We believe every Californian should have the opportunity to flourish.

A Happy Anniversary for Workers’ Rights

A Happy Anniversary for Workers’ Rights

Five years ago this week, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed the First Amendment right of government workers to opt out of their unions.  In Janus vs AFSCME, decided on June 27, 2018, the Court ruled that public-sector employees have the right to opt out of union representation and cannot be forced to pay union dues....

By Houston Reese

Parents are Not Radicals

Parents are Not Radicals

Across the nation, parents are pushing back against inappropriate and hyper-sexualized content in K-12 schools. This organic parent movement is erupting across diverse demographics — in stark contrast to the PR effort by teachers unions and Democrats to fictionalize it as a “Christian nationalist white supremacist” campaign to “ban books.” Earlier this month, Muslim parents in...

By Andrew Davenport

The Corruption of Climate Science: California Forest Facts Expose Study’s Flaws

The Corruption of Climate Science: California Forest Facts Expose Study’s Flaws

For over 50 years, with increasing frequency, corrupted, careerist scientists have produced biased studies that, amplified by agenda-driven corporate and political special interests, constitute a “consensus” that is supposedly “beyond debate.” We are in a “climate crisis.” To cope with this climate emergency, all measures are justifiable. This is overblown, one-sided, and manipulative propaganda. It...

By Edward Ring

Teachers beat San Diego union in remarkable rematch

Teachers beat San Diego union in remarkable rematch

Take a break from doom scrolling California stories to celebrate the victory of charter school teachers over the union that came to crush them.  Teachers at Gompers Preparatory Academy, a public charter school in the Chollas View neighborhood of San Diego, have successfully voted to remove San Diego Education Association (SDEA) union bosses from their...

By California Policy Center

SCOTUS confirms unions can be sued for property damage

SCOTUS confirms unions can be sued for property damage

In an important ruling last week, the U.S. Supreme Court held that unions can be sued in state court for damages if striking workers intentionally destroy their employer’s property. The decision is a victory for employers that puts unions on notice that there are consequences for their reckless actions during strikes. In Glacier Northwest v....

By Houston Reese

More Companies Flee to Texas

More Companies Flee to Texas

The Lone Star State continues to profit from the corporate exodus from California as the list of big-name businesses moving to Texas grows. Fleeing California’s highly-regulated environment, a number of companies have announced they’re moving to Texas for the state’s dynamic, growth-friendly economy. Last week, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce released a study...

By Sheridan Swanson

Uneducating America: Student Test Scores on U.S. History and Civics Hit All-Time Lows

Uneducating America: Student Test Scores on U.S. History and Civics Hit All-Time Lows

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also referred to as the Nation’s Report Card, is a test that measures the knowledge of American students in various areas. The results of the NAEP test in U.S. history and civics, taken in 2022, were released last month. They paint a grim picture: according to the data,...

By Larry Sand

Bay Area Financial Crisis: Oakland

Bay Area Financial Crisis: Oakland

Like San Francisco, the Bay Area City of Oakland is facing major budget woes. Mayor Sheng Thao’s proposed budget for 2023-25 released last month reveals the city is facing  a $360 million shortfall, the largest budget deficit in Oakland’s history.  The proposed budget for FY 2023-24 and 2024-25 plans for total expenditures of over $2.1...

By Sheridan Swanson

San Francisco’s Financial Crisis

San Francisco’s Financial Crisis

The State of California isn’t the only one scrambling to prepare a budget while staring down a deficit. Several Bay Area municipalities are also struggling with their own budget problems, San Francisco chief among them.  San Francisco’s 2022-23 budget and next year’s 2023-24 budget total approximately $14 billion each. On March 31, the San Francisco...

By Sheridan Swanson

Challenging the Premise of Our Destruction

Challenging the Premise of Our Destruction

The most powerful and destructive perception in the world today is that using fossil fuels will cause catastrophic climate change. This belief, marketed by every major government and corporate institution in the Western world, is the foundational premise underlying a policy agenda of stunning indifference to the aspirations of ordinary people. The war on fossil...

By Edward Ring

Newsom Wisely Avoids Transit Bailout in May Budget Revise

Newsom Wisely Avoids Transit Bailout in May Budget Revise

Governor Newsom’s FY 2023-24 budget update included a larger projected deficit and more balancing measures than his January budget. But, despite pressure from Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and transit agencies, the May Revise excluded emergency funding for local bus and rail systems around the state. The agencies’ proposed transit bailout was at best premature,...

By Marc Joffe

The Rise of Zombie Cities 

The Rise of Zombie Cities 

When the California State Auditor’s Office released its annual report on the “Fiscal Health of California Cities” in fall 2022, most city officials and journalists focused on the blunt financial risk rating results and the relative position of their city organization amongst the 431 cities analyzed. But there is more that we can learn from...

By Mark Moses

A Success Story at an Orange County Charter

A Success Story at an Orange County Charter

By Michael Davis Dire were the predictions when our little charter school, Orange County Classical Academy, was approved over three years ago in a famously raucous Orange Unified School District board hearing.  The skepticism was forgivable then but not today. In its first year of operation, 50 percent of OCCA’s English Learners achieved English-language proficiency by the...

By California Policy Center

The War on Boys and Girls

The War on Boys and Girls

Over the years, a cause for teen angst, suicide, etc., has reportedly been the media. But there is no definitive evidence to corroborate that. In fact, every recent generation has traditionally pointed to the media or some other cultural factor as damaging to youth. In the 1920s, it was the Charleston, and in the 1940s,...

By Larry Sand