AUSTIN – A new research report issued by the Texas Public Policy Foundation recommends that the quality and significance of a high school diploma should be strengthened to improve post-secondary opportunities for all Texas students. The State Board of Education will meet in Austin this week to decide how to implement the legislature’s mandate adding...
Press Release November 13, 2006AUSTIN — Governor Rick Perry today announced the Texas Task Force on Appraisal Reform, which will include Texas Public Policy Foundation president Brooke Rollins. Perry said in announcing the task force in Dallas that its purpose is to study and make recommendations on how to address Texans’ continuing concerns over skyrocketing property appraisals. The recently-concluded...
Press Release August 21, 2006AUSTIN – The United States Congress should provide line-item veto authority to the president, making good on an effort started in the mid-1990s and then stalled by the courts, according to the chief economist at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. The United States House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Thursday on a bill that...
Press Release June 21, 2006AUSTIN, Texas — The Office of the Governor and the Legislative Budget Board have requested state agencies to submit budget proposals that reduce spending by 10 percent. The chief economist at the Texas Public Policy Foundation says this is good news for taxpayers. "Governor Perry and the LBB are putting fast-growing government on a diet....
Press Release June 7, 2006AUSTIN, Texas – With members of the Texas House poised to begin work on the tax bills today, the president of the Texas Public Policy Foundation urged them to make use of the state’s structural surplus – current and future. “The most prudent, fiscally sound policy lawmakers can pursue is to dedicate current and future...
Press Release April 24, 2006AUSTIN, Texas -The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts today announced the estimated surplus for the state has grown to $8.2 billion – up from previous surplus estimates of $4.3 billion. The president of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Brooke Rollins, said the funds should be used exclusively for tax relief. "The Foundation has long urged...
Press Release April 17, 2006AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas Animal Health Commission today announced their decision to postpone consideration of mandatory premises registration until 2007. This was welcome news for Marc Levin, director of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Levin offered the following statement: “We applaud the Texas Animal Health Commission’s decision to...
Press Release April 4, 2006AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas Public Policy Foundation will this week launch a new service for the state, Texas PolicyCast. This weekly audio program will focus on policy issues facing the state. “It’s our hope that this convenient tool will give busy Texans an opportunity to learn more about the important issues facing the Lone...
Press Release March 16, 2006AUSTIN, Texas – While some would like to see the debate over whether taxes are regressive or progressive take center stage in the tax policy debate, it is arguable that there are far more important issues at stake. Tax incidence – the identification of who is truly impacted by a tax – has been the...
Press Release March 13, 2006AUSTIN, Texas – Consolidation has dramatically reduced the number of school districts in Texas and other states during the past century. However, research has furnished little evidence that consolidation controls costs or improves academic achievement as well as a system of shared service agreements. In a recent ruling on West Orange-Cove, the Texas Supreme Court...
Press Release March 3, 2006AUSTIN, Texas – Texas is loaded up on telecom taxes. Although a national leader in telecom deregulation, through measures like the statewide video franchise, Texas is also a national leader in telecommunications taxes. Texas consumers pay an average tax of over 29% on their monthly phone bills – local governments take about 11.32%, the state...
Press Release February 23, 2006AUSTIN, Texas – Public school accreditation is a bargain that involves public trust and government assurance. People allow government to compel enrollment in, as well as exact financial support for, public schools; in return the state legislature assures educational quality. “For many Texans, this trade is based on the presumption that state law sets a...
Press Release February 13, 2006