The New Battlegrounds

What to Know: With President Joe Biden sworn in, states have become the new battlegrounds, as governors and legislators find themselves in a position to defend freedom from federal overreach. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott made this point at Policy Orientation 2021.

The TPPF Take: Texas is poised to be a leading defender of freedom.

“When I get asked to go speak to groups, the ones I’m most passionate about are the state-based think tanks,” says Kimberley Strassel, who also spoke at TPPF’s Policy Orientation 2021 last week. “It might seem strange for me to say this, because I spend my time watching Washington, but I think we spend too much time watching Washington.”

To few Kimberley Strassel’s speech at PO 2021, click here.

Paging Dr. Do Better

What to Know: A new audit reveals that the city of Austin “spends $88k a year on pagers employees hardly use.” In fact, 42% of city pager users received one page a month or less during a five-month review. Auditors found at least 90 different pager accounts across more than a dozen departments for employees that no longer worked for the city.

The TPPF Take: The city of Austin is a prolific money-wasting enterprise. We must demand better.

“In this instance and others, targeted audits have exposed tremendous waste within Austin city government. The findings support calls for a more comprehensive examination of its $4.2 billion budget and operation,” says TPPF’s James Quintero. “The plight of today’s struggling taxpayer should motivate state lawmakers to pass legislation requiring the city of Austin—and every city of size—to undergo a third-party independent audit with any efficiencies found going back to the community. Let us leave no stone unturned.”

For more on independent audits for local government, click here.

Discrimination

What to Know: Some cities continue to discriminate against public charter schools, in ways ranging from denying building permits to asking them to remove signs reminding people (correctly) that they are “public” schools.

The TPPF Take: Charter schools have been described as the civil rights movement of our time.

“We must give parents greater control of their child’s education  by increasing access to virtual and hybrid options and protecting charter schools from discrimination by municipalities,” says TPPF’s Emily Sass.

Charter school discrimination is part of TPPF’s LAA. To learn more, click here.