Platte Institute Publications
Listed below are all Platte Institute publications. To the left, you can browse these publications by Publication Type and by Author.
MAY 28, 2010
Opportunity for Help is Passing By Low Achieving Schools
with assistance from Jessica Strutzel
Platte Institute
The Nebraska Department of Education recently released a list of 52 schools labeled as "persistently low achieving schools" in the state. Schools labeled as persistently low achieving are the lowest achieving schools determined by three years of test scores and schools that have a graduation rate less than 75%.[ [1]] Districts are upset by their schools being placed on a persistently lowest-achieving schools list. There are some factors that may contribute to these schools low graduation rates that are out of their control. Factors such as teen pregnancy, poverty, violence, and family issues are believed to contribute to the low graduation rates. Schools in other states face similar problems in their school systems, yet are still able to help their students flourish.
MAY 20, 2010
Why You Want a Government Job
The above chart uses the Bureau of Labor Statistics' most recent Employment Cost Index to compare percent changes in public and private worker compensation within each of the five largest sectors in the United States during the 12 month period ending March 2010.
Compensation includes health and retirement benefits (roughly 30% of compensation), salary (roughly 70% of compensation), and legally required benefits such as payments for Social Security and Medicare. The sectors examined here employ over 65 million workers, or nearly half of all employed Americans. These sectors are (in order from largest to smallest by total employment): Office and Administrative Support, Sales, Food Preparation and Service, Production, and Transportation and Material Moving.
MAY 13, 2010
Layoffs, CIR Reform Needed in Solving Omaha's Police Contract Conundrum
Platte Institute
As the largest city in Nebraska, Omaha has an opportunity to demonstrate to other municipalities how to negotiate with unions while protecting taxpayers from financial ruin.
Richard O'Gara, the City of Omaha's human resources director said recently that "[t]hese are uncommon times. You've got to do uncommon things,"[1] to get a new union agreement in place with the city's police department that doesn't further jeopardize the city's economic future. He couldn't be more right.
MAY 10, 2010
EQUALITY IN OPPORTUNITY: MINORITIES AND WOMEN AS BUSINESS OWNERS
Small businesses in Nebraska make significant contributions to our state economy. Of these small businesses, defined as having less than 500 employees, only 30% of them are owned by women or minorities (African American, Asian, Hispanic, Native American/Alaskan, and Hawaiian/Pacific Islander). Sixty percent of the population in Nebraska is comprised of women and minorities - almost double the percentage of those that have small businesses. The percentage of minority- and women-owned small businesses should be representative of the population.
APRIL 22, 2010
Our Unconstitutional Congress
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter; so help me God."
APRIL 9, 2010
Nebraska Brings Up the Rear Among Midwest States
Berk Brown
Platte Institute
If you’re looking for a Midwestern state with a strong economic outlook, Nebraska isn’t it. In fact, a study released yesterday by the American Legislative Exchange Council says Nebraska’s economic outlook is dead last when compared to neighboring states.
In the 2010 version of Rich States, Poor States, Nebraska’s economic outlook is ranked 34th in the nation - a drop of five spots from last year.
MARCH 11, 2010
Hate the Sin, Tax the Sinner?
By Berk Brown
Platte Institute
No state in the Midwest is as on harsh on citizens who consume products with “sin taxes” than Nebraska. And, at the end of the day, these wildly varying taxes with arbitrary rates worthy of much head scratching don’t have a history of reducing the consumption of “sins” they are meant to reduce.
Taxation is meant to raise revenue for the operations of government. Yet, as sin-tax revenue has grown by leaps and bounds across the country and here in Nebraska, government has not-so-gingerly crossed the line into trying to change people’s behavior and implementing moral values. As the following statistics will show you, these sin taxes in Nebraska have not curbed behavior nearly as much as they have lined the state’s coffers with more of its citizens’ money.
MARCH 4, 2010
The True Cost of Remedial Education in Nebraska
By Rubria Jessica Hintz
Platte Institute
Remedial classes are taken by students who are not prepared for entrance level courses taken by most college students. These young scholars and their parents fully expect that successful graduation from an accredited high school has prepared them for success; however, 21% of all post secondary students were enrolled in at least one remedial class in 2003-04.1 Although this is an alarming statistic, a significant number of these students may be older adults returning to college. "Nearly four out of five students who undergo remediation in college graduated from high school with grade-point averages of 3.0 or higher," which suggests they met their high school graduation requirements, but did not meet college performance standards.2 The bottom line is our public schools are not adequately preparing some college bound students for the rigors of higher education.
FEBRUARY 26, 2010
Omaha is at a Crossroads
By Bob Zabawa
Former President of
Nebraska Taxpayers Association
Omaha is at a crossroads. Our City leaders can take the easy pathway and raise property taxes or honestly deal with some obvious long-term employment issues.
FEBRUARY 17, 2010
Virtual Education Benefits All of Nebraska
By Anne Duda
Senior Policy Analyst
Technology has transformed everything in our daily lives. We carry cell phones in our pockets and GPS mapping equipment in our tractors, but yet, we in Nebraska have not fully allowed technology into our school systems. Despite computers being a staple in almost every classroom, they are not being used to their full potential. If technology were properly integrated then students in Cozad and Louisville would be able to take Arabic and Cantonese along with all thirty-seven Advanced Placement (AP) classes. There should be no reason students in Lexington and McCook do not have the same opportunities as students in Millard or Lincoln.
Total Records: 75
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