The answer: Yes, at least according to the recent school finance decision. Included in the district court’s 364-page Findings of Fact (FOF) is a mention of “some” Texas school districts assuming long-term debts in order to pay for short-term operational expenses. This, of course, runs contrary to prudent financial management practices. Here’s the specific reference (pg. 316): FOF...
This commentary originally appeared in The Austin American-Statesman on September 9, 2014. Horse racing often captures the public’s imagination in the spring as yet another horse seeks to be the first Triple Crown winner in almost 40 years. Yukon Willie’s Gold Rush, an instant racing slot-like machine that shows three-second clips of old horse races, doesn’t quite...
This commentary was originally published in MySanAntonio.com on Sept. 5, 2014. Von Ormy is a small town south of San Antonio that most Texans probably haven't heard of. But city officials have a big idea that could change all that. Last month, it was announced that Von Ormy likely will become the first municipality in Bexar County...
Currently Texas has the lowest number of special education students in the nation. After peaking in the early 2000s, it fell dramatically, falling from about 12% of the student population to around 8%, well below the national average.[i] Although numbers are also dropping nationally, the particularly dramatic dip in Texas has led many to wonder whether Texas is...
This commentary originally appeared in The Federalist on Sept. 4, 2014. Last week, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett became the ninth Republican governor to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. He will likely not be the last. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is actively negotiating with the Obama administration, and GOP leaders in Tennessee and Wyoming are reportedly developing expansion proposals of their...
The short answer: probably. On Friday, Attorney General Greg Abbott issued an opinion stating that a court would likely find municipalities “enact[ing] bans on plastic bags and adopt[ing] fees on replacement bags” to be in violation of state law. The AG’s opinion concludes that such ordinances run afoul of two particular provisions of the Health and Safety...
Most Texans are aware of the state’s growing economy and booming job market, but many might be surprised at just how fast local government debt is growing. Texas’ emerging local government debt crisis was the subject of a recent KEYE interview with James Quintero, Director of the Center for Local Governance, who explains what kind of financial shape...
This commentary originally appeared in The Midland Reporter-Telegram on September 2, 2014. Texas and the entire country stand at an historical crossroad of two incompatible forces. On one side is the game-changing upsurge in oil and gas production achieved through technological innovations first developed in Texas. On the other side is federal climate policy to supplant oil,...
Earlier this week, James Quintero, Director of the Center for Local Governance, and Dr. Vance Ginn, Economist with the Center for Fiscal Policy published an article in Forbes discussing the emerging local government debt crisis in Texas. From the article: Cities, counties, school districts, and special districts in Texas are drowning in debt. The latest information from the Texas Bond...
This commentary originally appeared in the Austin American-Statesman on Aug. 19, 2014. Trust in government is at an all-time low, a recently released CNN poll discovered. Just 13 percent of Americans trust government all or most of the time. That means that almost 9 in 10 Americans share some measure of distrust and dissatisfaction with the current system....
AUSTIN - On Friday, August 29th, Attorney General Greg Abbott issued an opinion finding that municipalities imposing plastic bag bans and fees may be in violation of state law. Representative Dan Flynn had requested the ruling in March, in the wake of multiple Texas cities adopting such bans in recent years. The opinion concluded that “a court would likely conclude that a city ordinance prohibiting or restricting single-use plastic bags is prohibited” under the Health and Safety Code, as well as likely forbidding a city from “adopting an ordinance that assesses a fee on the sale or use of a single-use plastic bag.”
As Texas college students return to campus this fall, a number of academic researchers are warning that grade inflation constitutes a deep crisis in higher education, both in Texas and nationwide. Over the past half-century, they find, grade inflation has been debasing academic standards and undermining the morale required for genuine learning and workforce competitiveness.