The Big D(ebt)
What to know: This May, Dallas ISD wants voters to approve a $6.2 billion bond package, which is the largest school ask in Texas history. Dallas ISD’s principal debt outstanding was $4.6 billion in fiscal year 2025.
The TPPF take: More debt leads to higher taxes.
“Texas’ local governments are binging on public debt, which is causing tax bills to spike. This relationship—i.e., massive debt and higher taxes—is something that every Texas voter ought to remember come election time,” says TPPF’s James Quintero. “Local governments are in desperate need of fiscal discipline.”
For more on local spending and debt, click here.
Surrogates
What to know: A Chinese couple used birth surrogates in the U.S. to create dozens of children—with 26 found being hoarded in a California mansion.
The TPPF take: This is an increasingly common worldview—one that treats babies as dehumanized units rather than as precious lives knitted together by a purposeful Creator.
“What for some families is a remarkable scientific breakthrough that allows parents unable to conceive to grow their family has, in other hands, become a tool to churn out human beings like entries on a balance sheet,” says TPPF’s David Dunmoyer. “The fact that this demented view of human life is permitted—and flourishing—right here in our backyard demands political scrutiny. A surrogacy system purported to honor life is being exploited by godless elites who openly debase it.”
For more on surrogacy, click here.
Leaving California
What to know: Billionaires—and their businesses—are making plans to flee California’s new wealth tax.
The TPPF take: There’s no mystery here. Businesses are leaving for more business-friendly states.
“California is the epitome of the progressive left operational model, the blueprint for others to follow — and, home to San Francisco and UC Berkeley, the one place where democratic socialism might first work,” says TPPF’s Chuck DeVore. “California’s economic growth lagged behind that of the U.S. — and significantly behind its two prominent red-state rivals, Florida and Texas.”
For more on California, click here.