Professor Smith Goes to Washington: Educational Interest Group Lobbying, 1998–2017

Congressional lobbying by education-related interest groups is an understudied subject in education research. This brief uses congressional lobbying expenditure data from 1998 to 2017 to examine trends in lobbying behavior by labor unions; K–12 education providers; and public, private nonprofit, and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEducational researcher Vol. 49; no. 6; pp. 448 - 453
Main Authors Marsicano, Christopher R., Brooks, Christopher
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.08.2020
American Educational Research Association
Subjects
Educational Policy
Educational Trends
Elementary Secondary Education
Expenditures
Higher Education
Interest groups
Lobbying
Politics of Education
Trend Analysis
Trends
Unions
politics of education
higher education
descriptive analysis
education policy
lobbying
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Summary:Congressional lobbying by education-related interest groups is an understudied subject in education research. This brief uses congressional lobbying expenditure data from 1998 to 2017 to examine trends in lobbying behavior by labor unions; K–12 education providers; and public, private nonprofit, and for-profit higher education institutions. Education interest groups have spent in excess of $2 billion lobbying Congress since 1998. Higher education institutions represent a disproportionate share of lobbying activity and expenditures, accounting for almost 70% of education-focused interest groups and around 80% of education-related lobbying expenditures. Lobbying expenditures steadily rose until 2011 before rapidly declining. The brief speculates as to the possible reasons for these trends and concludes with a call for greater research on lobbying for education.
ISSN:0013-189X
1935-102X
DOI:10.3102/0013189X20921845