July, 2015 - Independence Institute

On Pay for Performance and Using the Right Yardstick 0
- July 29, 2015
Pay for performance (PFP) is an incredibly hotly debated facet of education reform. I’ve never really quite understood that because, well, rewarding folks for doing great work strikes me as common sense. I mean, I get more allowance money if I do my chores well, and not so much if I “clean my room” by […]
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2015 Thumbnail Guide to Colorado’s Spending Problem 0
- July 29, 2015
IB-D-2015 (July 2015) Author: Linda Gorman PDF of full Issue Backgrounder Introduction: Colorado state government has a spending problem. Between FY 1999-00 and FY 2013-14, its inflation-adjusted expenditures rose by 38 percent.1 Its inflation-adjusted revenues rose by just 34 percent. Although Colorado’s working age population grew over the period, its private sector employment stagnated.
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A Tale of Two Standards? Who Can Reject a Proposed Union Contract?0
- July 28, 2015
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…. So begins one of the most famous novels of the last 200 years: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I’m too little to know what it’s all about. But the idea of making a clear and direct contrast just seemed to […]
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New Mackinac Video Reminds Us of the Power of Choice 0
- July 24, 2015
Hello, fellow education policy explorers! It’s 4:15 on a Friday afternoon, and your favorite little edu-wonk has quite a few things left to accomplish before he heads into a fun-filled weekend. Unfortunately, that means we aren’t going to have time for an in-depth conversation today. But never fear! The Mackinac Center for Public Policy has […]
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A Worthy Celebration of Instant Gratification: NC Court Upholds Choice 0
- July 23, 2015
Only a few weeks ago we received the long-awaited news on Douglas County’s Choice Scholarship Program. While the Colorado Supreme Court narrowly left us to wait even longer and hold out hope for something even bigger and better, today brings some news of instant gratification. I only have a few minutes to share with you […]
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Colorado's Obamacare exchange spends big for little new coverage 0
- July 23, 2015
In the recent King v. Burwell decision, the U.S. Supreme Court said that the federal health benefits exchange can provide Obamacare premium subsidies. Given this, it may be time for Colorado officials to shut down the Colorado exchange and let people use the federal one. In 2012, the Colorado exchange predicted that its 2015-2018 expenditures
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