Blog

(June 2017) Tom Easterly, a Murphy Commission Education Team volunteer who later played a role in a landmark Arkansas State Supreme Court decision has been named the Policy Foundation’s ‘Unsung Hero’ of 2017.   Easterly, 97, was awarded the honor based on the following criteria:   ∙         His work to address issues that focus on America’s founding […]

(July 2017) Management consultants conducted efficiency reviews in Kansas, Louisiana, and North Carolina this decade, at costs ranging from $2.6-to-$4.2 million.  Volunteers led an earlier Kansas project.  A Policy Foundation review of published reports in these states1 found a broad range of estimated savings ($9.3 million to $2.7 billion). To-date savings vary by state, according to state executives and […]

  “Certain funds are not being distributed to low-income K-12 school districts as originally intended.”  Policy Foundation Efficiency Project, Second Report, Recommendation #50, p. 181   (May 2017) Mission creep describes the tendency of government programs to expand beyond their original purpose.  One Arkansas example is a 1997 program that pays incentive bonuses to teachers that obtain national-board certification […]

  “There is significant evidence that reductions in marginal state tax rates encourage state economic growth …Rates on productive behavior should be reduced.” “Reduce the state’s income tax…repeal the state’s capital gains tax.” Arkansas Policy Foundation, Murphy Commission project, 1998   (May 2017) Arkansas state legislators cut taxes for low-income Arkansans1 and military retirees in this year’s […]

“Formal or informal oversight for these recommendations and others should rest with an individual or team that shall work in a collaborative manner with the executive branch to advance efficiencies.” Policy Foundation, Arkansas Efficiency Project, Recommendation #20, 3Q-2016   (February 19, 2017) Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced today the founding of the Transformation Advisory Board, which will […]

“Mission Statements. Agency officials expressed support for efficiency as a concept, though few mission statements include the term. Each agency should include the word efficiency in their mission statement and post it online in an easily accessible format.  Policy Foundation, Arkansas Efficiency Project, Recommendation #1, 3Q-2016   (February 2017) The Arkansas State Bank Department has amended its […]

“The most callused aspect of the current education monopoly in Arkansas is that it willingly and deliberately forces children–except those whose parents have wealth–to attend bad schools.” Policy Foundation report,1 September 1998   (January 2017) School choice and charter schools continue to advance since the Little Rock School District was taken over by the state two years […]

(January 2017) The Wall Street Journal, America’s leading commercial daily published a column in its January 14 edition that discussed the Arkansas state government Efficiency Project.  Policy Foundation Executive Director Greg Kaza wrote the column, which noted the “model of efficiency is business.”  The piece identified Arkansas entrepreneurs with “thrift, efficiency and the time value of money” but […]

“Formal or informal oversight for these recommendations and others should rest with an individual or team that shall work in a collaborative manner with the executive branch to advance efficiencies.” Policy Foundation, Arkansas Efficiency Project, Recommendation #20, 3Q-2016 (December 2016) Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson launched phase two of the state government Efficiency Project by naming Amy Fecher to […]

(November 2016) The Policy Foundation’s Efficiency Project has identified 184 cost-saving initiatives underway at Arkansas state departments.  The initiatives are listed in a report that has been delivered to Arkansas Gov Asa Hutchinson. Gov. Hutchinson directed state agencies to cooperate with the Efficiency Project last December.  The Policy Foundation is publishing the 70-page report this fall.  Following […]