The Portland Association of Teachers declares Oregon has suffered “a 30-year disinvestment in education.” That’s a bold charge. Thirty years is a long time, and disinvestment is a strong word. To disinvest literally means “to reduce or eliminate” investment. Is it true that Oregon has reduced investment in public schools over 30 years? No. Multnomah […]
This month, the Tennessee legislature passed a new Education Savings Account (ESA) law for its state’s K-12 students. The law creates the second ESA program that will operate in the Volunteer State. The new Tennessee law provides families there with alternatives to low-performing public schools in the form of about $7,300 per student in education […]
This month Tennessee enacted a new Education Savings Account (ESA) law for its state’s K-12 students. The law creates the second ESA program that will operate in the Volunteer State. Education options are widespread in America, unless a family can’t afford an alternative to their zoned public school. The Tennessee legislation provides families there with […]
This week, the Florida legislature passed a bill that would create a scholarship program for lower-income families called the Family Empowerment Scholarship. The Family Empowerment Scholarship will provide lower-income children with scholarships equal to 95% of the state portion of funding to school districts. The Family Empowerment Scholarship is expected to be signed into law […]
Apparently, there is no limit to the Oregon legislature’s disdain for businesses and other employers. This disdain is demonstrated in three bills that seek to saddle employers with expensive mandates and expansive regulations that will smother job opportunities, stifle employment growth, and do little improve the everyday lives of most working Oregonians. Paid family leave […]
Testimony Before the Joint Subcommittee on Capital Construction HB 5005 Members of the subcommittee, my name is John Charles and I am President and CEO of Cascade Policy Institute, a nonpartisan policy research organization. Most witnesses ask you to spend money. I am here asking you to save money – by deleting the Governor’s request for […]
I’ve got a big family, which means we do a lot of laundry. With our old appliances, we were doing a load a day and there was a backlog of dirty clothes. When our old washer and dryer went kaput, we decided on an upgrade. I bought the biggest, most energy efficient washer and dryer […]
This week, Portland’s City Council will get the first annual report on how the city is spending its affordable housing bond money. The four-page report—yes, it’s really only four pages—is colorful and has lots of pictures but nothing about actual results. So, I did some research. Turns out, by the end of 2018, the city […]
This week our State Treasurer, Tobias Read, issued a press release bragging that investors around the country “stood in line” to loan Oregon $100 million so that Governor Kate Brown could buy part of the Elliott State Forest, which we already own. According to Treasurer Read, “There was three times more demand than supply” of […]
Here’s a question for you: Why is housing so expensive in Oregon? Government at all levels has attempted to address the issue of housing affordability for years with tax credits, occasional expansion of the urban growth boundary, multimillion dollar bond measures, and now statewide rent control in Oregon. But rather than making life easier for […]
