The California Policy Center’s Edward Ring asserts in Fox & Hounds Daily that pouring more money into teachers unions' billfolds will not help students succeed. Instead, revitalizing CA’s underperforming schools could involve a wholly new model: giving parents vouchers and the freedom to choose where to send their children, whether to public, private, or micro-schools. This competition encourages schools to offer the best education, Ring points out.
Read MoreLocal media has called the mayoral and most other local races. Opp Now caught up with former mayor Chuck Reed and Biz PAC member Tracey Enfantino for their analysis on the election's broader meanings. An Opp Now Exclusive.
Read MoreWell, there's been a lot of chatter online in SJ this election season about potential race-baiting and unseemly dogwhistling in campaign mailers. While some of the over-the-top accusations from the left have been effectively rebuffed by local media, other, perhaps more dangerous, complaints were left unaddressed.
Read MoreThe recriminations have already begun in the Labor/Left media and advocate community. So who’s to blame for their disappointing showing in the mayoral and District 7 race? It’s not the candidates, their campaigns, or their policies, of course. It’s—take a deep breath—People Who Didn’t Vote. The Opp Now team unpacks the false nature of the low-turnout myth. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreJohn Inks—former Mountain View mayor, termed-out councilmember, and longtime Libertarian—analyzes local governments’ plans for construction and development projects. While praising these plans’ comprehensiveness, Inks suggests that too-stringent courses of action constrain owners’ crucial decisions about their own projects. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreThe Opp Now team spoke with educational expert Michael Alexander to parse unsettling recent news: The Bay’s public schools are sliding behind local privates in statewide rankings. Alexander finds COVID-19 mandates to blame for local public institutions’ bad break — not declining school quality. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreIn a recent e-mailer, the Libertarian Party of SCC argues that education-centric bonds (e.g., the measures proposed in Los Gatos/Campbell school districts) are inefficient, unproductive, and distract attention from the real priority: empowering parents to make cogent decisions “as they see fit.” The LPSCC’s take on bonds, public education, and government overreach follows.
Read MoreSan Francisco is just one Bay Area city facing urgent crime, homelessness, and drug crises. The NY Post’s Leighton Woodhouse argues that by decriminalizing the use of illicit substances, Woke SF governance inadvertently encourages addiction and criminal behavior.
Read MoreThe East Bay Times’ Katie Lauer examines California’s pension liability dashboard, in which San Jose is CA’s 2nd worst in funding for existing arrears. Boasting $9.5 billion in accrued pension debt (only $3.6 billion of which is funded), SJ’s economy may face a “looming crisis” barring intervention, says Lauer.
Read MoreSwanee Edwards recently left the local Dem Party after the controversy surrounding her endorsement of nonpartisan County Supe candidate Johnny Khamis. Here, Edwards unpacks the Gilroy City Council’s “dysfunctional” ways of operating, and how oversensitive political correctness is destroying local politics. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreThe latest chapter of Opp Now’s favorite political book series features regular contributors California Policy Center VP Jackson Reese and Institute for Public Policy Director at William Jessup University (Rocklin) Pete Constant. Below, Reese and Constant recommend “sensible,” pragmatic, field-friendly reads in economics and politics. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreWhile the homeschool option continues booming across the nation (propagated by various states’ deregulation efforts), local advocates question how lenient is too lenient when it comes to educating the next generation. RealClearInvestigations’ Vince Bielski examines critics’ concerns about how to honor parents’ freedom and states’ obligations.
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