New Study Ranks Florida No. 1 in Education Freedom

• The Heritage Foundation released the 2023 edition of the Education Freedom Report Card Tuesday.
• States were measured based on four categories: education choice, teacher freedom, transparency and return on investment.
• In this 2023 edition of the Education Freedom Report Card, Florida remains the top-ranked state across the board. Florida lawmakers have once again expanded education freedom and promoted parents’ rights while creating a laudable return on investment for taxpayers,
• With more states embracing education freedom, we are inching closer to a system where parents have the autonomy they deserve, breaking away from the monopoly enjoyed by the education establishment.
• For too long, education choice was held up by powerful forces on the left. But state lawmakers, largely inspired by a strong parental rights movement, have made 2023 the Year of Education Freedom, and Heritage’s Education Freedom Report Card details how this is playing out in each state.    

Schedule an Interview: Lindsey Burke, Jason Bedrick, and Jonathan Butcher

Heritage’s Military Veterans Stand United with Sen. Tuberville

• To mark this year’s Veterans Day, a group of Heritage Foundation national security experts—all of whom proudly served our country in the U.S. military—issued a statement supporting Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
• For months, Tuberville has insisted the Department of Defense rescind its illegal policy allowing taxpayer-funded abortions.
• In February 2023, the Department of Defense circumvented Congress and issued new policies that violate the law by using taxpayer funds to enable service members to obtain an abortion and to indemnify department staff who may violate state criminal protections of the unborn.
• The American people have indicated time and again that they do not approve of using taxpayer funds to fund and promote abortions.
• Conservative senators should stand with Senator Tuberville. Siding with liberals who support abortion without restrictions is unacceptable, especially for lawmakers who claim to be pro-life.

Schedule an Interview: Robert Greenway and James Carafano

Taxpayers Are Subsidizing Rich Electric-Vehicle Owners — to the Tune of Billions

• A new report has exposed electric vehicles as wasteful money pits, living up to the adage: If it seems too good to be true, it is.
• EV proponents often claim they’re cheaper to own than conventional gas- or diesel-powered vehicles, but that’s simply not true after accounting for the billions of dollars in costs government subsidies and mandates quietly conceal.
• The stark reality is the average EV costs at least $53,000 more over 10 years than conventional vehicles, effectively doubling the price of the average new car.
• Including the charging equipment, subsidies from governments and utilities and other frequently excluded expenses, the true cost of charging an EV is equivalent to $17.33-per-gallon gasoline — but the EV owner pays less than 7% of that.
• Over 10 years, almost $12,000 of costs per EV are transferred to utility ratepayers and taxpayers, effectively socializing the price of recharging an EV while keeping the benefits private.
• This is socialism for the rich: a transfer of costs from higher net-worth individuals to middle- and lower-income taxpayers.

Schedule an Interview: EJ Antoni