Oklahoma Governor Makes Good Choice to Sign Special-Needs Scholarship Bill… Could Colorado Be Next?
There is some very GOOD education reform news to report from our neighbors in Oklahoma this week. Governor Brad Henry signed into law a new program to provide scholarship assistance for special-needs students to attend the private or public school of t…
Texas Blazes Trail for Protecting Teachers from Automatic Political Payroll Deductions
Former teacher Larry Sand reports that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has enacted a policy protecting teachers in the Lone Star State from automatic payroll deductions to political action committees.
Members of the Texas State Teachers Association who want to give to their organization’s political agenda still have the right and the convenient access to make […]
CEA Shamefully Opposes SB 191 and Effective Teaching
For students to achieve the best outcomes, they need teachers and principals to be as effective as they can be. To make that happen, we first need a clear and fair way to know which teachers are effective. We need to do more to invest both teachers AND…
Colorado HB 1365: Bad Gas for Coloradans
How much would you pay for cleaner air? Surely this depends on its current state, the proposed improvement, and if you could tell the difference. The EPA wants you to pay for cleaner air by mandating pollution limits on power plants. Colorado HB 1365 would legislate how electric utilities do it. Xcel Energy supports the […]
Restoring Federalism and State Sovereignty: A Constitutional Path to Prosperity
The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution provides: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”
Over the first century of our nation’s history the 10th Amendment was an important part of the Constitutional rules constraining the growth of the federal government.
Politicians Fail the Simple Economics of Prosperity
Isn’t economics the “dismal science”; that thing you had to suffer through in college with graphs and equations, none of which seemed to make sense? Economics is actually very simple. Human beings, by their nature, must be free to take action to achieve their goals. We don’t have fur, claws and instincts like lower animals. […]
Private School Choice Helps Students, Saves Money? Lawmakers Say Too BAD; Lobbyists Make SHAMEFUL Claims
On consecutive days this week at the State Capitol, Colorado lawmakers once again killed two private school choice bills. HB 1295 and HB 1296 would have provided tax credits so families could choose a non-public school.
Even the fact that both bills w…
Bill Summary: HB10-1330, the All-Payer Database: A Transparency Trojan Horse
Gives the Executive Director of Health Care Policy and Financing the power to create a database to collect and store unlimited information on everyone…
FasTracks on the Wrong Track
The Daily Camera (Boulder) asked its Editorial Advisory Board members their views of different sales tax schemes for funding RTD’s “FasTracks.” My reply was published on Saturday, February 13:
Adaptable commuter transit routes, reducing traffic congestion with demand-sensitive road pricing, and minimizing both free-riders and forced funding. These goals should guide transportation policy. Taxing everyone to fund static commuter rail puts FasTracks on the wrong track.
California Teachers Empowerment Network Makes Big Splash in Townhall Magazine
A big “sister” group of Colorado Independent Teachers that continues to make a big splash on the West Coast is the California Teachers Empowerment Network — letting teachers in the Golden State know about their various membership options. You may remember the radio ad exposing the NEA’s agenda that they aired last fall.
Well, now CTEN […]
From ACORN to Rainbow PUSH: AFT Members in Douglas County & Elsewhere Fund Causes
In Colorado, teachers have the choice to belong or not to belong to various membership organizations. Most teachers belong to the Colorado Education Association (CEA). But in a handful of districts, a union that belongs to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the bargaining agent. No place in our state is this more prominent […]
Proposed Boulder Plastic Bag Ban: Authoritarian Environmentalism
Background from Daily Camera: Shopping in Boulder could get greener if some local students have their way. Inspired in part by a ban that passed in San Francisco in 2007, New Vista High and University of Colorado students are drafting an ordinance that would prohibit businesses — such as grocery stores — from using petroleum-based […]
