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Denver Public Schools Grows Bureaucracy While Student Population Declines
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Denver Public Schools Grows Bureaucracy While Student Population Declines

By: Nicole C. Brambila | The Denver Gazette Meanwhile, the district employs 262 fewer teachers compared to 5 years ago. Denver Public Schools (DPS) has operated with thousands fewer students than its peak enrollment in 2019 but it has grown its administrative ranks back to nearly their pre-pandemic level, a Denver Gazette analysis of state staffing data shows. This finding mirrors a statewide trend identified in a report by the Common Sense Institute (CSI) that found Colorado school districts continued to grow their administrative staff despite declining student enrollment. In the past five years, districts across the state have added more than 250 administrators, a 13.1% increase, according to CSI. State data shows Colorado has lost more than...
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Can you regulate the sound of commerce without sinking trade?
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

Can you regulate the sound of commerce without sinking trade?

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com When Congress authorized nearly $400 billion in climate subsidies, the bill was called the “Inflation Reduction Act,” though it had nothing to do with inflation. The 2001 “Patriot Act” was about expanding government surveillance powers, not patriotism. The massive new federal health insurance program was called “Affordable Care Act,” though it did not reduce the cost of anything. And we call laws restricting mandatory union contracts “right to work,” though they create no jobs. Popular-sounding names enhance the chances of acceptance for many proposals that might otherwise fail the test of public opinion. Calling a new program of government regulations, fees, and permits a “market-based solution” might appeal to folks who would otherwise ...
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Education funds drained by bureaucrats while kids fall behind
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New York Post, Approved, Commentary, National

Education funds drained by bureaucrats while kids fall behind

By Post Editorial Board | Commentary, New York Post If you think spending more money on America’s schools will lead to greater student achievement, guess again: A new analysis of 12,000-plus school districts shows just the opposite. Not only does more spending not correlate with better student performance, turns out it coincides with moderately worse performance. The public-policy watchdog Open the Books looked at payroll growth at 12,531 public-school districts from 2019 to 2023, and compared it to the percentage change in the district rankings on the National Assessment of Educational Progress exams, the gold standard for measuring reading and math proficiency of fourth and eighth graders. Guess what: The greater the payroll growth, the more...
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Government Isn’t God: Why Broken People Need More Faith, Not Bigger Bureaucracy
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ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, National

Government Isn’t God: Why Broken People Need More Faith, Not Bigger Bureaucracy

By Scott K. James | Commentary, ScottKJames.com America doesn’t need bigger government. It needs bigger faith. Romans 13 shows government is a servant – not the savior. Since the tragic shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church, I’ve watched the same battle lines get drawn. The script writes itself: “Take the guns. Prayer doesn’t work. Faith isn’t enough.” It breaks my heart – not only because of the lives shattered, but because half of America’s first instinct is to strip away our God-given rights. But the answer isn’t taking things away. The answer is realizing that people are broken, and only God – not government – can heal broken people. And if the church shooting wasn’t proof enough of how far we’ve drifted, the recent Colorado General Assembly Special Session sealed it. It...
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Reduce Taxes BY Eliminating the Government Middleman
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Reduce Taxes BY Eliminating the Government Middleman

By Russ Minary | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice "The power to tax is the power to destroy." – U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, 1819 In this article, I’ll explain and contrast how and why the American free market works differently and better than government (in many cases) using two free market American businesses you know: Amazon and Costco. NOTE: I am a Constitutional conservative and enthusiastic advocate of the free market wherever, whenever and in whatever ways possible. I don’t oppose all government, just that which is redundant, costly, over-regulated, complicated, unnecessary, or too oppressive and costly. Which is most of it. In the past, manufacturers, local retailers and their customers enjoyed friendly relationships. A middleman like a distribu...
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Colorado’s green building code mandates drive up housing costs and do little for the climate
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ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s green building code mandates drive up housing costs and do little for the climate

By Scott K. James | Commentary, Scott K. James New ‘green’ building code mandates in Colorado reek of virtue signaling, drive up housing costs, and do jack squat for the environment. The Denver Post recently dropped a fun little read about how Colorado’s unelected bureaucrats have found yet another way to make housing completely unaffordable while pretending they’re saving the planet. The Colorado Legislature cedes authority to unelected bureaucrats in the Colorado Energy Office (CEO) to whip out new codes. The Denver Post piece highlights how the CEO has done just that, and – viola – Colorado will now require cities and counties to adopt updated building codes focused on cutting emissions – because if there’s one thing this housing market needed, it was more ...
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The danger of smart without wise: Why Wilson’s ‘expert state’ still haunts America
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Substack, Approved, Commentary, National, Top Stories

The danger of smart without wise: Why Wilson’s ‘expert state’ still haunts America

By Michael A. Hancock | Commentary, Substack Woodrow Wilson’s Fallacy of the Expert State “Intelligence is theoretical math—brilliant, abstract, dazzling to the mind. Wisdom is applied math—the bridge that stands. A society that prizes smartness without wisdom risks mistaking cleverness for truth, and formulas for foundations.” A century ago, Woodrow Wilson bet the future of American governance on intelligence without wisdom. He called it the administrative state: a system where experts—smarter than the rest of us—would manage society with the precision of science. Politics, with its compromises and accountability, was to give way to bureaucracy, with its charts, models, and rules. It was a beautiful formula on paper. But like so many formulas, it mistook cleverness for truth and ...
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Dear Colorado Legislature: Here’s Your $1 Billion Cut List
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ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, State

Dear Colorado Legislature: Here’s Your $1 Billion Cut List

By Scott K. James | Commentary, ScottKJames.com Colorado’s $1B budget hole isn’t rocket science – we found the cuts. From illegal immigration perks to bloated credits, here’s the fix. (And Yes, We Found It In the Couch Cushions) Colorado lawmakers are about to lock themselves in a special session cage match because they’ve managed to spend themselves $1 billion into the red. Cue the finger-pointing, cue the “hard choices” speeches, cue the “we just need more revenue” crocodile tears. Well, guess what? We did your homework for you. We found your billion. And unlike your staff memos written in bureaucrat-ese, this cut list is in plain English – with receipts. Brace yourselves, this will be long, but I’ll give you a TL, DR version right up front… TL;DR: Colorado’s ...
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Colorado seniors face uphill battle to access state resources
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DENVER7, Approved, Local

Colorado seniors face uphill battle to access state resources

by Colin Riley | Denver 7 News DENVER — As the demographics of Colorado shift, the state faces a pressing challenge: an increasing number of older adults who are finding it difficult to access essential resources. The 2020 U.S. Census revealed that nationwide, approximately one in six individuals is now 65 or older, a dramatic rise from one in 20 in 2010. By 2030, almost 20% of Colorado's population is projected to be 60 or older, intensifying the demand for state assistance. Denver7 sat down with residents, advocates, and nonprofits to listen to the obstacles many older adults face in securing state resources. The stories that emerged depict a pattern of frustration and a feeling of being invisible to lawmakers. One participant, Jane Black, an 86-year-old Thornton resident, s...
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Walcher: Colorado River drought studies blame climate change, not federal land mismanagement
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GregWalcher.com

Walcher: Colorado River drought studies blame climate change, not federal land mismanagement

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com Here is a late-breaking flash from a new study released last month at the University of Arizona: westerners use too much water. Pete Seeger’s 1960s folk standard, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” is in the Grammy Hall of Fame, made a genuine classic through cover versions by the Kingston Trio; Peter, Paul and Mary; Joan Baez; and at least 50 others. It is often quoted, generally out of context, as will be the case here, because of the line closing each stanza, “When will they ever learn.” I hear it occasionally in arguments about endangered species, as in, “Where have all the flowers gone, young girls picked them, every one.” I think of it more in connection with these never-ending “studies” about the Colorado River, how much more wa...
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