Staff, Author at Georgia Public Policy Foundation

Are Georgia’s OPEB Liabilities a Problem?

posted 8 years ago on March 3rd, 2011 by Staff Comments Off

Commentary Are Georgia’s OPEB Liabilities a Problem? By Allen Buckley The media often reports about the funding problems of state and local pension plans, such as the plans maintained by Illinois, California and New Jersey. Georgia’s pension plans have also received significant press as well, although most of it has been positive. Regularly overlooked are liabilities relating to post-retirement medical obligations. In a February 28, 2006 press release titled “Georgia Named One of Top Five Best States for Pension Funds,” Governor Sonny Perdue boasted: “I am proud of Georgia’s high pension fund ratio.” The article stated the State’s pension funding ratio was 101 percent, trailing only Florida and North Carolina. Like most pension plans, Georgia’s plans… View Article

The Parent Trigger, Online Education and Charter Schools

posted 8 years ago on February 28th, 2011 by Staff Comments Off

While students in many developed nations have been learning more and more over time, American 15-year-olds are stuck in the middle of the pack in many fundamental areas, including reading and math. Yet the United States is near the top in education spending. In her essay "Losing the Brains Race," Veronique de Rugy clearly shows the failure of throwing money at our education system. Instead, she proposes more choice and innovation: "In long-suffering California, a bipartisan coalition is supporting a new response to such irrational practices: the “parent trigger,” which allows fed-up parents whose children are in a consistently underperforming school to quickly change the school’s leadership. By signing a petition, parents can force reorganization of a school’s… View Article

Tax Foundation releases latest state/local tax burden rankings

posted 8 years ago on February 24th, 2011 by Staff Comments Off

Georgia’s state and local tax burden ranks 32nd highest, according to the Tax Foundation’s latest report. North Carolina ranked 16th highest, Florida was just above Georgia at 31 and the remaining southern states ranked lower than Georgia. For nearly two decades the Tax Foundation has published an estimate of the combined state-local tax burden shouldered by the residents of each of the 50 states. For each state, we calculate the total amount paid by the residents in taxes, then divide those taxes by the state's total income to compute a "tax burden." We make this calculation not only for the most recent year but also for earlier years because tax and income data are revised periodically by government agencies.… View Article

Full Speed Ahead: Widening the Pathway to College and Career Success

posted 8 years ago on February 24th, 2011 by Staff Comments Off

Issue Analysis Full Speed Ahead: Widening the Pathway to College and Career Success By Dean Alford Proposal The Move On When Ready concept was designed around high expectations for eleventh and twelfth grade students, engaging them in college or career pathways of personal interest. It provides for an early introduction to college-level work which will produce better student achievement results, higher graduation rates, and most importantly, help prepare Georgia students to be competitive in the global economy. This proposal is designed to broaden the Move On When Ready Act by adding two additional components: mandatory COMPASS testing for all high school sophomores and the development of the College and Career Academy. COMPASS is a computer adaptive test… View Article

Full Speed Ahead: Widening the Pathway to College and Career Success

posted 8 years ago on February 17th, 2011 by Staff Comments Off

Commentary: Full Speed Ahead: Widening the Pathway to College and Career Success By Dean Alford Our "flat" world is a global economy in which other nations race to surpass American dominance in every area, including higher education. The competition is rapidly intensifying, the stakes are enormous and the implications are sobering. Countries including India and China (which just surpassed Japan as the world’s second-largest economy) are measuring their economic futures by the scope of their investment in education. Today's measure of power is no longer a simple matter of military might but is rooted in a country’s ambition and plan to educate its youth. Today's children are tomorrow’s highly skilled 21st-century workforce that will steer a nation’s fortunes. Yet Americans… View Article