Annual Report - Program Evaluation Division Evaluators provide information and analyses for policy makers and program administrators. Evaluators focus on one topic for several months. Evaluators have advanced degrees in various disciplines. A project manager is assigned to each evaluation team.
Evaluators make presentation to legislative committees and other groups throughout the year.
Every year the Program Evaluation Division takes on new topics. The best practices review was also selected by the audit commission, following a recommendation from an advisory council whose members represent local governments. The state has clear constitutional authority to impose mandates on local governments and does so in a variety of areas, including taxation, human services, and personnel concerns. But local governments complain that their views about mandates are often not taken seriously by state policymakers and that having to pay for unfunded mandates sometimes skews local government priorities. This study explored the issue of state mandates and provided an analysis of important mandates and the tools that exist to mitigate their adverse effect.