Schools in right-to-work states (where unions are weak) are getting better and better over time compared to schools in heavily-unionized states.
As Walter Russell Mead notes in “Blue State Schools: The Shame Of A Nation“:
When it comes to excellence in education, red states rule — at least according to a panel of experts assembled by Tina Brown’s Newsweek. Using a set of indicators ranging from graduation rate to college admissions and SAT scores, the panel reviewed data from high schools all over the country to find the best public schools in the country. The results make depressing reading for the teacher unions: the very best public high schools in the country are heavily concentrated in red states. Three of the nation’s ten best public high schools are in Texas — the no-income tax, right-to-work state that blue model defenders like to characterize as America at its worst. Florida, another no-income tax, right-to-work state long misgoverned by the evil and rapacious Bush dynasty, has two of the top ten schools. Newsweek isn’t alone with these shocking results. Another top public school list, compiled by the Washington Post, was issued in May. Texas and Florida rank number one and number two on that list’s top ten as well … On both lists only one of the top ten public schools was located in a blue state.
Last week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld a state law limiting collective bargaining with teachers’ unions and other government-employee unions in Wisconsin. To justify collective bargaining, Wisconsin union supporters, such as the Democratic National Committee, had falsely claimed that Virginia, which bans collective bargaining in state agencies, ranks 44th in the nation in ACT/SAT scores, compared to Wisconsin ranking 2nd. In reality, Virginia actually beat Wisconsin in ACT scores in 2010, with Virginia ranked 12th and Wisconsin ranked 17th. Unlike Wisconsin, Virginia is a right-to-work state that bars forcing employees to pay union dues. A law professor noted that “in Virginia, test scores have steadily improved since collective bargaining for teachers was ended.”
Some of the stranger goings-on in the world of regulation:
Some of the zanier happenings in the world of regulation:
If you live in Texas, look over your shoulder before you tell a tall tale about your last fishing trip. The state legislature there just voted to make lying about the size of your catches in fishing tournaments a Class A misdemeanor. And if the prize money is over $10,000, you could spend up to ten years in jail as a convicted felon.
In 2009, an especially devious fisherman in the Bud Light Trails Big Bass Ray Hubbard tournament “put a one-pound lead weight inside the stomach of the 10.49-pound bass he had entered to win the grand prize, a $55,000 fishing boat,” according to the The New York Times.
Fishing tournaments, just like other competitive sports, have their own rules. Violators are punished. The NFL reserves the right to fine and suspend players for misconduct. Major League Baseball hands out 50 and 100-game suspensions for players caught using steroids. Pete Rose was banned from baseball for life for betting on his team.
The tournament organizers foolishly couldn’t punish their own cheater because they didn’t have a rule for it. But submitting a leaden fish is a kind of fraud, especially when the prize is $55,000. And in fact, the man was charged with felony theft. He served 15 days in jail, was hit with a $3,000 fine, plus five years of probation. His fishing license was also taken away for five years.
That’s precisely why the bill on Governor Rick Perry’s desk is unnecessary. One, theft is already illegal. Two, if the Bud Light Trail tournaments are competently run, they now have specific rules and punishments for cheaters. Seems like a classic “do something” bill that doesn’t do much at all.
Have a listen here.
Land Use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner takes a close look at an eminent domain reform bill just passed by the Texas State Senate. As written, the bill would do little to actually solve the problem of government seizing private property from one private party and giving it to another private party with better political connections. Marc suggests some fixes and notes that many people are not fooled by this weak effort at reform.
Your host Richard Morrison welcomes back returning guest co-hosts Michelle Minton and Jeremy Lott for Episode 54 of the LibertyWeek podcast. We start with ominous hints of new taxes, California state employees making strike threats and the possible antitrust implications of the Microhoo partnership. We continue with a double-dipping pay scandal, the suppression of dissent in Venezuela and some fully transparent Olympic News.
Selecting former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk as the nominee for U.S. Trade Representative sends a signal that perhaps President-elect Obama will temper his anti-trade stance in the face of real-world economics. Kirk, a two-term elected mayor of Dallas, doesn’t have much trade experience, but he is a native of the U.S.’s largest exporting state, with Mexico and Canada — those nasty NAFTA partners — as Texas’ major export destinations.
The nominee for one of Obama’s Cabinet positions holds a law degree from University of Texas School of Law and early on in his career worked for Senator Lloyd Bentsen both in his Senate office and when Bentsen was appointed Treasury Secretary by President Clinton.
Kirk served as Texas’ Secretary of State for one year, before running for mayor of Dallas and winning the election. He was reelected by a large majority in 1999, but left after two years to run unsuccessfully for Sen. Phil Gramm’s vacated Senate seat. He is now a partner in the law firm Vinson and Elkins.
What might provide perspective to Kirk’s trade stance is that he comes from a state that has been a powerhouse in exports. State figures show that exports totaled $168.16 billion in 2007. According to a Dallas Fed report,
Compared with the nation, Texas exports a larger share of its output, depends on exports for more of its jobs, sends more sophisticated products overseas and employs higher-skilled workers in export-related jobs. The state has been instrumental in the surge of overall U.S. trade; its port activity has grown more than twice as fast as the nation’s in the past decade.
Although Texas is an export leader, the report noted that state should be more diversified in both its export markets and the goods and services it provides to foreign markets.
The Texas job situation is also buoyed by its exports. Government figures show that 5.5 percent of all non-government jobs in the state are export-related, and 20 percent of Texas’ manufacturing jobs depend on exports, compared to 17 percent for the nation.
With these and other data demonstrating the economic and employment benefits of trade, one would hope that the in-coming U.S. Trade Representative won’t be too anxious to embrace protectionist policies that might stifle more open trade and economic growth.
Oh, Happy Day! And it certainly is for all those who value freedom, responsibility and the true free market in which individuals are free to profit from their risks on the condition that they don’t stick the rest of us with their losses.
It’s not hyperbole to say the Republican and Democratic backbenchers who defied both parties’ leadership to defeat this $700 billion package of Wall Street socialism literally saved America. Whatever their reasons, this defeat (or rather victory for freedom), means that America is much less likely to turn into France, Venezuela, or the old Soviet Union, as this bailout/nationalization package would have set us on the road to becoming.
Several great speeches on the Right and Left were given. Democrats Brad Sherman of California and Earl Blumenauer of Oregon gave powerful speeches against corporate giveaways. And conservative leaders of the Republican Study Committee — such as Jeb Hensarling, Jeff Flake, Mike Pence, and of course Ron Paul — spoke about how government intervention was largely the cause of this predicament, but the bailout would doom arguments for the free market form here on out. The idea of the government making this kind of outlay to high-flying risk takers just didn’t jibe with members, and certainly not with the American people.
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