As the 50-state network has grown, the states have discovered a valuable asset for policy change: each other. Not only are they working together to develop innovative policy solutions, but states are also sharing ideas and strategies as they look to improve the quality of life for their citizens and ensure a prosperous future for the country. Thanks to this collaboration, policy solutions are sweeping across state lines, with each state customizing reforms to better serve their constituents.

While this network-wide trend has succeeded in multiple policy areas, two policy solutions exemplify the enormous progress multi-state collaboration can achieve: Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) and Financial Ready legislation. In 2015 alone, the joint efforts of several state think tanks have removed educational barriers for families and convinced state governments to embrace greater transparency and planning in their budgets.

Education Savings Accounts

But the impact has been much more than modest.

To date, ESAs have allowed nearly 3,000 children in both Arizona and Florida (which passed ESAs soon after Arizona) to receive the education they need. Half-a-dozen additional states are looking at implementing ESAs next year, and 26 state think tanks have said they want to pursue ESAs in their state.

The Goldwater Institute and the Friedman Foundation now team up every year to bring in lawmakers and think tank staff from other states to visit schools in Arizona where parents are using ESAs. This allows them to hear from parents, students, and school administrators about the program’s benefits.

Two states that visited Arizona schools and then passed ESA legislation include Mississippi and Tennessee.

“We’ve been following its evolution since it first passed in Arizona. At the same time we had a member of the House who had a daughter who has special needs and had seen firsthand how public schools treat children with special needs and their parents; she was very passionate about the concept,” Forest Thigpen of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy said. Mississippi ESA legislation takes effect for students with special needs this fall.

A similar solution, called Individualized Education Accounts, was passed in Tennessee.

“We believe that children and families in Tennessee deserve greater options and opportunities at their disposal—especially students with special needs whose needs aren’t being met by the current system,” said Lindsay Boyd of the Beacon Center.

Other states have benefited from SPN’s Spreadsheet to Story program, which brings together several groups with a shared policy solution to work with Kevan Kjar of Arrowhead³ and Spark Freedom on developing effective messaging and strategy. This collaboration has yielded an “all hands on deck” mentality when an ESA bill starts moving forward in any of the target states.

It was this mentality that helped Nevada pass the first universal ESA program, offered to every public school student in the state. “That was possible because we could look at the positive benefits of programs all over the country,” Victor Joecks of the Nevada Policy Research Institute said.

Nevada was also able to point to Arizona to demonstrate the program’s success and the opportunities it has given to children in failing schools, children in the foster system, active duty military families, and others.

“As we’ve expanded the program, we’ve seen that it is in fact something that can be used by children with all kinds of different needs,” Butcher said. “ESAs allow a parent to say, ‘I know what my child needs, and I can create something that is unique for them that is going to provide them with the best chance at a great future.’”

Financial Ready

“The beef stew is a metaphor for the state budget,” he explains to anyone who asks about the nondescript white pouch. “Without some kind of container, you don’t know what’s in the state budget. Put the sleeve on and suddenly you are prepared for some sort of federal financial calamity. The simple fact of knowing what’s in the package allows you to be prepared.”

That’s the idea behind Financial Ready. It is the “sleeve” that details what is in the state budget: what federal dollars come into the state and what commitments they come with.

Since the New Deal, federal and local governments have been intertwined. With over two-thirds of the states depending on federal transfers for 30 percent—or more—of their budgets, sustainability and innovation within state budgets have been stifled.

Unfortunately, legislators are unaware of how much federal funding flows into their coffers and what strings are attached to it.

“What we discovered [in Utah] is that none of our agencies seemed to know how dependent they were on federal funds, and they had no backup plan,” said Utah House Representative Ken Ivory.

Utah was the first state to pass Financial Ready legislation in 2011.

Financial Ready is the first phase of a long-term effort to wean states off “free” federal money so that, when federal budget crises occur, they are prepared and can protect their constituents. Much like government transparency policies shine a light on unchecked government spending, Financial Ready legislation gives states a tool to assess the impact of federal overreach on their programs. It arms decision makers with information that can change how they think about federal grants and their effect on state budgets and programs.

As a result, Utah has remained one of only 10 states that have received top bond ratings from all three rating agencies.

And its success spurred a movement. After its passage in Utah, SPN brought several groups together to work on talking points and operation plans to help carry the success forward.

The state of Idaho offered to take the lead after Utah’s successful passage and was able to get the governor to sign an executive order. Now leaders from Idaho and Utah serve as sounding boards for other states looking to advance Financial Ready policy through biweekly conference calls, research sharing, message brainstorming, and many other resources.

This has encouraged other states to take similar steps to promote budget transparency and prepare a contingency plan for if—or, more likely, when—the federal funds dry up.

“Getting a better idea of what the picture truly is and having some kind of game plan in place to deal with it is something we are very eager to work toward,” said Paul Gessing of the Rio Grande Foundation in New Mexico, where Financial Ready is in its infancy.

Even states like Mississippi, generally considered to be one of the most federally-reliant states, have passed a light version of the bill, which requires reporting on federal dollars but does not require the state to come up with a contingency plan.

“With the bill that [Mississippi] passed, we can better understand our profound dependency,” said Jameson Taylor of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.

In South Carolina, Oran Smith of the Palmetto Promise Institute said they were pleased with the wide support the policy received.
“It was seen for what it is—which is a commonsense bill,” he said.

The North Carolina state government discussed a new position in the state budget office. “This position would work on implementing effective federal grants management and oversight. So, that’s a nod to the issue,” Brian Balfour of the Civitas Institute said.

Even states in which the governor has vetoed reform efforts have seen forward progress.

In Oklahoma, the legislature will hold hearings and potentially subpoena agency staff. “That is a result of public pressure and legislators understanding this issue and its importance,” said Trent England of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.

And in Montana, where the governor has vetoed the legislation twice, state legislators are starting to take a deeper look at the budget. “This is the first time in my career that I’ve seen a committee take a hard look at even the minor grants that come into the state,” said Brent Mead of the Montana Policy Institute. “There is an effort to understand what it means when we agree to take this federal money.”

This multi-state working group has continued to collaborate on messaging, strategy, and next steps states can take to ensure financial stability.

“The next step is to proactively get agencies to plan for the possibility that these finances might go away,” Hoffman said. “After that, the other aspect is having a good grasp of which programs are absolutely critical or necessary.”

The Asset of Collaboration

“We are fortunate to have a network of groups that are likeminded and can collectively collaborate and put our resources together,” Butcher said.

This is true of many other successful collaborations, such as Texas Public Policy’s Right On Crime initiative, which has brought meaningful criminal justice reforms, and the Foundation for Government Accountability’s Medicaid reforms, which have extinguished the wildfires of many Medicaid expansion efforts that would have increased the scarcity of accessible, affordable health care for the most vulnerable and imposed additional financial hardship on several states.

“It is an asset that makes the passage of these solutions possible,” Thigpen said, echoing several others engaged in these victories: “It’s important for people to understand that this can only happen if you have passionate legislators, dedicated statewide leaders and organizations that are active on the policy and political fronts.”

Sarah Leitner Kramer is a freelance contributor to SPN News. She previously worked as an investigative reporter for Media Trackers Pennsylvania and her work has appeared in outlets such as the Washington Examiner and National Review Online.