Busted
What to know: After voters rejected the city of Austin’s 20% tax rate hike, officials claimed that they’d have to cut spending dramatically and in the worst ways imaginable. But as it turns out, “the city’s core spending will still increase this fiscal year compared to the last,” meaning it was all one big lie.
The TPPF take: Voters largely rejected Austin’s huge tax hike because they don’t trust city hall. This latest incident will further widen that trust deficit.
“Before and after Austin’s tax rate election, city officials fearmongered about ‘tough choices’ and public safety budget cuts. But the data reveals nothing of the sort. In fact, the city’s total budget and property tax burden will both grow noticeably this year,” says TPPF’s James Quintero. “It’s time to tell the truth.”
For more on local spending, click here.
We Don’t Need No (Department of) …
What to know: The Trump administration is being “dismantled,” according to the Associated Press.
The TPPF take: Good riddance.
“Before the creation of the Department of Education in 1979, America’s school system, run almost entirely by states and local communities, was widely considered the best in the world,” says TPPF’s Kate Bierly. “Half a century later, after nearly $300 billion a year in federal spending and layers of federal mandates, the United States ranks 28th in math and 36th in literacy.”
For more on the Department of Education, click here.
Saving Higher Ed
What to know: Princeton’s Robert P. George writes that to save higher education, universities must return to providing education rather than indoctrination. That includes teaching the classics, as well as civic education.
The TPPF take: Some new schools, such as the University of Austin, are countering the cultural trend.
“Through abdicating responsibility to teach civics, through its propagation of mind- and soul-stunting moral relativism, and through its suppression of free inquiry and debate, American higher education has indeed failed democracy and impoverished the souls of today’s students,” says TPPF’s Tom Lindsay. “But all this may be changing.”
For more on higher education, click here.