The Lifetime Pandemic Education Tax
Dr. Eric Hanushek, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, has been studying the relationship between academic...
Riverview Gardens and Normandy Are Regaining Local Control
After a decade of state control, the Missouri Board of Education recently announced it will restore local control to two...
A New Way to Tax, Redevelopment Retry, and Close the Gap
David Stokes, Elias Tsapelas, and Avery Frank join Zach Lawhorn to discuss Detroit’s land tax experiment, redevelopment subsides in North...
In Search of Statutory Authority for Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Standards
On Tuesday, the State Board of Education rejected DESE’s proposed social-emotional learning standards. It appears the decision was largely influenced...
Looking For Bureaucratic Efficiencies in All the Wrong Places
There is a famous joke about the State Department. Whenever a president asks the State Department for options on a...
It Is Time to Restore Trust in Missouri’s Public Education System
A version of this commentary appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Trust is foundational to any healthy school learning community. This...
The Future of Missouri’s Workforce with Susan Pendergrass
Zach Lawhorn speaks to Susan Pendergrass, director of education policy at the Show-Me Institute, about her new report The Future...
Application Deadline for Close the Gap Grant is Almost Here
The application deadline for Missouri’s Close the Gap Grant Program is quickly approaching. The law was passed back in 2022,...
College Readiness Declines
ACT, the organization that administers one of the most widely used college entrance exams, just released the scores for last...
Maybe the Adults Need a Math Test
The media is finally catching on to a trend I’ve discussed often here. The number of elementary and secondary students...
Common Arguments for and Against the Four-Day School Week
The number of four-day school weeks (4dsw) in Missouri has risen considerably in the past few years: from 34 in...
Shopping by Phone?
Can a fifteen-minute call really save you 15% or more on your car insurance? I’m not sure, but it might...
Tax Credit Trade-offs
It’s long past time to rethink Missouri’s approach to economic development. Year after year, our state forgoes hundreds of millions...
And Then There Were Ten
Prior to two years ago, no state offered its families the benefit of choosing their children’s school—either public or private—using...
The Taxman Confuseth
Some Missouri counties are moving forward with passing property tax freezes for seniors. This is unsurprising, as it is a...
Taxpayers should demand larger rollbacks than Hancock Amendment requires
A version of the following commentary appeared as a letter to the editor in the Columbia Missourian. Earlier this year,...
Welcome to “Kensas City”: Barbie-Themed Streetcar Wrap Costs Taxpayers $25,000
Are the Underpants Gnomes running the Kansas City Streetcar Authority (KCSA)? Hot on the wheels—pardon, hot on the heels—of the...
Stop Blaming Homeschoolers
In an incredibly shameless move, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has submitted a budget request for...
Social-Emotional Learning Standards: Under What Authority?
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) “is seeking input on newly proposed K-12 Learning Standards” for Social-Emotional...
Shared Emergency Dispatching Services
A version of the following letter appeared on Lakeexpo.com. There is probably no better opportunity for municipalities to share services...
