Soaring property valuations have long been a feature of Texas’ tax landscape. However, this year’s level of increase may be unlike anything we’ve seen before—at least in the Bayou City. On Friday, the Houston Chronicle reported that the average home value had risen by 21% while the average apartment value had grown by 24%. Such...
I’m a small-town Texas entrepreneur with big concerns about out-of-control property tax bills. The Texas Public Policy Foundation recently allowed me to share my story at its annual Policy Orientation. The opportunity gave me a chance to relay my struggle and get to know others who are in a similar situation. Upon getting married, I...
This week marks the final round of the U.S. Department of Education’s negotiated rulemaking session addressing the critical issue of accountability in higher education. One of the issues under consideration is the Gainful Employment Rule, an Obama-era regulation that sought to strengthen accountability in higher education. Gainful Employment tried to identify college programs where students...
Federal lawmakers are at it again, agitating for the federal government to forgive literally trillions of dollars of student loan debt. The recent letter from congressional Democrats calls for the continuation of the student loan payment pause. There are many reasons why this is a bad idea, but the conversation does raise another set of...
May 8: Russia’s Annual ‘Victory Day’ Celebration Takes On A Different Meaning This Year On Monday, May 9, Russia will hold its annual celebration marking the defeat of Germany in World War Two. Since 1945, Moscow has hosted a grand military parade in Red Square with dignitaries reviewing the troops from atop the mausoleum than contains...
President Joe Biden’s announcement that the United States would ban Russian oil imports in response to the attack on Ukraine was met with serious concern from both sides of the aisle because of the impact it could have on already record high gas prices. This criticism is valid — and, to be fair, Biden acknowledged in his...
Mary Schommer grew up in a family of seven kids, and, between all of them, they’ve attended private schools, charter schools, and traditional public schools. While she was in elementary school, two of Mary’s older brothers attended a private all-boys Catholic school while Mary and her other siblings attended the one charter school in Irving....
Andrew Ratley got some good news earlier this month; the law school he’s attended since 2019 gained full accreditation. That means the legal education he’s invested years—and thousands of dollars—into will soon allow him to become a lawyer. The American Bar Association, after years of study (and no small amount of controversy) finally gave the...
As a ballerina from ages 3 to 15, my dream was to dance the part of Odette in “Swan Lake”—perhaps the most coveted character in all of ballet. Although I never publicly performed in “Swan Lake,” my ballet company taught us its choreography, and I will never forget the summer morning we learned the “danse...
By the time this is published the average gas price in Texas will have likely set a new record high. At the time of writing, it was just seven cents off the old record and had risen 60 cents from the previous week. President Joe Biden is looking for every excuse to ignore the powers he has but refuses...
George Orwell now seems downright clairvoyant. The messaging from the White House surrounding inflation has been emblematic of the ironically named Ministry of Truth in the dystopian novel 1984, first published in 1949. It is worth reviewing the fluid narrative of the last 13 months before all the doublethink gets memory-holed. In early 2021, the nation...
The Idaho state legislature is considering a controversial — but critical — good-government bill to protect America’s energy industry and safeguard tax dollars from being abused for political gain. Hundreds of the world’s largest financiers, collectively controlling over 60% of global wealth, have created a cartel, colluding to discriminate against industries they deem politically incorrect and advance...