University of Chicago: An Example for Mizzou on Free Speech

Posted on by Patrick Ishmael

Over the past few weeks, the University of Missouri has been turned upside down by protests that, so far, have cost the jobs of the university system President and the school's Chancellor. The protests have also brought to light a lot of troubling behavior by university employees against university students. Between Mizzou staff assaulting students' First Amendment rights and a Mizzou professor literally calling in "muscle" to physically remove a student reporter from a public space, something is rotten in Columbia. It's one thing to have a liberal campus culture, which has long been the case in Columbia. It's another thing entirely to have a culture so liberal that it becomes illiberal.

The thin silver lining here is that Mizzou's broken campus culture—not only among students, but among faculty as well—has finally been laid bare, providing the opportunity for policymakers and administrators to fix it.

So, where does Mizzou go from here? One important step would be to reestablish the University's bona fides as an institution that believes in free speech for everyone, not just those who support the politics of the university faculty. On point, L. Gordon Crovitz wrote in the Wall Street Journal yesterday about a strong, student-supporting free speech policy that the University of Chicago adopted earlier this year. The policy has already been adopted at Purdue and Princeton, and which is now being pushed nationwide by FIRE, a student advocacy group.

You can find the University of Chicago's full report here, but I'd like to pull out two important paragraphs that could have written about Mizzou and its handling of free speech issues. (Emphases mine)

As a corollary to the University’s commitment to protect and promote free expression, members of the University community must also act in conformity with the principle of free expression. Although members of the University community are free to criticize and contest the views expressed on campus, and to criticize and contest speakers who are invited to express their views on campus, they may not obstruct or otherwise interfere with the freedom of others to express views they reject or even loathe. To this end, the University has a solemn responsibility not only to promote a lively and fearless freedom of debate and deliberation, but also to protect that freedom when others attempt to restrict it.

As Robert M. Hutchins observed, without a vibrant commitment to free and open inquiry, a university ceases to be a university. The University of Chicago’s longstanding commitment to this principle lies at the very core of our University’s greatness. That is our inheritance, and it is our promise to the future.

A lot needs to change at Mizzou in the coming months. Administrators should start by unequivocally rejecting the university’s recent Orwellian nonsense on speech matters and commit to the free speech principles on which this country was founded, and possibly by adopting the University of Chicago policy construction. As the University of Chicago statement suggests, open inquiry and speech are the inheritance of all universities. It is up to policymakers and administrators to ensure that this inheritance is not wasted at Mizzou.

Missouri Government Union Contracts Forcing Workers to Pay for Union Politics

Posted on by John Wright

The first amendment protects all Americans from being compelled to support political speech. This is why the U.S. Supreme Court has held that even in non–right to work states, where workers may be forced to pay for a union’s services as a condition of employment, workers must be allowed to opt out of paying the portion of their union dues that go to support political activity. In Missouri, this first-amendment right is under attack.

We’ve uncovered several union contracts, such as the contracts at the Jennings Fire Department, the Pattonville Fire District, and the Robertson Fire District, that require employees who choose not to join the union to pay a monthly fee equal to full membership dues. The fact that nonmember fees are equal to full dues means that even if you exercise your constitutionally protected right not to join the union, your monthly fees end up directly or indirectly paying for union politics.

Nonmember fees should be reduced in proportion with the amount of money the union spends on political activity. If 50% of a union’s revenues go to political activities, nonmember fees should be 50% of full member dues. In the contracts where nonmember fees are held equal to dues, a nonmember ends up subsidizing political speech unless that union engages in no politics whatsoever.

The union that holds contracts with the fire districts and departments mentioned above is the International Association of Fire Fighters. According to public filings with the Missouri Ethics Commission, this union has spent over three million dollars on political activities in Missouri over the last ten years. Nonmembers who didn’t have their fees prorated ended up paying for some of this.

Anyone subject to a union contract that doesn’t allow workers to opt out of union politics can fight back. The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld a worker’s right to pay only that portion of union dues directly related to representation. A worker who objects to union political activity that he or she pays for should demand a refund of the portion of his or her dues that went to political activity. Below are some resources that can help:

http://www.nrtw.org/a/a_1_p.htm

https://www.unionfacts.com/article/political-money/understanding-beck-rights/

http://www.unionrefund.org/index.asp

Spring 2016 Internships

Posted on by Show-Me Institute Staff

The Show-Me Institute is pleased to offer internship opportunities for Spring 2016.

  • Internships are open to current undergraduate and graduate students, as well as recent graduates. 
  • Spring internships will last approximately four months. The exact starting and ending dates are flexible, but each intern is expected to work at least 10 weeks.
    No internship shall start prior to January 25. Spring internships will end on or before May 13, 2016.
  • Spring interns can work a full-time schedule (9 a.m.-5 p.m., with one hour for lunch), or arrange for a part-time schedule to accommodate class schedules. 
  • Interns will be involved in virtually all aspects of the Institute’s operations. Interns will work closely with senior staff on a wide variety of projects. They can expect greater responsibility and personal attention than they would receive at larger organizations.
  • Interns will assist staff members with a variety of tasks. These may include researching public policy topics, organizing events, and writing and editing op-eds, newsletter articles, studies, and other documents. Some administrative and clerical tasks will also be required.
  • A Show-Me Institute internship is an excellent opportunity to improve your research and writing skills. Each intern will produce regular blog posts and an op-ed on a public policy topic of interest to him or her. Each intern will receive feedback and assistance from SMI staff members throughout the process.
  • Internships are offered in both the St. Louis and Kansas City offices.
  • Interns will be paid on an hourly basis.

Those wishing to be considered for an internship should submit the enclosed application and the requested supporting materials. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. We will begin conducting interviews as applications are received. Applicants can expect a decision no later than Friday, January 8, 2016.

About the Show-Me Institute

Founded in 2005, the Show-Me Institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit public policy research organization. The mission of the Institute is advancing liberty with responsibility by promoting market solutions for Missouri public policy. For more information:

Phone: (314) 454-0647

Email: [email protected]
Web: www.showmeinstitute.org

Attention Teachers: Professionals Do Not Have a Salary Schedule

Posted on by James V. Shuls

When you think of “professionals,” how do you think of them being paid? Do you expect them to have a schedule that says what they will make each year, regardless of their performance? Would you expect that the only way they could earn a raise would be by getting an advanced degree or by sticking around another year? I don’t think so.

Doctors, lawyers, you name the profession—professionals are paid based on what they do. They are paid in proportion to the demand for their labor, their skill, and their hustle. Not so for teachers. Teachers are paid via a single-salary schedule that doesn’t factor in their quality or effort.

Let me be clear, I’m not saying teachers are not professionals. I’m saying they are not paid like professionals.

Elisa Crouch of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has been following the ongoing dispute in St. Louis Public Schools regarding teacher pay. For seven years, teachers in St. Louis have been stuck at the same level on their salary schedule and have not received a raise. Recently, the unionized workforce rejected a proposed 3.5% salary increase, calling it a slap in the face.

I’m not sure how this dispute will pan out, but now is the time for school district administrators to consider alternatives to the single-salary schedule.

For starters, they should consider alternatives that allow great teachers to be rewarded. A single-salary schedule is quality blind. Now, I’m not talking about simply tying pay to test scores or some mechanistic rating system, but real management and feedback; pairing data with professional judgement.

They should they take into account not only quality, but also the broader labor market. My 2012 study, “The Salary Straitjacket,” demonstrates how math and science teachers make less than P.E. teachers, despite a shortage of math and science teachers. This isn’t a knock on P.E. teachers, but teachers with Math and Science training who don’t feel adequately compensated are likely to have more lucrative options outside of teaching than P.E. teachers. Districts have to take this into account when determining wages, or there will always be shortages.

One of the downsides to a single-salary schedule is that it dictates wages to the district. The salary schedule doesn’t factor in the financial health of the school district. It mandates that teachers earn X more next year, regardless. A much smarter approach would be for the district to determine how much they have available for salaries and then figure out how they want to distribute that money among teachers. Such an approach would facilitate better management of scarce financial resources.

Teachers certainly deserve to be treated like professionals, which is why administrators should start thinking about wholesale changes to the way they pay teachers. Professionals deserve professional pay. 

Saint Louis Transportation Planning Prioritizes Public Transportation, MetroLink

Posted on by Joseph Miller

Saint Louisans depend on a functioning transportation system to do practically everything in their lives, from getting to work to enjoying a night on the town. But keeping transportation infrastructure—be it road, rails, or buses—in good shape takes regular investment. The way a city makes those investments now will affect residents’ daily lives in years to come. However, a look at the recent investment plans of the Saint Louis area reveals a growing disconnect between the systems Saint Louisans use and where the money is going.

The first thing to note about Saint Louis’s transportation system is that it is highly dependent on the highway and street system. In Saint Louis City, Saint Louis County, and Saint Charles County, about 89 percent of commuters either drove or carpooled in 2014. Only 3.4 percent used public transportation. More than half of those who did used buses, which also depend on streets and highways. In terms of the flow of goods, almost 70 percent of freight traffic moves by truck (and hence by road) in the Saint Louis area.

Regional transportation investments for the near future do not reflect these realities. Of the $1.2 billion in federally aided transportation projects slated to move forward in Saint Louis City, Saint Louis County, and Saint Charles County (including multi-state and multicounty projects, the vast majority of which tend to benefit Saint Louis City and County) from 2016 to 2019, 47 percent will be spent on public transportation improvements (see the graph above).

Breaking down the numbers further, investments by Metro (the regional transit agency) will outstrip road & bridge projects made by the Missouri Department of Transportation (which maintains state highways) by more than 30 percent:

Table: Road spending vs public transportation spending

Metro will spend about $230 million (45 percent of investments) on the MetroLink, the region’s light rail. This does not include large-scale MetroLink extension plans (aside from a new $13 million station near Grand Ave.), but instead is mostly intended for maintenance and rehabilitation. In all, somewhere between 15 and 20 percent of federally aided transportation investments benefiting Saint Louis City, Saint Louis County, and Saint Charles County will be spent maintaining light rail.

Perhaps increased spending on public transportation will cause residents to get out of their cars and onto the bus or rail. However, anything more than a modest increase in public transportation’s total travel share is unlikely, given the experiences of other cities. That being the case, systematically favoring transportation systems that few residents and no freight companies use over the one that quite literally moves the metropolitan area is asking for trouble.

Missouri Jobs Increase at Slow Pace

Posted on by Rik W. Hafer

The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released its current snapshot of labor markets across states. While jobs in Missouri have increased since last October, the rate of increase is quite slow.

The table below reports three pieces of information pertinent to assessing the job picture in Missouri. The first two columns of data report the unemployment rate in October of 2014 and 2015. In Missouri, the unemployment rate has fallen, dropping from 5.5 percent to 5.0 percent, the same value as the national average. How does this compare to our neighboring states?

All states in the table below (except Oklahoma) also experienced a decline in their unemployment rate over the past year. What is notable is that some states, such as Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma, have achieved very low rates of unemployment. These values signal very robust labor markets in those states.

The Bureau’s recent release also provides more direct information about job growth. In the last column in the table below I report the percentage change in jobs over the past year (October 2015 data are preliminary.)

This calculation shows that job growth in Missouri has been slow over the past year, increasing at only about a 1 percent rate. Three other neighboring states—Illinois, Kansas, and Oklahoma—have experienced slower job growth, though Kansas and Oklahoma already have achieved very low unemployment rates. In the remaining states, job growth is notably faster than in Missouri.

Regional unemployment data 2014-2015

How Long Have Saint Louis Planners Known About Loop Trolley Cost Overruns?

Posted on by Joseph Miller

In a previous post, we discussed the climbing costs of the Loop Trolley project, a 2.2 mile trolley line that will run from the St. Louis History Museum to the Delmar Loop. The project will now cost $51 million rather than the original budget of $43 million. Saint Louis County taxpayers are on the hook for the unexpected overrun. However, while the public may have been unaware of the higher cost of the Loop Trolley until last week, Saint Louis planners have likely known that the project would cost more than billed since mid-July.

                The East-West Gateway Council of Governments, which is responsible for coordinating transportation spending in the Saint Louis region, releases a transportation improvement program (TIP) every year. That program contains all scheduled transportation projects receiving federal aid for the next four years. The latest TIP, approved on July 29, shows the costs of projects (including the Loop Trolley) from 2016 to 2019.

                Despite the fact that the program was released months before the public was told that the Loop Trolley would be over budget, and Saint Louis County residents knowing they were on the hook for the those overruns, the latest TIP accurately puts the Loop Trolley’s cost at about $51 million. When the TIP was proposed (and commented on), the trolley’s cost was still only $44 million. But on the day the TIP was approved (July 29), the East West Gateway board approved a final additional project, sponsored by Saint Louis City, to improve “Delmar, DeBaliviere, and Loop Trolley Infrastructure.”

                The funding for that project comes from a $5.4 million federal STP-S grant, requiring a $1,350,000 local match. That grant should sound familiar, because that’s precisely the grant Saint Louis County is now being asked to match, which will cover cost overruns on the Loop Trolley.

                Given the timeline, it is almost certainly the case that regional planners have known about cost overruns on the Loop Trolley since mid-July. Indeed, they appear to have planned for dealing with problem by committing more federal funds (and the Saint Louis County match) to the trolley. However, they clearly did so before the county government, or county residents, had signed off on the plan. Those funds will come from county’s mass transit sales tax and could have been used to fund any number of other projects in Saint Louis County. No one should be under the illusion that Saint Louis only gets federal STP-S grants for streetcars; in the next 4 years the county is slated to receive 96 such grants.

                Might planners have known about the cost overruns before trolley construction began in the spring? Was this an attempt to make to the additional funding for the Loop Trolley a fait accompli once residents found out about it? We don’t know, but it is clear that the trolley funding process has not been as transparent as Saint Louis County residents could hope.

Support Us

The work of the Show-Me Institute would not be possible without the generous support of people who are inspired by the vision of liberty and free enterprise. We hope you will join our efforts and become a Show-Me Institute sponsor.

Donate
Man on Horse Charging