The Heartland Institute

Presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced his education policy platform in May. He supports tying federal education dollars directly to poor and disabled students to help them attend public, charter, or private schools or pay for online education and tutoring. He also supports reversing the nationalization ...

In May 2012, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced his department would offer approximately $200 million in competitive grants of up to $25 million apiece that local school districts nationwide can apply to receive. This is the latest iteration of Race to the Top, a $4.35 billion pool of money originally allocated ...

Despite there being no known natural gas resources in Vermont, Gov. Peter Shumlin recently signed into law the nation’s first state ban on hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Vermont’s ban is little more than symbolic, but Shumlin publicly encouraged other states to impose bans, saying the increased natural gas production is not ...

A proposal from the Obama administration that has generated significant opposition from the financial sector is the enterprise value tax. This is because high taxes on investment income can be a hindrance to investment by reducing incentives for investors and financial managers to engage in certain financial activities or higher ...

Several tax increases are set to go into effect at the end of 2012 unless Congress renews the “Bush Tax Cuts.” One of the most significant increases would be a tax hike on dividends of up to189 percent. It would have a stifling effect on economic growth while slashing the value of retirement plans and other investments ...

The New York Times published an article in May purporting to indict tax credit scholarship programs with evidence some scholarship-granting nonprofits were poorly and unethically managed. The paper charged tax credit scholarship programs in Georgia and Pennsylvania, particularly, abused funds previously destined for public coffers ...

The Center on Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate is one of five centers at The Heartland Institute, each dedicated to discovering, developing, and promoting free-market solutions to social and economic problems in a particular area. History The Heartland Institute’s participation in the finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE ...

In the past 18 months, the number and reach of school choice programs have increased exponentially across the United States, bolstered by Republican governors and legislative majorities elected in 2010. The legislative and public relations battles have been fierce. Do typical voters and families approve of school choice efforts ...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has been trying for nearly two years to persuade state legislators to pass a bill creating a pilot tax credit scholarship using donations from businesses to fund school tuition for poor children stuck in some of the state’s chronically failing public schools. Some legislators and interest groups ...

School districts often finalize budgets in the spring, so it’s an opportune time to consider how they can convert the “new normal” of budget cuts into benefits for schools and children. U.S. analysts almost universally agree public education budgets in the foreseeable future will experience cuts or no growth, certainly not continued ...

Following the San Francisco city council’s decision in 2007 to ban the use of plastic bags at grocery stores and chain pharmacies, a number of local governments have implemented similar policies within their jurisdiction. Such polices also have gained traction at the state level, with bills under consideration in several states ...

In routine tracking of education-related legislation, The Heartland Institute’s School Reform News has uncovered evidence that teachers unions across the country routinely inhibit teachers from joining or speaking out about competing, nonunion teachers associations. In at least one case, this intimidation has resulted in a teacher ...

Sometime in the next few days, Florida Gov. Rick Scott will have to decide whether to sign or veto HB 7117 , a multipronged renewable energy and conservation bill that provides tax credits for renewable energy technology investment and renewable fuel infrastructure. If signed and implemented, the bill would cost taxpayers $16 ...

Harnessing modern technology to tailor education personally and make it efficient is new and greatly unsettled territory. States, schools, entrepreneurs, and families are testing variations on many programs to see what works for them. Every state offers K-12 students some option for digital learning, but many programs are poorly ...

Louisiana legislators have proposed an education reform that is garnering significant national attention: the Parent Trigger. The legislation, first passed in California, is currently being drafted in a dozen other states. The Louisiana Parent Trigger would allow a simple majority of parents at a school to “trigger” its conversion ...

Catastrophe bonds are insurance-linked securities that offset major costs to taxpayers and insurers caused by natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes. Cat bonds, as they are known, work differently from other types of bonds. Investors lose their entire principal in the event of a catastrophe that meets the terms ...

As the 2012 elections approach, it is an appropriate time to review the president’s record on education policy. Several prominent observers have done so recently. The president’s education policies seem to please no one extremely well. Even his teacher union allies have publicly criticized his support for policies such as charter ...

To avoid high U.S. corporate tax rates, U.S.-based companies operating internationally have kept their foreign earnings in subsidiaries overseas rather than bringing them back to the United States. They do this because U.S. marginal tax rates are, by some measures, the highest in the developed world. Some financial experts say ...

Seven states currently offer special-needs students the opportunity to take their public funds to a private school, and at least 10 more states are currently considering similar legislation. The expense and extent of education services targeted at students diagnosed as disabled or with a learning disability such as dyslexia or ...

On December 12, 2009, the California Air Resources Board (CARB), a subdivision of the California Environmental Protection Agency, published its final rule to reduce diesel exhaust emissions in the state, the “Goods Movement Emission Reduction Plan” (GMERP). The controversial plan set up a draconian, regressive tax, one of the ...