End-of-course exams can move Texas students in the right direction.

Texas will need more electric power in the coming years - lots more - and coal will be critical to meeting those power needs.

Competition and retail choice are working in the Texas electric market.

The wartime economy of the last century should no longer be allowed to dictate the health care choices available to this century’s health care consumers.

Milwaukee's school choice program benefits children, strengthens communities, and unites unlikely allies.

We are entering a period of great peril for Texans’ pocketbooks.

Less costly alternatives should be used for effective punishment.

Increased electric regulation will threaten innovation, investment and the reliability of supplies, harming our ability to bring new employers to Texas and maintain the strong job creation rate.

Research has shown preschool can actually hinder social development, especially for children from the poorest families.

Poorly defining poverty is the first step in making us all much poorer.

Many of the state's parks should be privatized.

Too many nonviolent offenders are entering state lockups while unreformed violent offenders go out the back door.

Consumers would adore a setting in which power companies beg for their business, encouraging them to turn thermostats to the coldest point.

Illegal immigration is certainly a public policy priority in its own right, but it cannot be confused as the silver bullet solution to rescue government budgets from insolvency.

With the start of a new school year, many Texas kids are missing the bus on math and science.

If Texans are serious about addressing the bite government takes out of our wallets, then we must be serious about restraining the size of the mouth doing the biting.

Without a meaningful limit, government tends to grow out of control.

The traditional and legitimate use of criminal law is being trivialized.

It shouldn't surprise people to know we are facing the Catch-22 of choosing between clean air and consumers’ pocketbooks because of a history of poorly thought out environmental regulations.

Rather than relying on in-person interviews in a field office with limited hours of operation, the new system allows applicants extended hours by phone, and 24-hour access online.

While the concept of paying for every child's preschool appears laudable, in reality it is an expensive notion that results in a bureaucracy and a massive financial hit to taxpayers.

Local governments taking private property from one person and giving to another cannot happen here, right? Wrong.

Government’s demand is unlimited. For any given program, no matter how generous, someone can be found who would benefit if the program was even more generously funded.

The newest Texas pipeline funnels children from schools to prison, by way of alternative education programs and juvenile detention centers.

Who is surprised that in its haste to show its big heart, the government lost millions of dollars in debit cards and fraudulent payments?

It is simply wrong for local governments to use eminent domain to take private property from one person and give it to another.

Competition creates better working conditions, more competitive salaries, and greater public esteem for teachers.

Studying the state’s budget and trying to get answers to basic questions is a little like a physicist studying the big bang. But the Texas state budget is not the cosmos.

Building new jails and hiring more personnel is a costly stopgap measure.

In a world where voice, video and data communications are merging into almost indistinguishable packets of electrons, taxes still discriminate based on the type of telecommunications service provided.

Texas has become the latest state to jump on the anti-Wal-Mart bandwagon.

Lawmakers and educators fail to recognize there is plenty of money in our education system to pay teachers more – it’s just a matter of prioritization.

It is contradictory to praise increased costs passed on to the poor on one hand, while criticizing increased costs passed on to the poor on the other.

The Texas Legislature has much to do to protect private property owners from the overreach of local governments.

Declining assistance rolls reveal a startling difference in worldview; one expects individuals to rely on government, while the other emphasizes personal responsibility and private charity.

Giving victims a seat at the table in plea bargaining is a matter of justice.

Texans are working longer just to pay the cost of government.

Shared services would enable districts to save thousands of dollars each year on non-academic expenses.

New regulations will soon require animal owners to tag their animals, creating new costs with few benefits.

In determining the best tax policy for Texas, class warfare should not be part of the debate.

Greater price transparency within the health care industry will go a long way in helping to right the market, bring greater competition to the marketplace, and encourage more sensible pricing.

Consumer choice, not government regulation, has provided the best value for policyholders. More of this, along with some fair weather, is what will lead to lower homeowners' insurance costs in Texas.

Current property tax reduction debate is only a temporary solution.

With the recently announced $4.3 billion revenue surplus, lawmakers have the solution to the state's school finance problem staring them in the face. Let's hope they put it to good use to buy-down property taxes, and not engage in more spending.

Criminal law is a blunt instrument and should be reserved for conduct that is blameworthy and threatens public safety, not wielded to enlarge the power of government at the expense of ordinary Americans.

To combat rising energy prices, we need to remove burdensome regulations, not add new taxes.

The current focus on renewable energy is doing little to meet America's energy challenges.

A new drug-labeling rule from the FDA aims to give medical providers and patients clearer information about prescription drugs.

According to some, bigger government extracting more resources from the economy will build a healthier and more prosperous middle class.