Policy Briefs
Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing: Metaphysical and Other Irrelevant Debates about Teachers' Comparable Pay
September 2004
The present market for public school teachers is in chronic over-supply and has very low turnover. This implies that present teachers' pay is generally above-market. Comparable pay studies that find teachers are being paid less than a market wage are wrong because they are inconsistent with this evidence. The decline in teacher quality over the past few decades has been caused not by too low average teachers' pay, but by the top-down compression of pay that resulted from collective bargaining...Read More
The Direct Political Clout of the Education Establishment
June 2004
The Education Establishment can now control most local elections. This power can be partially checked by requiring super-majorities in bond and levy elections...Read More
Comparing Idaho Charter Schools with their Home Districts
June 2004
When considering total taxpayer support from state and local property taxes, charters operate at a cost of about 60% to 70% of the traditional district schools...Read More
How Competition Works in K-12 Public Education
June 2004
"It's time to admit that public education operates like a planned economy, a bureaucratic system in which everybody's role is spelled out in advance and there are few incentives for innovation and productivity. It's no surprise that our school system doesn't improve: It more resembles the communist economy than our own market economy." --Albert Shanker, American Federation of Teachers President...Read More