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The public layer finally started to feel real

April 19 was the point where the site stopped acting like a thin statewide directory and started acting more like a usable public database, with local and employer paths finally showing up beside the obvious statewide programs.

2026-04-19 published
178 published program pages
50 searchable states
19 under-review signals

Why this post exists

The site stopped looking thinner than the research behind it

For a while the work looked better in internal files than it did in the browser. This was the week that finally started to change.

For a while the site looked better in a spreadsheet than it did on an actual page. We had real source work, but too much of the useful material was still sitting one layer below what a public visitor could see.

April 19 felt like the first real break from that. The free layer stopped being mostly a small set of flagship statewide pages and started exposing more of the city, county, employer, and specialty paths that make a searcher feel like they are in a real database instead of a teaser funnel.

That matters because most people do not care which level of government or employer owns the program. They care whether there is a real path they can follow, whether it is live, and whether the rules are clean enough to trust.

What changed

The practical shift was lower in the stack

The meaningful improvement was not just a page-count win. It was that the site finally got denser where real users usually get stuck.

Once local and employer paths start showing up beside the obvious statewide programs, the state pages stop feeling empty. The finder also gets more honest, because it no longer implies that a state has nothing simply because the statewide flagship page is weak or missing.

That is also the point where paid access starts making more sense. If the free layer already proves the program exists and shows the official sources, the paid layer can focus on comparisons, working notes, lender-call prep, reminders, and the messier edge cases instead of just hiding program existence.

Snapshot

What the build looked like when the layer started to click

These numbers are not the whole story, but they show why the site felt different once the public layer got broader.

Published program pages

178 public program pages are currently strong enough to stand on their own.

Live public paths

289 live public paths are visible once public detail and summary-only records are counted together.

Searchable states

50 states are now searchable in the free finder.

Deeper research inventory

455 deeper research records still sit behind the scenes because not every source set deserves a public detail page.

Where the density shows

States where the public layer is easiest to feel

These are the states where the public layer currently has enough depth to feel useful without much explaining.

The strongest states are not just the ones with one decent statewide page. They are the ones where the state backbone and the local or employer layers now reinforce each other.

The local layer is what usually makes a state feel real. Right now that is most visible here:

Local and specialty free-layer depth is still thin in this build.

Editorial line

The site got more useful by staying selective

The improvement did not come from publishing everything. It came from publishing more of the right things and still keeping conflict notes public.

I do not want the free layer to feel thin. I also do not want it to lie. That means some pages stay narrow, some stay summary-only, and some get held back entirely when the official material is conflicted, suspended, or stale.

The public layer feels stronger now because it exposes more real paths without pretending every source packet is settled. That is still the rule going forward.

Keep browsing

Where to go next

If you want to check the site itself instead of the writing around it, start here.

Programs

Browse the current public program pages directly.

States

Open the state directory to see where the public layer is thick and where it is still thin.

Methodology

Read the public methodology if you want the publishing and under-review rules.

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