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  “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 […]

Arkansas is a rural state that suffers from a shortage of medical professionals. One oft-discussed idea would assign advanced nurse practitioners a greater role. A lesser-known idea allows medical professionals to volunteer across state lines. It’s early on a recent Saturday morning at Manassas High School on Memphis’ near-north side. Remote Area Medical (RAM), a […]

(April 2016) The Policy Foundation noted more than a decade ago that state spending growth linked to an economic metric such as the Consumer Price Index would save tax dollars. CPI has increased at an average annual rate of 1.5 percent in the economic expansion that started in 2009.  Yet spending increases at higher percentage rates […]

“Boards and commissions have also undergone extraordinary growth since the early seventies when the number hovered around 175. The number of Arkansas boards and commissions is 388…and growing. A closer look at the trend shows that the median year of creation for all Arkansas boards and commissions is 1978, meaning half of them (in the 123 years […]

(October 2015) Boards and Commissions have been described as “low-hanging fruit” in terms of state government reorganization.  A state website lists 119 separate entities that include the words “board” or “commission,”1 though the number could be greater.  A U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year has caused analysts to question whether some boards and commissions interfere with the […]