Archive for the ‘Issues’ Category

Did EPA Train IRS in Targeting?

The Competitive Enterprise Institute documents political bias by the EPA in approval/denial of Freedom of Information Act requests. Green groups had their FOIA requests approved 92% of the time. The Alaska-active Center for Biological Diversity (headquartered in Phoenix, AZ) had a perfect four out of...
May 17th, 2013 | Recent News | Read More

Chicago Teachers Union in Bed with Socialists

Remember when the Chicago Teachers Union went on strike last year, closing schools to more than 350,000 kids just as the school year began? This same union is now featured on the cover of the Socialism 2013 Conference being held in Chicago this summer. The small print below the picture of the CTU striking...
May 15th, 2013 | Education, Recent News | Read More

Shining the Light on Anchorage Municipal Payroll

For highest to lowest compensated list, click here. For bargaining unit list, click here. One of our guiding principles at the Alaska Policy Forum is that government should be limited and transparent. Over the past 2 years we have provided as much information that we could obtain from local/ state governments...
March 24th, 2013 | Recent News | Read More

The (im)moral vision of the NEA

The (im)moral vision of the NEA
For those of you who were inspired by films like “Won’t Back Down,” “Waiting for Superman,” and “The Lottery,” it is easy to understand the moral vision that school choice paints. It’s a simple, yet profound vision of family and its deep hope for the future...
March 3rd, 2013 | Featured, Recent News | Read More

Alaskans Don’t Know What They Don’t Know–About Education

It seems as if the NEA-AK and its local affiliates are using members’ dues to sponsor commercials which basically say that vouchers will destroy public education as we know it. Trouble is, most of us don’t know the state of public education in Alaska today. Well here are the facts: Did you...
February 26th, 2013 | Education, Recent News | Read More

School Choice Experts to Testify at Joint House & Senate Meeting

Four nationally recognized experts on school choice will present to the Joint House/Senate Education and Judiciary Committees on February 13th at 1:30. Kevin Chavous, a national education reform leader, will provide personal experiences showing that school choice benefits all children. He is board chair...
February 12th, 2013 | Recent News | Read More

A State at Risk: The Need for Education Reform in Alaska

In 1983, US Secretary of Education T.H. Bell released a report, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Education Reform, which stated the following: “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed...
February 1st, 2013 | Education, Recent News | Read More

Should Government Tell You What to do with Your Property?

Pay attention, folks. If you are concerned with the government telling you what you can and cannot do with your private property, then you must comment on the Title 21 code being considered by the Anchorage Assembly. If you think the government should be able to tell you how many windows you can have...
January 22nd, 2013 | Recent News | Read More

How Alaska Calculates Oil Taxes and Royalties

How Alaska Calculates Oil Taxes and Royalties
When the Alaska Policy Forum first started to work on this project, we were warned that whatever we create might be too simplistic. The reason for this is because oil and gas tax policy in Alaska is so complex, most people have neither the patience nor the desire to be at least somewhat informed about...
January 16th, 2013 | Featured | Read More

Your Land is My Land. So Says Title 21

Remember Woody Guthrie’s song, “This Land is Your Land”? If Title 21 is enacted by the Anchorage Assembly, then the words to this song may be changed to the following: Your land is my land Your land is my land, From the Chugach Mountains to the Inlet lowland, From the Eklutna dam land...
January 14th, 2013 | Recent News | Read More

Accountability Improves Education for the Kids

There is a movement going on in Anchorage to change the way School Board members are elected. Currently, they are elected at-large. That is, the entire Municipality votes for a member. The change would have Board members elected by district, the same way we elect Assembly members and our legislators....
December 5th, 2012 | Accountability, Recent News | Read More

Governor Parnell on the Right Track with Teacher Evaluations. We are Not Chicago.

Governor Parnell has recommended that the State Board of Education and Early Development (Board) “set the bar higher in weighting teacher and administrator evaluations based on student learning”. Currently, the Board has set the bar so low that anyone can merely walk over the bar. The Board...
November 28th, 2012 | Education, Recent News | Read More

Give Employees the Right to Choose Health Insurance

Because health insurance costs are increasing dramatically, some employers are switching from a plan that covers all employees for a specified cost to a cafeteria-type plan in which the employee chooses a particular plan that fits their needs. The average annual family health insurance plan costs an...
November 27th, 2012 | Health Care | Read More

Should the State of Alaska Pay For Union Facilities?

The labor unions in Alaska perform an excellent job of training future union workers, particularly in the construction industry. However, is it right and proper for the State of Alaska to use public monies to fund construction of facilities for these private labor unions? That is exactly what is happening...
November 2nd, 2012 | Accountability | Read More

Does Adding More Staff Increase Education Achievement?

The Friedman Foundation released a report that studied the increase in student population versus the increase in public school employees. The report noted that nationwide for the period FY1992 to FY2009 the number of K-12 students grew 17 percent while the number of full time equivalent school employees...
October 31st, 2012 | Recent News | Read More

Military Health Care Under the Knife

It would seem as if the overall intent of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is to eventually morph into a single payer government health insurance program. This can be largely accomplished by rendering three major health care programs unsustainable and by significantly lowering participation by medical...
October 25th, 2012 | Health Care | Read More
Page 1 of 1712345...10...Last »