Opinion
-
Charter School for Autistic Kids to Open in Minneapolis this Fall
Opinion -Tamara Phillips never dreamed she'd start a school one day, but when she saw her 14-year-old autistic daughter, Ari, disinterested in school and lacking opportunities for social interaction, she was inspired to tackle an education bureaucracy that wasn't -
Atlanta Experiments with Student Pay, Too
Opinion -Two suburban Atlanta schools are testing a program, Learn and Earn, similar to Baltimore's pay-incentive model. The program pays 40 students $8 an hour, for up for four hours per week, to take part in after-school math and science sessions. -
Washington Offers Bad Ideas for Higher-Education Cost Containment
Opinion -Worried about the rising cost of a college education? Never fear, your Washington politicians are here to save the day, ever eager as they are to please during a presidential election year. -
Report Finds Teachers’ Pay Is More than Adequate Across the Country
Opinion -Supporting the almost-universal belief that teachers are underpaid, Education Week published an article on January 10 stating, "public school teachers nationwide make 88 cents for every dollar earned in 16 comparable occupations," including accountants, -
Let Parents Decide How Best to Educate Their School-Age Children
Opinion -With his State of the Union Address and proposed budget, President George W. Bush calls for taxpayer dollars to underwrite the education of low-income students stuck in failing schools. -
School Choice Recognized as Human Right in Most of Canada
Opinion -Education reformers in the United States recently have been arguing whether parental choice is a sufficient force in and of itself to transform public education. -
‘Bill of Rights’ Bad for Arizona Cell Phone Users
Opinion -As the Arizona Legislature headed back into session in early January, a package of three "bills of rights" was introduced, purportedly to protect three groups of consumers in the state: airline passengers, cell phone users, and homeowners. -
Los Angeles Imposes Tax on VoIP Phone Service
Opinion -Los Angeles voters have imposed a 9 percent tax on Internet phone calls, known as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). VoIP calls had been tax-free in the city. -
New Mexico Considers Video Game Nanny Tax
Opinion -Should video gamers be taxed for playing too much Guitar Hero or bowling on their Nintendo Wii? Some lawmakers in New Mexico apparently think so, and they've introduced a new tax to persuade people to put down their controllers and go outside. -
‘One Laptop Per Child’ Benefits Poor Children
Opinion -The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative has exceeded 250,000 laptops distributed in various parts of the world since production of the inexpensive XO machine designed for the program started in November 2007, according to Walter Bender, OLPC president -
Universal Service Fund Needs FCC Attention this Year, Policy Analysts Say
Opinion -Now that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued its three notices of proposed rulemakings regarding potential reform of the bloated and poorly targeted Universal Service funds (collectively, USF), analysts are pointing out once again that -
Texas Considers Rural Phone Universal Service Subsidy Reform
Opinion -Local government has been struggling with different approaches to mandated "universal service" programs since they were first instituted at the breakup of AT&T in 1984. -
Six Decades of Rural Phone Subsidies
Opinion -The practice of overcharging urban and long-distance customers to subsidize phone service in high-cost areas began in 1950, when federal and state regulators began making long-distance customers pay more of AT&T's costs. -
Microsoft-Yahoo! Merger Could Increase Internet Competition
Opinion -Since Microsoft Corp. approached Yahoo! Inc. in early February with an offer of $44. -
Better Public Safety Communications System Is a Matter of Life and Death
Opinion -A vivid example of the continuing need for communications interoperability among public safety organizations occurred on September 11, 2001, after the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed and police and fire offices in the North Tower were -
Kansas Legislators Urged to Reject Carbon Tax Plan
Opinion -Republican legislative leaders in Kansas introduced a measure to impsoe the nation's first carbon tax as a provision of a comprehensive energy bill. -
Chicago Taxes Jump $530 Million to Pay for Mass Transit
Opinion -A year after Illinois lawmakers began discussing a plan to bail out the Chicago region's mass transit system, the final piece of the plan fell into place. -
Parde Named President of National Taxpayers Union
Opinion -A face familiar to many Budget & Tax News readers has become the leader of an equally familiar pair of organizations. -
Kentucky Town Imposes Special Fines on Out-of-Town Drivers in Accidents
Opinion -Erlanger, Kentucky Police Chief Marc Fields is torn. He's concerned his city's recent decision to start collecting payment from out-of-town drivers at fault in traffic accidents will hurt his city's image. On the other hand, he's seen the numbers. -
Landowner Must Cut Redwoods to Accommodate Neighbor’s Solar Panels
Opinion -In a battle between next-door neighbor environmentalists, a Sunnyvale, California couple is being ordered to cut down their backyard redwood trees or face up to $1,000 per day in fines. -
Abuse, Misuse of Peer Review Process Allow Spread of Scientific Misinformation
Opinion -Those of us who regularly seek out information about scientific and medical subjects have learned there's a hierarchy of reliability. -
President Proposes Expanding DC School Voucher Program
Opinion -President George W. -
California Likely to Reject Federal Options to Reform Failing Schools
Opinion -With California facing a cash-strapped state budget, some choice advocates are calling for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) to follow his tough reform talk by expanding parental options in education. -
Paying Students Can Pay Off
Opinion -Some schools' policies for rewarding student achievement have made the news lately.