School bonds are one of the main instruments contributing to Texas’s local government debt, which is currently over half a trillion dollars. Key points: As of 2026, school bond debt in Texas is over $236 billion. In May of 2023, Texas passed 79% of the 245 bond proposals put on the ballot, costing taxpayers $22.9...
As an undergraduate at the University of Texas, I was tasked with investigating the funding sources of Hamas, the terrorist group that murdered 1,200 people, including 46 Americans, on Oct. 7, 2023. A truth became apparent: Qatar was not only one of Hamas’s biggest funders, having contributed billions of dollars, but also one of the largest foreign...
FACT SHEET: Understanding Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying Taxpayer-funded lobbying (TFL) is a complex and unfortunate feature of state and local governance. While lobbying is typically associated with private interest groups attempting to influence government decisions, taxpayer-funded lobbying flips this model: it involves government entities themselves using public funds to influence legislative outcomes. The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s...