School Districts Go Lean: Denver Edition
Large school districts across the country are trying to reduce their bureaucratic footprint on schools. Over 45 cities are working to implement portfolio management, a strategy in which many...
View ArticlePedicab Market in Siesta Key, FL Doesn't Need to Be Regulated
Sarasota Observer Pedicabs, tricked-out golf carts and even Volkswagen Things are a hot form of transportation for tourists and others. You’ve seen them around Sarasota and the local Keys. They are...
View ArticleEnter to Win the Bastiat Prize for Journalism and Reason Video Prize
Reason Foundation is accepting entries for the 2015 Bastiat Prize for Journalism and the 2015 Reason Video Prize. The submission deadline for both prizes is July 31, 2015. Winners will be honored at...
View ArticleTraining Police How to Interact With the Mentally Ill Can Save Lives
Orange County Register Four years ago in July, Kelly Thomas, a schizophrenic homeless man, died days after being beaten and tased by two Fullerton police officers. They were tried and acquitted of any...
View ArticleTSA's Failure to Discover Fake Weapons Epitomizes Agency's Problems
The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) recent failures to detect fake weapons and explosives were worse than first reported. Not only did the TSA fail 67 out of 70 tests conducted by the...
View ArticleAllow Airports to Raise Passenger Facility Charges, but Consider Requiring...
Currently, U.S. airports coordinated by trade associations Airports Council International—North America (ACI-NA) and the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), and the airlines coordinated...
View ArticlePrivately Financed High-Speed Rail Line Could Be Good for Texas
Star-Telegram Texas Central Railway proposes to privately finance, build and operate a high-speed passenger rail line between Houston and Dallas.Opponents mistakenly claim that taxpayers will be stuck...
View ArticleHow Will State Courts Rule on Pension Reforms? Pension Law Map Gives Guidance
The New Jersey Supreme Court recently upheld payment reductions to the state's pension fund. A month before, the Illinois Supreme Court rejected the state's pension reform efforts. Both states have...
View ArticleHow Congress Can Fix the Highway Trust Fund
My name is Robert Poole. I direct the transportation policy program at Reason Foundation, a nonprofit think tank with offices in Los Angeles and in Washington, DC. I’m a graduate of MIT with two...
View ArticleSeven Critical Factors to Improving Student Outcomes with Student-Based...
Education Resource Strategies has worked extensively with several districts in implementing student-based budgeting. Through these partnerships they’ve concluded that equitable funding and autonomy...
View ArticleFunding Follows Results for Charter School Facilities Bonds
Charter schools now serve five percent of all public school students and continue to grow in popularity. There are an astounding one million students on waitlists nationwide. Despite this demand most...
View ArticleDonâ??t Determine California Teacher Evaluation Criteria Through Collective...
A pair of new California state bills that would grant teacher unions the power to negotiate various aspects in job performance evaluations made their way through Congress this past week. The bills are...
View ArticleWhy Do Public Pension Systems Get Special Treatment?
Orange County Register A few years ago, it was easy to blame the state’s growing public pension crisis on the recession and sluggish economic recovery.But today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is...
View ArticlePennsylvania Supreme Court Strikes Down Certain Mandatory Minimum Sentencing...
Last week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued an opinion in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Hopkins that found the state’s Drug Free School Zones Act to be unconstitutional in light of the 2013...
View ArticleMileage Based User Fees are the Most Realistic Long-Term Funding Mechanism
Despite a growing consensus that mileage based user fees are the best long-term solution for funding transportation infrastructure, most panellists at a recent DC event recommended some other...
View ArticleS&P State Pension Review
S&P in a recent review of state pension plans provides some key insights into the state of pension reform and pension funding in the US. The rating agency affirms the important role pension funding...
View ArticleNo simple answers on affordable housing
Public officials often talk about affordable housing as if it is something they can create. But in reality affordable housing is a tricky issue I describe in this column.Many people seem to have...
View ArticlePaying Down Unfunded Pension Liabilities Through Asset Sales and Leases
State and local governments across the nation are facing massive unfunded public pension liabilities, with estimates ranging anywhere from $1.1 trillion to $4.7 trillion. Fortunately, there is now a...
View ArticleCharitable Giving Does Not Close Charter School Funding Gaps
Over the past decade the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas has conducted several studies focused on economics within the education system. Their research teams’ latest...
View ArticleWhere Transit Could be Self-Supporting and How Politicians Ensure That it is not
Operating a transit system in most U.S. cities is a challenging task. Low population density, high fixed costs and political realities limit transit’s farebox revenue. While the most popular lines in...
View ArticleHow Student-Based Budgeting Could Help Rescue Detroit's Public Schools
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder recently unveiled a plan to split the underperforming and debt-ridden Detroit Public School District in two. Gov. Snyder’s proposal would create a new body — the City of...
View ArticleNew Jersey Residents Will Get Fewer Services as Public Pension Costs Skyrocket
Star-Ledger It's no secret that New Jersey's government worker pension systems are a looming fiscal disaster. What may not be clear to taxpayers at this point is that unless meaningful reforms are...
View ArticlePennsylvania Should Address School Funding Inequities with Urgency
Pennsylvania’s system of school finance is stuck in the 1990s. While Pauly Shore, Hanson, and Hammer pants should all be remembered fondly, the Keystone state’s funding mechanism has created...
View ArticleLos Angeles Unified: Case in Point for Why Weighted Student Formula at the...
Los Angeles Unified provides the case in point for why weighted student formula and student-based budgeting school finance reforms that push money to the district level do not go far enough. If the...
View ArticleA Market-Based Approach From Australia Can Help Solve California's Water Crisis
California is in the midst of a water crisis that threatens to do enormous damage to the economy and ecology of the state. Meager rains earlier this year did little to alleviate a years-long drought...
View ArticleFunding Portability Is Key to Education Reform
The Hill This Tuesday, the Senate began floor debate on reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)—a centerpiece of federal education policy dating back to Lyndon Johnson’s “war on...
View ArticleOhio Governor's Controversial Funding Vetoes Benefit Low-Capacity School...
Several school districts’ budgets across Ohio changed quickly with Gov. John Kasich’s vetoes to the budget last week. The legislature had been working heavily constructing the states’ biennial budget...
View ArticleLet Uber and Taxis Compete
Sarasota Observer The Sarasota City Commission agreed to send a first draft of new regulations for ride-sharing companies like Uber, Lyft and many others to public hearings. These so-called...
View ArticlePublic-Private Partnership Advocates and Trucking Industry Find Common Ground
Public Works Financing On June 17th I testified before the House Ways & Means Committee at its hearing on “long-term financing of the Highway Trust Fund.” Testifying alongside me was Gov. Bill...
View ArticleThe Importance of Property Rights for Endangered Species Conservation
The central point of my testimony is that landowners and their concerns, which include their property values and property rights, are the key to the conservation of this country’s biodiversity,...
View ArticleInnovative Financing Tools Help States Stretch Transportation Resources
My name is Baruch Feigenbaum. I am the Assistant Director for Transportation Policy at Reason Foundation, a non-profit think tank with offices in Los Angeles and Washington DC. For almost four decades...
View ArticleHome-Schooling on the Rise as Alternative to Underperforming Public Schools
Los Angeles Business Journal With so many of California’s public schools failing their students, parents are seeking alternatives. Recent data released by the National Center for Education Statistics...
View ArticleTruck-Friendly Tolls for 21st Century Interstates
Of all highway users, the trucking industry has the most at stake in ensuring a solid future for the Interstate highway system. Together with the other principal routes that comprise the National...
View ArticleStudy: How to Fund Interstate Highways In a Way Truckers and Drivers Can...
As Congress once again struggles to find funding for a long-term highway bill, it is clear that the nation’s Interstate highways desperately need a new, reliable funding source. And few industries need...
View ArticleAcademic Outcomes are Key for Investors of Charter School Facilities Bonds
The default rate for charter school facilities bonds increased from 2.7% to 3.3% over the past three years according to a forthcoming report by Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and Charter...
View ArticleProposed Pension Initiative Threatens the California Rule
California unions have taken issue with a proposed statewide pension reform initiative that would give voters “the power to approve or reject compensation and retirement benefits of government...
View ArticleCalifornia Is the Wrong Energy Model for the Nation and World
Investor's Business Daily California Gov. Jerry Brown has hailed the Golden State as a model to be followed when United Nations climate negotiators convene in Paris this year.If my experience working...
View ArticleCalifornia's Regulatory Climate Is Crushing Transportation Innovation
Orange County Register A California Public Utilities Commission judge recommended last week that ride-booking company Uber be fined $7.3 million and suspended from operating in California because of...
View ArticleWhen Raising Transit Fares Makes Sense
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Operating a U.S. transit system is challenging. Low population density and high fixed costs limit transit’s revenue. While there are several ways to increase the farebox...
View ArticleInnovators in Action 2015
Reason Foundation's Innovators in Action series, which profiles innovative policymakers in their own words, highlights good government efforts that are delivering real results and value for taxpayers....
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Taking on Infrastructure, Pension Challenges in Georgia
Innovators in Action 2015 In May 2015, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed into law Senate Bill 59—the Partnership for Public Facilities and Infrastructure Act—which enables the state and local governments...
View ArticleInnovators in Action (July 2015 edition): Taking on Infrastructure, Pension...
The latest interview in Reason Foundation's Innovators in Action 2015 series focuses on Georgia's recently enacted Senate Bill 59—the Partnership for Public Facilities and Infrastructure Act—which...
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Equitable School Funding Does Not Stop at the District Level
School finance reform is a priority for many state legislatures. Pennsylvania, for example, has had an antiquated funding system for more than two decades and is close to adopting a weighted-student...
View ArticlePrivatization & Government Reform Newsletter #19 (June/July 2015 edition)
The June/July 2015 edition of the Privatization & Government Reform Newsletter is now online. Topics covered in this issue include:PENSIONS: Paying Down Pension Debt Through Asset Sales,...
View ArticleOrange County's Affordable Housing Mandates Keep More Homes Out of Reach
Orange County Register The Register recently reported that the median home price in Orange County was $629,500 in June, the highest in seven years and not far from the pre-recession high of $645,000 in...
View ArticleRebutting the Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan's Claims
The Obama administration released its new clean power plan today. The White House Fact Sheet claims: “The Clean Power Plan is a Landmark Action to Protect Public Health, Reduce Energy Bills for...
View ArticleChicago Public Schools to Give More Budget Control to 25 Principals
As Chicago prepares for its new school year, Mayor Rahm Emmanuel announced the start of his “Independent Schools Program” on Monday. It will give 25 school principals increased budget autonomy, more...
View ArticleWhy Truckers Should Reconsider Their Opposition to Tolling
Public Works Financing Could the trucking industry eventually come to see toll-financed reconstruction and modernization of our aging Interstate highways as the best way forward?In this column last...
View ArticleAssessing the Social Costs and Benefits of Regulating Carbon Emissions
Atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs), which include carbon dioxide and methane, have been increasing for more than a century. Rising human emissions of these gases, especially from the...
View ArticleStudy: Social Cost of Carbon Likely Much Lower Than Previous Estimates
Los Angeles, CA — A new study from Reason Foundation shows that estimates of the “social cost of carbon” have been falling — and would fall further if new scientific evidence were incorporated. The...
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