Border Security

The Biden Admin Just Made Involuntary Servitude Of Migrant Children Easier And Nobody Is Stopping It

Apparently, President Joe Biden’s reelection plan to “finish the job” includes the normalization of the mass importation of child sex and labor slaves across the border. It’s not surprising that his administration can do so—nobody’s standing in its way. Rapid DNA testing at the border has been a critical vetting tool preventing strangers and human...

June 22, 2023

Energy & Environment

The Texas grid is reaching a turning point, but there is still time to fix it if we start now

KEY POINTS The summer situation for the Texas grid is actually better than advertised, but winters are becoming a bigger and bigger problem with no clear solution on the horizon. Legislators took some baby steps with HB 1500 to eliminate the last vestiges of state subsidies for unreliable electricity and move toward real market reform....

June 20, 2023

Family

Texas is winning the war against ‘woke’

Gov. Ron DeSantis brags that Florida “is where woke goes to die,” but in the legislative session that just ended, Texas lawmakers passed the strongest legislation in the country to end DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and its ideological framework mandating a belief in systemic racism, non-binary genders and pronoun police, men playing women’s sports,...

June 19, 2023

Higher Education

Schooled in Shouting Down: Princeton’s Window into America’s Future

Debate over “the future of American education” has reached a fever-pitch of late. But too often these debates resolve nothing, because none of the competing sides can agree even on what “education” means—or should mean. Without initial agreement on this most fundamental question, it’s less than surprising that the resulting disputes generate far more acrimony...

June 19, 2023

Higher Education

Choosing a College Blindfolded

Choosing whether and where to attend college is the most important financial decision of a young person’s life. Yet, in general, we withhold the information that would allow students to make informed decisions. The most blatant example is hiding the cost of college. In 2018, Stephen Burd, Rachel Fishman, Laura Keane, Julie Habbert, Ben Barrett,...

June 15, 2023

Local Government

Which City Managers Earned More than $250,000 in 2022-23?

Sky-high public sector salaries have become a sore spot for many Texans, especially considering how much tax bills have grown in a relatively short period. But you may be wondering—exactly how much are these elite few making? In a previous post, we looked at the highest paid superintendents in Texas (with the top administrator raking...

June 15, 2023

K-12 Education

Unions and Superintendents Blocked Teacher Pay Raises—Not the Legislature

Politics is often hard to follow. This year, more than 7,000 bills were filed in the Texas Legislature, and a lot can get lost in that mix. For the average parent or teacher, tracking education legislation is simply not possible—we have more pressing things to do, like work, raise our children, and teach them to...

June 14, 2023

K-12 Education

Who are the Highest Paid Superintendents in Texas?

Over the last few legislative sessions, policymakers have entertained a variety of proposals to place reasonable limitations on public sector administrator salaries. Such proposals—i.e., HB 1476 (88R), HB 1740 (86R), HB 4627 (86R), and SB 721 (86R)—have been driven, in large part, by growing public outrage over supersized superintendent salaries. While lawmakers have yet to...

June 14, 2023

K-12 Education

Forging the Next Generation of Thought Leaders: The Richardson Youth Liberty Fellowships

As an education researcher, too often I find myself compelled to report bad news: poor learning outcomes, including declining civic literacy; political indoctrination taking the place of reasoned scholarship; shout-downs depriving speakers and their intended audience their First Amendment rights; grade inflation, as well as other maladies afflicting American education. But today I’m happy to...

June 14, 2023

Border Security

While the Feds Stand Down, Texas Steps Up on Border Security

While the federal government is missing in action as Texas border towns are overwhelmed by illegal immigrants, the Lone Star State is taking action. Since the inception of the Texas busing program more than 20,000 migrants have been relocated from the Texas cities to “sanctuary cities” to include Chicago, Denver, New York City, Philadelphia, and...

June 14, 2023

Homelessness

The two questions Hannity asked Newsom that make for an epic 2024

Two of Hannity’s lines of questioning were extremely illuminating. Sean Hannity’s interview of California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom aired Monday night. That Fox News would seek to interview Newsom—and that he would accept (the last time was in 2010)—suggests that 2024 is shaping up to be far more interesting than most pundits and voters realize. America’s political...

June 14, 2023

Taxes & Spending

Get Engaged, Dallas

The city of Dallas recently asked the public to attend a budget workshop to discuss its finances—and apparently, not that many people showed up. Now, I’m sure Dallas taxpayers had many good reasons why they couldn’t make this particular meeting, i.e. work, school, taking care of family, etc. But the public might want to make...

June 12, 2023