The Buckeye Institute appreciates the immense honor of having former Federal Elections Commission chairman Bradley A. Smith chair our board of trustees. Smith’s “Last Lecture: Why We Study Law” event in Columbus, Ohio, was co-sponsored by The Federalist Society. Many of his present and former students, colleagues, and friends attended, alongside a sizable contingent of Buckeye staff. Professor Smith is retiring from his illustrious career as Capital University School of Law’s Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Professor of Law after this semester.

In Kathmandu, Robert Alt sat down for an interview with Nepal’s premier business magazine, Business 360, for a conversation about free market ideas, public policy, and the lessons mountaineering can offer to those working to shape a more prosperous and accountable future.

Surprised by your recent property tax bill? You might not be alone. Ohio ranks 13th in the nation for local tax rates, and as property values rise, many regional homeowners are feeling a pinch. While Ohio schools take a big slice of tax revenues, property taxes also fund a long list of other services. Greg R. Lawson, a research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, joined the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Forum “Taxed & Confused: Making Sense of Rising Property Taxes in Ohio” to discuss property taxes in Ohio.

For The James Martin Center for Academic Renewal, The Buckeye Institute looks at Ohio’s recent success with higher education reform and what more can be done. “Ohio students deserve educational institutions—especially those of higher learning—committed to their long-term success… More work remains to be done, but, in the fight for the future of higher education, Ohio seems poised to finally put its students first.”

In The Center Square, The Buckeye Institute offers an approach to higher education reforms, writing, “As the traditional higher education model shifts away from catering primarily to recent high-school graduates living full-time on campus, it must find ways to reduce administrative expenses while keeping pace with changing demographics, student and employer preferences, and new learning opportunities. Lawmakers and education policymakers must facilitate rather than hinder each of those objectives.”

In The Columbus Dispatch, The Buckeye Institute calls for a more competitive, more transparent, less subsidized energy market, writing, “The rapidly evolving 21st century economy runs on electricity and demand for reliable power shows no signs of abating. Without affordable electricity, Ohio risks losing economic market share to states with more energy and lower energy prices. That’s an avoidable risk not worth taking.”
 

Will South Carolina join other states across the nation in what Zachary D. Cady of The Buckeye Institute calls “the flat tax revolution”? What trade-offs are involved in the legislative process when it comes to tax reform? How do we know how tax code changes will affect the broader economy? All these and questions and more are discussed on this episode of Beyond Policy, a podcast of the Palmetto Promise Institute.
 

In The Columbus Dispatch, The Buckeye Institute points out missing information from a recent article, writing, “The April 13 Dispatch article, ‘Ohio schools, parents concerned as lawmakers debate voucher and public school funding,’ states that ‘Republican lawmakers’ are ‘proposing cuts to public schools.’ That assertion is incorrect.”

In The Center Square, The Buckeye Institute and the Mississippi Center for Public Policy look at Mississippi’s bold tax reform, writing, “No one likes paying taxes. April 15th is a time of dread for most taxpayers. But this April, Mississippians have a reason to cheer because of the state legislature’s actions and Gov. Tate Reeves. Mississippi is poised to become one of the top ten states for income tax policy and can look forward to more jobs and economic prosperity for generations.”

Higher education reform requires embracing responsible innovation to improve student success. Ohio’s workforce shortages in nursing, engineering, and trade labor demand a higher education system that adapts to declining enrollment and rising alternatives. Aligning state subsidies with post-graduate outcomes, reducing administrative costs, and regulating OPM partnerships wisely are commonsense reforms that can help Ohio, and its students overcome some of the challenges they now face.