster and without the higher tuition costs of traditional colleges and universities. While some of the Virginia school board members had qualms about the process, they agreed to give it […]

Campus diversity will be a struggle without race-based admissions, history shows

By: - July 5, 2023

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the list of states that have implemented automatic admission programs for top-performing high school students. States that have tried to enroll more Black and Hispanic students in state universities without using race-based admissions policies have seen the numbers of those students slip — especially at elite […]

Car insurance premiums based on job, education can ding low-wage workers

By: - June 28, 2023

New Jersey resident Anna “Cuqui” Rivera, a high school graduate who works as a labor and civil rights activist and moonlights as a DJ, was paying almost $3,000 annually for auto insurance with one of the big companies. Now, she pays almost $2,000 less for coverage on her 2016 Jeep. The difference? Her new, smaller insurance company doesn’t take […]

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Education Secretary Jacob Oliva talk about the LEARNS Act and what it means for K-12 education in Arkansas at an invitation-only town hall in El Dorado on June 6, 2023. (Randall Lee/Courtesy of the Governor's Press Office)

More states use taxpayer dollars to help people pay for private school

By: - June 19, 2023

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which parents and educators reevaluated their relationship with public schools, lawmakers across the country have eagerly embraced state-funded voucher programs, giving public money to students to attend private schools. So far this year, at least 10 states have implemented or expanded programs for vouchers and other state […]

A teenager uses a laptop with a phone nearby. States are passing laws designed to keep kids away from social media and porn sites, but the effectiveness of the laws is being questioned by opponents and challenged in court. (Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Getty Images)

Lawmakers try to keep kids from social media, porn

By: - June 12, 2023

To address the harmful effects of pornography and social media on children, states are passing laws meant to keep kids off certain sites and to block them from adult content. But the efforts face major hurdles — and real questions about whether the proposed solutions would even work. Some of the measures would require parental permission for […]

More states line up to serve free school meals to all kids

By: - May 29, 2023

During his long career as a high school teacher, New York state Sen. John Mannion often reached into his own pocket to cover the cost of lunches for kids who didn’t have the funds. “I watched kids get to the end of the line and not have enough money on their cards,” the Democrat said […]

State attorneys general unite against robocalls

By: - August 16, 2022

Nothing has been able to kill scam robocalls — not federal regulation, not individual state lawsuits, not private software. Each effort has made a dent, but the unwanted calls keep on coming, much to the consternation of Americans on the receiving end. Now, all 50 state attorneys general, Republicans and Democrats, have come together through […]