Last year’s $787 billion stimulus included $100 billion for education meant to cushion state and school district budgets. As anticipated, state and local revenues haven’t rebounded and federal funds will be spent at the end of the school year. An analysis done by Rutgers University shows the “largest-ever federal infusion of education money” will leave states in the same boat as last year, forced to choose some mix of tax hikes and spending cuts.
When faced with unpalatable options states may find they are open to innovation: allowing more competition through charter schools and vouchers to bring down public school spending.
Interestingly, there is a mix of opposition to the next federal infusion of $4 billion in “Race to the Top Funds” (RTTT).
Some teachers’ unions oppose RTTT because funds require states institute more charter schools and “pay for performance” requirements. Texas Governor Rick Perry rejects Race to the Top for different reasons. Federal money (whatever its intent) means more federal rules, higher costs, and less state and local autonomy to set education policy. Texas likes its state education standards and the state would be penalized for not adopting the federal rules that come with accepting RTTT grants.
For RTTT to be an improvement over the top-down standards of No Child Left Behind, funds must not prop up the status quo, but be used to foster real competition and variety in the provision of education.
On Tuesday, 7-11 stores in Tokyo began offering various services that were previously only available through municipal governments, the Japan Times reports. Residents of the city and surrounding areas can now obtain residence certificates and registered seal certificates from the chain stores.
Customers will be able to insert their resident registry network cards into a new terminal for identification and get a printout of the document they need. The fee will be ¥200 to ¥250 for each copy.
Printouts are forgery-proof to make sure personal data are not falsified, Seven-Eleven said, adding the terminal network has advanced security features to protect personal information.
This new development appears as if it will benefit both the company by attracting more traffic into 7-11 stores and the municipality by reducing its paperwork and customer service burdens. Furthermore, customers will be better served by having convenient locations where they can get these documents.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., localities are cutting funding to schools, police, and transit. These are services that citizens value, pay taxes for, and expect through their contractual position as taxpayers.
Cutting positions such as teachers and police officers will immediately affect citizens. Contrarily, Tokyo’s innovation has allowed the city to permanently reduce its government service obligations with no loss to residents.
American cities should take note from innovative urban solutions around the world. In order to find lasting fiscal stability, cities should look for creative new ways to meet their citizens needs rather than seeking to maximize their revenues during times of prosperity and creating bloated budgets as a result.
For the first time in U.S. history membership in public sector unions has surpassed membership in private sector unions. As the Wall Street Journal writes, this is deeply significant for U.S. democracy.
Roughly 51.4% of unionized workers in America belong to a public sector union. Over this same period membership in private sector unions has declined. While workers in the private sector are still subject to market forces, unionized public sector workers enjoy lifetime protection, “once a city or a state’s workers are organized by a union, the jobs almost never go away.”
This puts public sector workers directly at odds with middle-class taxpayers. Public sector unions enjoy growing support from politicians, enabling them to win greater benefits and higher salaries regardless of budgetary reality. The alliance between politicians and public sector unions is a recipe for dysfunctional government. Elected officials lose claim to being representatives of the people and become nothing for than an insider lobby for public sector worker interests.
A previous post explains the Executive Order that gave rise of the public sector union.
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