Ronald Reagan famously said that government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: “If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” The last part is funny because it exposes the backward thinking of government. If a product or service...
The preamble of the Texas Public Information Act says that the people who work for government agencies do not have “the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know.” To hold public servants accountable for the decisions they make and the money they...
If at first you don’t succeed in convincing taxpayers to fund one of the most expensive football stadiums in the state, try, try, try again. Next month, Willis ISD will make its third attempt to get clearance from voters to borrow $68 million for the new facility, apparently unable to take no for an answer....
On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General released an explosive report revealing that CBP, ICE, and TSA are allowing immigrants entry into the U.S. and to board domestic flights without verifying their identity and vetting them for potential threats. “Under current processes, CBP and ICE cannot ensure they are keeping high-risk noncitizens without identification from...
The review period for Texas’ new educational curriculum has just ended and the State Board of Education is set to hold a hearing next week to discuss the feedback it received. Unsurprisingly, the comments were more negative than positive because people who are mad about something are usually more motivated to let the world know...
How do you make $8 million disappear? Ask Houston ISD. After a recent report by the Houston Chronicle revealed Houston ISD had spent more than $709,000 on developing the largest bond proposal in Texas history, $4.4 billion, TPPF submitted a public records request to obtain all the documents related to developing the bond. In other...
Texas state Rep. Brad Buckley, who chairs the House Committee on Public Education, recently sat down with TPPF’s Brian Phillips to discuss monumental new education reform, HB 1605. Among other things, the bill requires the development of high-quality instructional material (HQIM) that is made available—but not mandatory—for every teacher in every school district. The material...
Finally, a poll that gets it right! Public polling on school choice over the last few years has been almost all meaningless because most pollsters refuse to accurately test the policies that have been put forward by the legislature. Many polls also (intentionally?) use various terms incorrectly. For example, vouchers are not education savings accounts...
A well-known taxpayer funded lobbyist told a conference of school board trustees to weaponize teacher pay so teachers would be motivated to lobby the legislature and vote differently at the ballot box. This revelation comes from Rob McClelland, a Dripping Springs ISD trustee who was at a June meeting hosted by the Texas Association of...
The left wants Americans to believe that conservatives, and in particular former president Donald Trump, are a threat to democracy in this country. But they have now discarded millions of primary election votes for President Joe Biden and anointed, without any competition or debate, Vice President Kamala Harris to be their presidential nominee. The precedent...
It’s been a bad couple of weeks for Biden and new polling from RMG Research shows things are getting worse. Forty-six percent (46%) of voters think Donald Trump is likely to win the presidency to only 38% who think Biden will win. Forty-six percent (46%) of voters think that White House staff, cabinet members, and...
The following commentary is published on Thursdays as part of TPPF’s subscriber-only newsletter The Post. If you would like to subscribe to The Post, click here. The left-wing bias of the mainstream media is nothing new. It will likely be on display in the questions asked and coverage following tonight’s presidential debate. For most of my...