WAUCHULA, Fla.—It wasn’t even about the kids—at least, not at first. Julie Taylor began planning the Alane Academy in tiny Wauchula, Florida because she felt unfulfilled as a teacher. “I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, and I was—I was a public school teacher for seven years,” the head of the 75-student rural...
The city of Austin is becoming an increasingly expensive place to live, not least because of the overgrown local governments which seem determined to drain taxpayers’ money. It might be different if this money at least be spent on things within the proper sphere of government, which would will serve Austin citizens and protect their...
The legal doctrine of standing is enjoying its moment in the sun in the wake of the Biden Administration’s student loan cancellation plan. The doctrine requires someone to suffer “concrete and particularized” harm—and not just a “generalized grievance”—before filing suit. It will be the Administration’s chief weapon in blocking legal challenges to the loan forgiveness...
It can, it turns out, be done. Local governments can, in fact, be responsible with taxpayer funds without prompting from voters or the state government. That’s exactly what Hays County officials did with their new $354 million budget. Hays County adopted the no-new-revenue (NNR) tax rate, which drops the tax rate in proportion with property...
“That’s classified.” That’s a phrase we see often in movies, and a phrase we expect to hear from our government regarding military missions, special operations, and other national security issues. It’s not a phrase we expect to hear from our local and state governments regarding hiring decisions, spending, or other public business. And yet, that’s...
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signaled that major property tax changes may be on the horizon. During last week’s televised debate, the governor outlined where he’d like to see Texas tax policy go, saying: “My goal is to eliminate the school property taxes imposed in the state of Texas so that people can genuinely own their...
October is here, which according to Millennials means it is officially “Spooky Season.” And while Texas is home to a number of haunted houses and spooky events that will surely raise your blood pressure and lead to a scream or two, I went down a rabbit hole that can give you that same fix at...
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and former Democratic Congressman Beto O’Rourke faced off Friday, September 30 for a one hour televised debate in the Rio Grande Valley—the epicenter of America’s illegal immigration crisis under President Joe Biden. It was no surprise that illegal immigration was the debate’s foremost topic. And the way the issue played...
In 2007, when photo voter ID was first being debated in the Texas House, State Rep. Rafael Anchia, a leading Democrat leader from Dallas, spoke against it, telling his fellow legislators that they were targeting the wrong problem: “…Vote by mail that we know is the greatest source of voter fraud in this state,” Anchia said....
It’s impossible to ignore the historically high level of violence in Mexico, the southern neighbor with whom we share the largest border, trade alliance, and heritage. For years, cartels in Mexico have engaged in mass killings, kidnappings, decapitations, rapes, and torture—nothing new. What’s concerning is the Mexican government’s involvement, now enabling drug gangs to operate...
It makes absolutely no sense for the media to be in charge of political debates in Texas or anywhere else. They don’t even pretend to be neutral players anymore. They are on the liberal Democrat side. Which makes it all the more telling, now that the only Texas gubernatorial debate is over, that almost none...
Despite the bleak report on learning loss following pandemic school closures, Texas got some very good news last week with the release of the annual A-F school ratings. Fully 95% of the 38 school districts and 10 charter systems in the Region One Education Service Center area received either an A or B rating in...