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THE U.S. MARINE CORPS & ACTIVITY BASED COSTING  

“Incorporate Activities Based Costing (ABC) into the state’s accounting system with expenditures tied not only to costs but to measurable performance outputs. Adopt performance-based budgeting throughout state government.  Appoint a “performance management” director who works for the Governor through DFA, and provide for a small volunteer performance accountability “advisory group” to be put in place for oversight purposes. Murphy […]

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SPEAKER TO HONOR DR. MILTON FRIEDMAN  

(July 2014) Arkansas recently became the 25th state to enact a private school choice program, an idea originating with the late Dr. Milton Friedman (1912-2006), the 1976 Nobel laureate in Economics.   A speaker sponsored by the Policy Foundation will discuss Dr. Friedman’s education reform ideas at a July 30 public forum in Conway. Dr. […]

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INCOME TAX CUT EMERGES AS ISSUE  

“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   (July 2014) Arkansas state government’s $78.7 million general-revenue surplus in the fiscal year (2013-14) […]

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WEAK RECOVERY: 45 ARKANSAS COUNTIES LOSE JOBS

(June 2014) One sure sign that current administration economic policies are not working is the widespread decline in Arkansas payroll employment, the broadest indicator at the state level. Jobs data released this month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show employment in 451 Arkansas counties-more than half of the state-was lower at the end of 20132 than […]

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PRIVATE SCHOOL CHOICE ON THE AGENDA  

“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. And it does so with financial resources taken from parents already struggling financially and at the expense of their ability to choose a better school for their sons […]

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POST-MURPHY COMMISSION TAX CUTS  

  “There is significant evidence that reductions in marginal state tax rates encourage state economic growth …Rates on productive behavior should be reduced.” Murphy Commission, Policy Foundation project,1998   (April 2014) The Murphy Commission, a Policy Foundation project, spent three years reviewing Arkansas’ tax system before publishing two studies1 in 1998 that concluded rates were a […]

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ARKANSAS TERM LIMITS: MORE WOMEN IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY  

  Second in a multi-part series on term limits, approved by the people in 1992 and 2004.   (March 2014) The number of female General Assembly members has nearly tripled since the people of Arkansas approved term limits in 1992.1   Amendment 73 to the state Constitution limits Arkansas constitutional officers2 to two four-year terms.  The amendment […]

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ONE OF THE LARGEST SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN ARKANSAS  

(February 2014) Most articles filed by education reporters focus on traditional K-12 public school districts.1  An unreported story is the increase in home-schooling, part of the alternative Arkansas school choice market.   The number of Arkansas home school students has increased from a mere 572 (1985-86) to 17,215 (2012-13), state Department of Education records show.2  Home school students, as a percentage of local enrollment, […]

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