Articles By: jthompson
Alaska Native Cultural Charter School Most Improved in ASD
From the 2009-10 to the 2010-2011 school year, the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School in the Anchorage School District saw the most improvement in their performance. Based on the Standard Based Assessment test scores, the charter school saw a gain of 8.7 points.
To view the change in performance...
November 15th, 2011 | Education | Read More
Alaska Federation of Natives Endorses School Choice
Anchorage, Alaska – Alaska’s grassroots movement for parental choice in education received a significant boost the other day with the endorsement by delegates to the 2011 Annual Convention of the Alaska Federation of Natives, according to Jeremy Thompson, executive director of the Alaska Policy...
November 8th, 2011 | Education | Read More
Poll: Alaska Voters Support School Choice
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Voters in Alaska decidedly favor school vouchers and other educational choice policies that would provide parents a range of options when it comes to educating their children, according to a poll released today by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.
A school voucher system...
October 27th, 2011 | Education | Read More
Do AWWU Plumbers Deserve a Pay Raise?
The Anchorage Assembly voted down the three year nearly 15% increase in wages for plumbers (most at AWWU). Was this the right decision? The average AWWU plumber receives about $109,000 annually in pay and benefits; the average Anchorage non-AWWU plumber gets about $68,000 annually(not including benefits,...
August 31st, 2011 | Collective Bargaining Agreements, Fiscal Policy, Recent News | Read More
Medicare Actuary: Obamacare will triple the net growth rate of health care costs
From the Apothecary blog over at Forbes.com:
The Office of the Actuary in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently put out its annual projections of national health care spending. And, contrary to the President, the actuaries find that Obamacare will dramatically increase the near-term...
August 10th, 2011 | Health Care, Recent News | Read More
Rethinking the dogma of Electronic Health Records
Alaska has made significant investments in the infrastructure needed for Electronic Health Records, but will EHR’s deliver on the grand promises made?
From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
For an industry that relies on data and evidence-based measurements to make decisions on the clinical and pharmaceutical...
August 9th, 2011 | Health Care | Read More
Stanford to offer free class online
The democratization of education continues:
Stanford University will be offering the class “Introduction to Artificial Intelligence” online for free this fall to anyone who wishes to take it. The class will include testing, quizzes, and two 75 minute lectures per week.
Ten-thousand have signed...
August 7th, 2011 | Education | Read More
State of Alaska Payroll Database Launched
Executive Director Jeremy Thompson explains Why Alaska Government Transparency is a Worthy Cause
Here at the Alaska Policy Forum we believe that transparency is always the best public policy. As the state’s only free-market think tank, we believe transparency is the key to a more educated, involved,...
July 14th, 2011 | Recent News, Transparency | Read More
Building the Federal Obamacare Exchange: Should Alaska Do It?
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unpopular, unwieldy, expensive, likely unconstitutional, and will shortly be a prime target for repeal. The dilemma for Governor Parnell is that the law is written with the assumption that the state will be burdened with the execution of many of its worst ideas. ACA...
April 8th, 2011 | Health Care, Recent News | Read More
Anchorage School District Payroll launched
The Alaska Policy Forum has set up a series of websites for the citizens of Anchorage and MatSu to view the salaries and benefits of civil servants inside local government. The data can be navigated by a clickable flowchart. The goal is to acquaint users with the structure and layout of local government...
March 21st, 2011 | Fiscal Policy, Transparency | Read More
Payroll Database for Anchorage Now Online
The Alaska Policy Forum has launched a transparency website for the Municipality of Anchorage payroll. The website allows citizens to view payroll and benefit data for nearly all Municipal employees by navigating an organizational chart. The data provided lists the employee, the position title, bargaining...
February 21st, 2011 | Featured, Fiscal Policy, Recent News, Transparency | Read More
Nevada Governor-Elect seeks to link agency budgets to goals
Gov. Brian Sandoval said he favors switching how Nevada government spends money to a “performance-based” budgeting system in which state agencies must meet pre-set goals and requirements. (Read more…)
January 21st, 2011 | Fiscal Policy | Read More
Plan to see The Cartel on Jan. 28 in Anchorage
Event is free and open to the public. The director of the film, Bob Bowdon, will be present for a Q&A following the film.
Click here to download a flyer for the event.
Visit the documentary website at www.thecartelmovie.com.
January 12th, 2011 | Education, Featured | Read More
School Choice Resources Page Now Available
Alaska Policy Forum has assembled a page of resources with FAQs and publications from nationally recognized organizations. Education reform is changing the face of education across the country because people are frustrated with the performance of their current educational bureacracy. From tuition...
December 22nd, 2010 | Education | Read More
More Please: Prioritization of Spending Programs
The governor called a press conference after the election to outline his transition process, and to call for input from citizens over the next four years, stating,
We want the strongest ideas to emerge – ideas that will take our state forward, create opportunities and strengthen the economy.
One thing...
November 8th, 2010 | Fiscal Policy | Read More
-
Anchorage School District Needs to Consolidate Its Classroom Space
January 16, 2012 15:01
-
Join Mayor Sullivan’s Education Summit and Help the Kids
January 11, 2012 15:01
-
The Future of ACES-Alaska’s Oil Tax
January 10, 2012 13:01
-
Can the EPA “Take” Property Without Due Process?
January 5, 2012 18:01
-
Taxpayers Paid $129,100,798 for “Official” Union Activities in 2009
December 27, 2011 15:12
PARTNER WITH THE ALASKA POLICY FORUM
Tracking Crude Oil
Connect with Us
Internships
- Anchorage travel photographer to talk about his exotic shootsIt looked like a painting to me, but I am assured by the American Society of Media Photographers that this is a photograph by Wayde Carroll. […]
- WMU hockey loses 4-1 to Alaska-FairbanksThe pucks were flying at Scott Greenham all night, but none of the Western Michigan Broncos could get one by the University of Alaska-Fairbanks senior goalie until there was 25 seconds left on the clock Saturday. […]
- Perseverance Theatre offers modern Alaska classicLast winter, readers returning from trips to Juneau raved about a new play they had seen at Perseverance Theatre, "The Blue Bear." “THE BLUE BEAR” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday through Feb. […]
- Oil Patch Bits: Doyon Emerald wins top honors in communicationsDoyon Emerald, a full-service engineering and consulting firm, said Jan. 27 that it was recognized for its marketing communications efforts by the Public Relations Society of America, PRSA, Alaska Chapter at their annual Aurora Awards Banquet held on Jan. […]
