Family Taxpayers Foundation

Sunday’s New York Times featured an extensive account of why Apple has its iPhones made in China rather than the U.S. The short version is that “the flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers have so outpaced their American counterparts that ‘Made in the U.S.A.’ is no longer a viable option for most Apple products.”

by Nancy Thorner

In sync with parents, children, teachers and community leaders throughout this nation who celebrated National School Choice Week from January 22nd through the 26th, the Illinois Policy Institute likewise participated in the week out of its conviction to continue the fight for school choice here in Illinois.

The mayor of Chicago is on a mission to improve education in Chicago.  The Chicago Teachers Union is on a selfish mission to preserve a failed system that provides a guaranteed income for thousands of teachers and a steady flow of dues money to the CTU.  A better future for one of the nation’s worst public school systems is hanging in the balance.

When we look at the data, without emotion or preconceived notions, we can readily see that it is unsustainable long-term without substantial changes in benefits and contributions. And we can also see that taxpayers have indeed done more than their share up to now and should not and cannot be asked to do more.

The increasing cost of education — and the resulting debt — will make it increasingly difficult for low and moderate-income Americans to afford the cost of college.  This burden, combined with an emergence of new technologies that breed alternatives to the traditional university model, is laying the groundwork for a revolution in higher education.

What singular cause could bring together the likes of Democratic campaign strategist James Carville, Republican Governor Bobby Jindal (LA), actor Sacha Baron Cohen, and 2,000 families, all under one roof? The answer: school choice — empowering parents with the ability to save their children from failing schools, thereby giving them a shot at a brighter future.

They swore revenge for his offenses, and last week Wisconsin Democrats delivered what they say are a million signatures for the recall of Republican Governor Scott Walker. If they do make the ballot and cause a recall vote as early as this spring, they'll have to campaign against reforms that have already saved taxpayers tens of millions of dollars and rescued the state from a budget crisis. Game on.

Education in America, particularly big-city education, is in crisis. Historians are already describing the decline of public education as a threat to the nation’s economy and military. And when the tragic scale of harm to racial minorities is considered, the education crisis is aptly labeled as the greatest civil rights challenge of the 21st century.