This issue and the need to restore community oversight was explored more in-depth today in a Houston Chronicle article by TPPF Board Member Windi Grimes. The piece calls on lawmakers to “restore local control of these state-governed pension plans with sweetheart deals.”
Intentional or not, the net effect of freezing these local systems in state statute has been to shut out community leaders and city officials who don't have the right political connections in the Legislature. It has become almost irrelevant that affected communities work and pay taxes to support the retirement systems or that fewer services are available as officials shift scarce city resources from potholes to pensions.
Average electricity prices for companies spiked across the EU — 54% in Germany, for instance, over the five years 2009-2013 because of costs passed along as part of government renewable energy mandates.
School choice is good for teachers. According to testimony in the recent school finance trial, teacher salaries would increase in a system of competition. Right now 93% of school teachers are employed by state schools. In a system of competition, schools would have to allocate resources to the place where they can get the most bang for their buck—to the place that matters most to student achievement—to the classroom.
By working diligently to write quality papers to educate others and acting on those ideals, the Foundation will continue helping Texans in future decades to break the chains of poverty and open the doors of prosperity.
Solitary has become drastically overused by the Texas system. In other states, inmates in solitary confinement account for 1 or 2 percent of the incarcerated population. In Texas they account for 4.4 percent, many of them with mental disorders.
It’s reassuring to know that there are other organizations out there, especially in Texas, promoting free markets and liberty, and that they are making a difference in advancing the hopes and dreams of Texans and all Americans.
No jurisdiction uses an RNA to trump human judgment, nor should they. Instead, it is increasingly used to better inform discretionary decisions regarding offenders. No process is perfect, but when choosing between a hunch and a proven method, the choice for public safety is clear.
Should some favored local retirement systems be immune to local control? Some lawmakers don’t think so and a bill was filed yesterday to remedy this situation.
Texas is showing the United States what a successful economic model can be. It is high time that Texas also become an education model by allowing more choice for parents and children.
For as outspoken as the M-10’s been on the importance of self-governance, it’s been oddly quiet on a major public policy issue in its own backyard where local control has been willingly ceded to Austin lawmakers—state-governed local pension plans.
After comments made by Gov. Greg Abbott at Policy Orientation in January, Texas Tells discusses local control.