The fact is that New Jersey lied and got caught, but taxpayers everywhere may benefit. Yesterday, the State of New Jersey settled with the SEC on charges that the state committed securities fraud by failing to disclose the true state of its state employees pension funds. This admission is an important step toward ending accounting policies that allow states to claim that the state teachers and employees’ pension funds are fully funded, when they really have billions of dollars of deficits. By using accounting tricks, New Jersey claimed to have …
What happens when parents have the opportunity to exercise choice and send their children to private schools? Children get an education that best meets their unique needs, and taxpayers get to put some hard-earned dollars back in their pockets. Per-pupil annual expenditures in New Jersey public schools now average $17,000, eclipsing school spending in other states. But the Governor’s Study Commission on New Jersey’s Nonpublic Schools recently determined that New Jersey private schools save the Garden State $2.7 billion annually. Yet in the past five years, non-public school enrollment has …
Head Start, which provides child development services primarily to low-income families and their children, is one of the few popular programs that came out of President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. But following up on hotline tips alleging fraud and abuse, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) began an undercover investigation of Head Start centers in California, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. Heritage Senior Policy Analyst David Muhlhausen details what the GAO found: In eight of the 13 eligibility tests, the fictitious families were told by Head Start staff that …
Love him or hate him, you’ve got to admit that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is not afraid to take a stand, speak his mind, or face the heat while doing it. He served up his latest dish of no-nonsense honesty at a townhall in Rutherford, New Jersey, on Tuesday in defense of his plan to reform the Garden State’s bloated budget through an overhaul of civil service, reform of public pensions, and a constitutional cap on property tax growth. And he’s taking flak for it. As you can see …
School districts and legislatures in Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Virginia are demonstrating a commitment to greater educational opportunities for students and families by challenging the status quo of mediocre and failing public schools. While many East Coast states spent the weekend focused on snow removal, the town of Central Falls, Rhode Island focused on the removal of almost 100 teachers from one of the state’s worst performing schools. Superintendent Frances Gallo will fire all Central Falls High School teachers after union leaders refused proposed reforms that included increasing the …
The budget shortfalls, plunging revenue, and economic woes plaguing near-broke California could foretell the future of other cash-strapped states. A new study by The Pew Center on the States found that the economic pressures that pushed California to the brink of a total economic meltdown are also found in nine other states across the country, all of which could face a financial disaster just like the one in the Golden State. Those states with economic conditions most like California’s include Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Florida, New Jersey and …
Yesterday in a victory that was not as close as the final pre-election polls had suggested, voters in Maine adopted a “people’s veto” to protect the traditional definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman. The margin was 53-47. The voting was closely watched for several reasons, as each of the other 30 states that have held popular votes on marriage redefinition has seen popular majorities approve the traditional understanding. Even more important, had proponents of same-sex marriage prevailed in Maine, it would have marked the …
High taxes and steep housing costs have been forcing middle class Americans out of New Jersey for years. Now President-elect Barack Obama has nominated New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection commissioner Lisa Jackson to head the federal Environmental Protection Agency. On Monday, New Jersey’s DEP unveiled a global warming plan that was developed by Jackson. It is filled with public policies that will only further harm the middle class: Prohibit construction new coal-fired power plants. – ‘Clean’ energies like wind and solar account for less than 2% of U.S. energy …
Make a list of the things you think government does really well. Almost everyone can agree it is pitifully short. Why, then, would we want government to run something as important as health care? The argument for a federal solution to affordable health care assumes the feds will do a good job, and is marked by a lack of understanding about what has made America the wealthiest country in history. Our meteoric rise was ignited by doing less, not more, when it came to regulating the choices people could make …
A front-page Washington Post story reports today that there are $1.3 million people without health insurance in New Jersey. According to the Post, as a result of uninsured people receiving care without adequate reimbursement by the state, six hospitals have closed and half of those remaining open are operating at a loss. The Post then goes on to identify some reasons the situation in New Jersey is so dire, including “underfunding of Medicaid and Medicare,” “state budget cuts,” “the proliferation in recent years of ambulatory care centers,” and even “illegal …
