Public Schools
Business & Economics
Prop. 1A’s passage would open doors to more taxation
In 1987, Gov. George Deukmejian gave California taxpayers a $1.1 billion rebate. Due to the Gann spending limit enacted in 1979, named after Proposition 13 co-author Paul Gann, the state had a budget surplus, making the rebate mandatory. Subsequent ballot measures, however, rendered the limit meaningless. Now we are being ...
Business & Economics
The Left’s pension dilemma
You know the pension tsunami is getting close to shore when the mainstream media are filled with hard-hitting stories about the coming crisis, such as the front-page article April 11 in the Sacramento Bee and Fresno Bee, documenting the manner in which huge pension costs for retired public employees “threaten ...
Commentary
New California School Finance Center Database Brings Transparency to Public Education Finance
With the state’s budget deficit worsening, concern grows over the impact on school funding and Californians seek a way to make informed decisions about education policies affecting millions of school children each year. The just-launched California School Finance Center online database brings much-needed transparency amidst the charges and countercharges. The ...
Commentary
Education Achievement Has Declined Radically Since World War II
Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society Publishers, 2009 206 pages, hardcover, ISBN: 978-0-86571-631-5, $24.95 John Taylor Gatto’s Weapons of Mass Instruction is an articulate, compelling description of the state of U.S. education, in which the author details the unnecessary and in fact ...
Commentary
President Obama’s Education Vision Falls Short
In early March, President Obama addressed the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on his vision for public education. The president promised that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan would move beyond party politics to use “only one test” when deciding how to use taxpayer money. That test would be “not whether an ...
Commentary
Montana Considers School Choice Bill
School Reform News (Heartland Institute – Chicago, IL), April 1, 2009 Montana families may soon have more than just government-mandated public schools to choose from. On February 5 the state Senate Tax Committee heard SB 342, sponsored by state Sen. Jeff Essman (R-Billings). At press time the bill was pending ...
Commentary
Indiana Legislators Consider Tax Credit Measure
The Indiana state legislature is considering a bill to establish a tax credit scholarship program for families to send their children to private K-12 schools. S.B. 528—introduced in January by state Sen. Carlin Yoder (R-Elkhart County)—is designed to benefit low- and middle-income families. Businesses and individuals who donate to scholarship-granting ...
Education
Citizen’s Guide to California Public School Finance
In any given state, legislatures spend more on elementary and secondary education than any other major program, including healthcare, higher education, social services, and the criminal justice system. California is no exception. At $40 billion, K–12 education represents the largest share of the state general-fund budget. Yet few people comprehend ...
Commentary
Pacific Research Institute and Just for the Kids—California Launches California School Finance Center Database
Sacramento, March 31, 2009 – The Pacific Research Institute and Just for the Kids – California announce the launch of the California School Finance Center database (https://schoolfinancecenter.org/). It compiles publicly-available information on public school revenue, achievement, and student demographic data from a dozen California Department of Education sources to present ...
Commentary
More educating with less money
Orange County Register, March 27, 2009 Flash Report, March 29, 2009 CA Forward, March 27, 2009 Award-winning charter schools show public schools how to succeed. The Oakland Charter Academy and the Our Community Charter School in the San Fernando Valley have won the Hart Vision “Charter School of the Year” ...
Prop. 1A’s passage would open doors to more taxation
In 1987, Gov. George Deukmejian gave California taxpayers a $1.1 billion rebate. Due to the Gann spending limit enacted in 1979, named after Proposition 13 co-author Paul Gann, the state had a budget surplus, making the rebate mandatory. Subsequent ballot measures, however, rendered the limit meaningless. Now we are being ...
The Left’s pension dilemma
You know the pension tsunami is getting close to shore when the mainstream media are filled with hard-hitting stories about the coming crisis, such as the front-page article April 11 in the Sacramento Bee and Fresno Bee, documenting the manner in which huge pension costs for retired public employees “threaten ...
New California School Finance Center Database Brings Transparency to Public Education Finance
With the state’s budget deficit worsening, concern grows over the impact on school funding and Californians seek a way to make informed decisions about education policies affecting millions of school children each year. The just-launched California School Finance Center online database brings much-needed transparency amidst the charges and countercharges. The ...
Education Achievement Has Declined Radically Since World War II
Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society Publishers, 2009 206 pages, hardcover, ISBN: 978-0-86571-631-5, $24.95 John Taylor Gatto’s Weapons of Mass Instruction is an articulate, compelling description of the state of U.S. education, in which the author details the unnecessary and in fact ...
President Obama’s Education Vision Falls Short
In early March, President Obama addressed the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on his vision for public education. The president promised that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan would move beyond party politics to use “only one test” when deciding how to use taxpayer money. That test would be “not whether an ...
Montana Considers School Choice Bill
School Reform News (Heartland Institute – Chicago, IL), April 1, 2009 Montana families may soon have more than just government-mandated public schools to choose from. On February 5 the state Senate Tax Committee heard SB 342, sponsored by state Sen. Jeff Essman (R-Billings). At press time the bill was pending ...
Indiana Legislators Consider Tax Credit Measure
The Indiana state legislature is considering a bill to establish a tax credit scholarship program for families to send their children to private K-12 schools. S.B. 528—introduced in January by state Sen. Carlin Yoder (R-Elkhart County)—is designed to benefit low- and middle-income families. Businesses and individuals who donate to scholarship-granting ...
Citizen’s Guide to California Public School Finance
In any given state, legislatures spend more on elementary and secondary education than any other major program, including healthcare, higher education, social services, and the criminal justice system. California is no exception. At $40 billion, K–12 education represents the largest share of the state general-fund budget. Yet few people comprehend ...
Pacific Research Institute and Just for the Kids—California Launches California School Finance Center Database
Sacramento, March 31, 2009 – The Pacific Research Institute and Just for the Kids – California announce the launch of the California School Finance Center database (https://schoolfinancecenter.org/). It compiles publicly-available information on public school revenue, achievement, and student demographic data from a dozen California Department of Education sources to present ...
More educating with less money
Orange County Register, March 27, 2009 Flash Report, March 29, 2009 CA Forward, March 27, 2009 Award-winning charter schools show public schools how to succeed. The Oakland Charter Academy and the Our Community Charter School in the San Fernando Valley have won the Hart Vision “Charter School of the Year” ...
