People Want to Believe in Government
Why Are bad ideas so universally popular?
Setting the Standard for Pro-Worker Transparency
As the influence of organized labor grows in Colorado’s public sector, so does the need for greater accountability and transparency. Through stricter enforcement of a federal law designed to ferret out union corruption, the U.S. Department of Labor in recent years has set the highest standard for disclosure of union finances. This enforcement has yielded real but limited gains in bringing restitution to members and fee-payers wronged by the malfeasance of certain union officials.
Bad Decision for Children like Lexie: AZ Vouchers Struck Down
To realize the impact of yesterday’s Arizona Supreme Court decision watch this video about a little girl named Lexie. Also, read the media release from the Institute for Justice. Lexie has multiple disabilities. Her public school was not able to meet her needs, but the state-funded scholarship program for children with disabilities gave her the opportunity to attend a private […]
The 6-percent Cap Works
The lesson is clear: if politicians truly are interested in the poor they should pursue policies to promote economic growth, not policies to retard economic growth — like SB 228.
D.C. School Choice Under Attack
Virginia Walden Ford, executive director of D.C. Parents for School Choice, explains how the successful voucher program in our nation’s capital is under attack from Congress. Currently, more than 1,700 low-income students benefit from the opportunity to escape terrible conditions in D.C. public schools for better educational opportunity, with thousands more waiting to get in. Coloradans who support school choice can make their voices heard.
Waivers for Public Schools: A Good Step for Reform
Today, two public schools received waivers from 40 state statutes, 32 district policies, and 18 collective bargaining agreement provisions. The Colorado State Board of Education unanimously voted in favor of granting waivers to two Denver Public Schools, Manual High School and Montclair School of Academics and Enrichment.
The schools are the first “Innovation Schools” under a law […]
Homeschool Day at the Capitol
On April 3, 2009, hundreds of homeschoolers will descend on the state Capitol to show their support for homeschool freedoms to Colorado’s elected officials.
Parents Should Not Lose Easy Access to School Report Cards
Education Policy Center Director Pam Benigno discusses the latest from this week in Colorado education. State lawmakers are threatening to end the requirement that printed copies of the School Accountability Report (SAR) be delivered to parents. Poorer families without computer access will be most affected, since they often rely on the information to help find safer, better-performing schools for their children.
Politicians Cannot “Guarantee” Health Care
Politicians cannot guarantee health care, but by trying they can create an unaccountable and toxic insurance monopoly. So beware of Colorado House Bill 1273, which will be heard by the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee on March 18. The Rocky Mountain News described this so-called “Colorado Guaranteed Healthcare Act” as a “Canadian-style, single-payer” bill. A recent survey finds that nearly one in four state House members advocate single-payer health care. Their support of such politically-controlled medicine is appalling.
Bad News for Families: State Cuts Printed School Report Cards
Yesterday the Joint Budget Committee cut the printing of next year’s School Accountability Reports (SAR). Also, a bill going through the legislature that will make major changes to Colorado’s accountability system does not include printing of the new reports. Not sending home a SAR (aka school report card) keeps parents in the dark about a school’s student performance. […]
Ysursa and the Supreme Court III: Return of Clean Government
In the third and final installment of a Star Wars-like trilogy on the Ysursa v. Pocatello Education Association case, Michael Reitz of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation explains how the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling is a victory for good state-labor relations, taxpayers, and clean government. The ruling upholds laws passed in Idaho and Utah that prohibit government payroll systems from being used to collect private political contributions.
House Bill 09-1293: Tax Sick People to Create a Hospital Slush Fund
Note: the Fiscal note numbers referenced in this bill are from the March 18, 2009 Fiscal Note. The bill language refers to the unofficial preamended version of the bill as of March 20, 2009. For the purposes of this analysis, the main difference between the preamended version and the introduced version is that the limits of the buy-in program for the disabled were increased from 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Level to 450 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.
