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Daily Archives: November 4, 2011

Texas Public Policy Foundation Partners with Salem Radio Network on ”The EPA’s War on American Communities” Campaign

November 4, 2011
Energy, Energy Issues, EPA, Jobs / Economy, People, US Policy
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AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 4, 2011 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Texas Public Policy Foundation announced today that it is partnering with Salem Radio Network (SRN), one of America’s largest syndicated radio networks, on “The EPA’s War on American Communities,” an outreach campaign to increase public awareness of the ways in which federal environmental policy is impeding American economic recovery and energy independence.

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The announcement was made at the Foundation’s “Lone Star Issues” luncheon in Austin today, which was headlined by Dr. William Bennett, whose morning talk program is nationally syndicated by SRN.

“Texans understand that economic growth depends on many factors – one of them being a reliable supply of affordable energy,” said Foundation president Brooke Rollins. “This project will help Americans in other parts of the country understand the high price they pay from allowing federal bureaucracies to undermine our energy security.” Read More

Transformational Education in Action: Children’s Business Fair

November 4, 2011
Accountability, Affordability, Education Reform, Innovation
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By Jeff Sandefer.

What do you get when give kids the chance to

  1. Make something with his or her own hands;
  2. Sell it (safely) to a stranger; and
  3. Experience the freedom (and responsibility) of having a little extra spending money as a reward?

I call these three things the “3 Magic Seeds of Entrepreneurship” (pdf). And we plant those seeds each fall at the Children’s Business Fair (CBF) in Austin, TX.

It’s continued to grow every year since we first put in on. This year there were over 88 separate booths, where kids ages 6 to 13 sold everything from arts and crafts to food to “messages in a bottle.” And turnout—1,200 attendees—broke the record.

But I think one of the biggest benefits of CBF from an learning perspective is that it clearly helps to answer one of the four big questions of education: “How can I prove what I can do?” These enterprising boys and girls spend weeks, sometimes months, building and preparing their product or service, and then test what they’ve got in front of a live audience. And whether they “win” at the fair or not, they persist—many budding entrepreneurs at CBF come back year after year. Read More

Could Shale Gas Reignite the U.S. Economy?

November 4, 2011
Jobs / Economy
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Unlocking vast reserves of shale gas could solve the energy crisis, the jobs crisis, and the deficit. Now, about fracking’s safety …

Shale gas lies beneath populated areas in the Northeast unaccustomed to drilling operations. This has led to a backlashShale gas lies beneath populated areas in the Northeast unaccustomed to drilling operations. This has led to a backlash Nina Berman/Noor

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In late 1998, Chesapeake Energy (CHK), an independent natural gas producer based in Oklahoma City, exemplified an industry in decline. The company’s stock price had fallen over two years from above $34 a share to 75¢. Its market value tumbled 93 percent, to $72 million. “They’re running up a down escalator,” Michael Spohn, an analyst at Petroleum Research Group, told Bloomberg News.

When Aubrey K. McClendon, Chesapeake’s chief executive officer and co-founder, announced he might sell the company, there was little interest. Falling gas prices had reduced the value of Chesapeake’s reserves from $2.1 billion to $661 million. “We’d had higher highs than others in the industry; then we had lower lows,” McClendon says with characteristic insouciance. “In this business, it’s good to have a short memory and thick skin.”

Good thing he didn’t sell. Thirteen years later, Chesapeake’s market value exceeds $18 billion. Its shares sell for about $28, up 8 percent this year. The company’s 120-acre neo-Georgian corporate campus bustles with construction crews building new office space. Its workforce has grown 30 percent in a year, to 12,200, and its recruiters have 700 jobs to fill. “The United States,” McClendon boasts, “has the capacity to become the Saudi Arabia of natural gas.” Read More

Urquhart: Reducing the Cost of College

November 4, 2011
Accountability, Affordability, Education Reform
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Sen. Steve Urquhart, who’s begun formulating a plan to reform Utah’s higher education system, has a detailed post up on one aspect of that plan that he says needs modification: reducing the high cost of college.

College costs too much. The high cost prevents students from going to college. The high cost prevents students from completing college. Like a metastasizing cancer, our own system is working against itself, by producing cost increases that deny access and prevent completion. No one should want to sustain a model that yields such runaway costs. Fortunately, solutions exist. We can reduce costs, and we can improve quality.

A year of college at a Utah pubic institution costs about $10,000 – roughly half of that paid by tuition and half paid by the taxpayers. By way of contrast, a private provider, StraighterLine, can provide a year of college instruction for $1,000. Is the education provided at our public institutions better than that provided by StraighterLine? I’ll say that it probably is. Is it 10 times better? I grow less sure.

Can our public school administrators be trusted – By Empower Texans

November 4, 2011
Accountability, Affordability, Education Reform
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This is becoming a theme on Pratt on Texas: Are Texas public school administrators honest with parents, students and taxpayers? Take for example the no-pass, no-play rules demanded by Texans of every stripe years ago.

One of my big school district inside sources has provided me with an email sent to faculty at the end of September. The email, beyond question, has an administrator suggesting that the spirit of no-pass, no-play laws be systematically broken by teachers.

The text of this particular email, sent by an administrator, reads: “The coaches would like to remind everyone that if you have a student that has not completed work for the six weeks period, that you give them an incomplete. If the grade goes in as not passing, that is how it will be counted for UIL. Let me know if you have questions.” Read More

The rising cost of college

November 4, 2011
Accountability, Affordability, Education Reform, Higher Ed Controversy, Jobs, Minorities, Solutions
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What’s behind the runaway cost of a college education? According to the College Board, tuition and fees for in-state undergraduate students at public four-year colleges are up an average 8.3 percent this year, roughly three times the overall rate of inflation. (In South Carolina, the increase was a more moderate 2.5 percent.) The costs for in-state undergraduates average $8,244; out-of-state undergrads pay a mind-boggling $20,770.

Private non-profit four-year colleges charge an average $28,500, an increase over last year of “only” 4.5 percent. For-profit colleges charge $14,487, up 3.2 percent. (The latter, obviously, are providing a service deemed less prestigious than the non-profits. Whether the education their enrollees receive is half that of their higher priced competitors is another question.) Read More