Show-me Institute Podcast

Patrick Ishmael, Show-Me Institute's Director of Government Accountability, joins Gary Nolan to debunk the most common Right to Work myths. Originally aired on 93.9 The Eagle's Gary Nolan Show on July 5, 2018. Learn more about Right to Work: https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/employment-jobs/prop-facts

Dr. James V. Shuls, Show-Me Institute's Distinguished Fellow of Education Policy, joins KMOX's Charlie Brennan to discuss why Missouri lowered its testings standards and the negative repercussions its had on students. Originally aired on KMOX in St. Louis on July 3, 2018. Learn more in "Like A Sore Thumb: Missouri's Testing Standards Buck National Trend": https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/accountability/sore-thumb-missouris-testing-standards-buck-national-trend About the author: James V. Shuls is an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Missouri–St. Louis and Distinguished Fellow in Education Policy at the Show-Me Institute. His work has been featured in numerous media outlets, including Phi Delta Kappan, Social Science Quarterly, Education Week, The Rural Educator, Educational Policy, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He earned his Ph.D. in education policy from the University of Arkansas. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Mis

Missouri is one of only five states in the country where 17-year-olds are still automatically tried as adults, but with that comes some problems. Show-Me Institute's Director of Municipal Government, Patrick Tuohey, discusses the benefits of reforming the state's sentencing laws for juvenile offenders. Originally Aired on "The Gary Nolan Show" on 5/10/2018

How can 90% of Missouri students graduate from high school, but only 42.5% are “College or Career Ready”? Well, some are arguing that even though graduation rates are at an all-time high, rates of proficiency have stagnated and declined. On top of that, many Missouri students lack access to higher-level coursework such as AP course like calculus or physics. The lack of “STEM” courses offered in high schools is a huge problem, especially when it comes to preparing students for success in college and the work force. Originally aired on 3/14/2018 on KZRG radio in Joplin.

Show-Me Minute: Liberty At the Show-Me Institute, our motto is “Where Liberty Comes First”. But what does Liberty mean? It’s making your own decisions. Taking responsibility for your own actions. Lots of Missourians are willing to do that, but government refuses to do simple things to help people take charge of their lives. How about more school choice for parents and their children? And fewer government handouts to corporations and developers? Why not make sure with public pension plans that the money will be there for retirees? Liberty means a health care system designed to help patients not the big insurance companies. It also means lowering taxes so Missourians have more options in what to do with THEIR money. As Ronald Reagan said, as government expands, liberty contracts. Check out our 2018 Missouri Blueprint: Moving Missouri Forward at showmeinstitute.org/blueprint This Show-Me Minute has been brought to you by Show-Me Institute and Show-Me Opportunity.

Free Markets When I say free markets, what do I mean? Grocery stores where you don’t have to pay anything? No, it’s an economy with no or very little government interference. Where consumers decide who succeeds or fails, not public officials picking winners and losers. We’ve seen it all too often. Governments giving away millions of dollars in tax subsidies for everything from sports stadiums to big box stores. But study after study shows that tax subsidies don’t work, and then the bill comes to us, the taxpayers, in the form of reduced services or higher taxes. Why not let the market decide? If a company wants to open a big store in Missouri, fine. But let the company assume the reward of success and the risk of failure without taxpayer money. The great economist Milton Friedman once said, “Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.” Check out our 2018 Missouri Blueprint: Moving Missouri Forward at showmeinstitute.org/blueprint This Sh

Show-Me Minute-Education Reform If knowledge really is power, are we giving our kids enough mental muscle? According to recent tests, most of Missouri’s students aren’t ready for high school work by 9th grade, and aren’t ready for college upon graduation. We need to reform education, and explore every option. Why are Kansas City and St. Louis the only cities allowed to have charter schools in Missouri? The demand is there, and yet thousands of students are denied the chance for a better education. Why aren’t advanced and online classes available through course access to all students throughout the state? Bright young minds don’t just reside in big cities. And why doesn’t Missouri adopt education savings accounts, a tax credit program that can save the state and school districts money? Why not explore all these options to bolster education in Missouri, and give our kids the mental muscle for success? Read more about education reform in our 2018 Missouri blueprint: Moving Missouri Forward at showme

Transportation Remember the old muffler commercial where the mechanic says to the car owner, you can pay me now, or pay me later? He meant the muffler was worn out, and the implication was the longer the owner waited, the higher the repair bill was going to be. So it is with Missouri’s highways. Mo Dot says I-70 desperately needs to be replaced, and the cost for that and other big projects will be in the billions of dollars. Time to look for solutions. Some say raise the gas tax. Missouri’s tax is among the lowest in the country, and hasn’t been raised in more than two decades. Others say a toll road. Make those who use the highway pay for it, they say, especially truckers. Their big rigs cause much more road damage than cars. Whatever the solution, something needs to be done. Missouri’s roads need fixing. Remember the muffler commercial. We can pay now, or pay more later. Check out our 2018 Missouri Blueprint: Moving Missouri Forward at showmeinstitute.org/blueprint This Show-Me Minute has be

Listen to our telephone town hall from January 18, 2018. Run time: 42 mins

Show-Me Minute Charter Schools Demand for Charter schools is at an all-time high. But that doesn’t mean your child necessarily has the choice to attend one. Charter schools are limited to students in Kansas City and St. Louis. But even in those areas, there are limitations. Is that fair? Currently, tens of thousands of students across the state are denied the chance at a better education. The solution is simple…why not make charter schools available statewide? More than 23 thousand students signed up for charter schools last year in Missouri, that’s up 11% from the year before. University Academy, a charter school out of Kansas City, is one of the top performing schools in the state. It even has a waiting list of 700 students. So the demand is there. Why not offer students a way out of underperforming schools and allow them to attend a school of their choice? Check out our 2017 Missouri Blueprint: Moving Missouri Forward at showmeinstitute.org. This Show-Me Minute has been brought to yo

In an election year, you can vote for anyone you choose. But if you’re a union government worker, like many police officers, teachers and firefighters in Missouri, the odds are good you have no choice at all. Imagine we voted for our public officials once and only once for a lifetime appointment. Would that be fair? In Missouri, once a union becomes the exclusive representative for a group of public employees, the union remains in power indefinitely. Another election is not scheduled unless employees can push through a decertification election…a difficult and often expensive process. Why not have regular union elections? They would serve as a good check on potential abuses when union leaders don’t have to answer to anybody. It’s what we use to keep public officials in check. Elections would help rank-and-file union members hold their leaders accountable. It’s called democracy. Check out our 2017 Missouri Blueprint: Moving Missouri Forward at showmeinstitute.org. This Show-Me Minute has

Show-Me Minute - Tax Subsidies Remember alphabet soup when you were a kid? And trying to make the letters into words? Lawmakers like to play with letters too…with tax subsidies. TIFs, CIDs, TDDs, the list goes on. But they have one thing in common. They give corporations OUR tax dollars. That’s money that we taxpayers could otherwise save and spend ourselves. And Missouri is one of the most generous states when it comes to handing out corporate welfare. More than $5 billion in subsidies since 1990. It might be money well spent if the state was booming…but Missouri stands near the bottom in economic growth. Instead of giving our money to certain businesses, and trying to pick winners and losers, why don’t government officials just cut taxes for all of them, and cut taxes for us too…so we can decide what to do with our money. Check out our 2017 Missouri Blueprint: Moving Missouri Forward at showmeinstitute.org. This Show-Me Minute has been brought to you by Show-Me Institute and Show-Me Opportuni

Should hair braiders have to go through the same expensive and rigorous training as a cosmetologist? Attorneys for a group of Missouri women who specialize in African-style hair braiding say “no” and we’re back in court Wednesday appealing their case in federal court. We’ve discussed the importance of occupation licensing reform before and there’s no better example than Missouri’s licensing restrictions which penalize workers such as hair braiders We caught up with Institute for Justice attorneys Dan Alban and Paul Avelar, who are representing the hair braiders, for a sit-down discussion after the case’s hearing on Wednesday, September 20th. To learn more about licensing reform and the hair braiding case check out: Demand Supply: Why Licensing Reform Matters To Improving American Health Care http://bit.ly/2xkRuVa Hair Braiders Continue Missouri Licensing Fight http://bit.ly/2fXFcuh

Show-Me Minute: Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) We have talked before about why raising the minimum wage is a bad idea. Because it hurts the very people it’s supposed to help. Business owners in Seattle reacted to the city’s new $13 an hour minimum wage by cutting hours for low wage workers. Overall income for those workers dropped $100 million! So if raising the minimum wage isn’t a good idea, what is? How about expanding the earned income tax credit? That’s a refundable tax credit for low-to-moderate income workers. That means they would get to keep more of the money they earn to help make ends meet. It will also slow the growth of public welfare spending because it encourages and rewards work. And employers wouldn’t be forced into reducing hours or hiring fewer low wage workers. Unlike raising the minimum wage, expanding the earned income tax credit would help the very people it’s supposed to. Check out our 2017 Missouri Blueprint: Moving Missouri Forward at showmeinstitute.org. This Show-M

Show-Me Minute - Seattle minimum wage It seems like a good idea. Raise the minimum wage so low paid workers will make more money. Their standard of living will rise, and the overall economy will benefit. But, sorry, the market doesn’t work that way, and now there is proof. A few years ago, the city of Seattle decided to raise its minimum wage from $9.47 an hour to $13 an hour at the start of 2016, one of the highest in the country. Good, right? No. A study by the University of Washington found that small businesses trying to contain costs cut the hours of low wage workers by about 10 percent. The wage hike also lowered the annual total payroll for low wage workers in Seattle by $100 million dollars. That’s a drop in income of about $125 per month for the average low wage worker. So instead of helping, the hike in minimum wage actually hurt the very people it was supposed to help. Check out our 2017 Missouri Blueprint: Moving Missouri Forward at showmeinstitute.org. This Show-Me Minute has been

For the first time in our state’s history, the Legislature has fully funded the education formula at a price tag of $3.4 billion, but will this additional funding be well spent? If the past is any indicator of the future it will probably include hiring more teachers, administrators, and staff through what’s called a “staffing surge.” A lot of people believe hiring more teachers and staff translates to higher academic achievement, but is this really the case? Emily Stahly joins the Gary Nolan Show on 93.9 The Eagle. Originally aired on July 13, 2017.

Brenda Talent joins KMOX's Reardon Roundtable on Friday, June 30, 2017 to debate important issues of the week including safety concerns with MetroLink, healthcare reform, and funding for MoDOT.

On Monday, June 26, 2017, the United State Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of a Columbia preschool that was denied a state grant to purchase scrap tires for their playground. What impact will the court's decision in Trinity Lutheran v. Comer have on religious institutions moving forward? Show-Me Institute's Michael McShane appeared on KCMO radio's Greg Knapp Show on June 28 to discuss.

Graham Renz, Policy Researcher for the Show-Me Institute, joins host Ryan Wrecker to explain if your tax dollars are being spent appropriately in the state of Missouri. Wrecker then transitions to a unique story about a Pennsylvania radio host who quit his job after the station told him he was not allowed to continue to talk down President Trump on his weekend Classic Rock show.

Show-Me Minute-Liberty At the Show-Me Institute, our motto is “Where Liberty Comes First”. But what does Liberty mean? It’s making your own decisions. Taking responsibility for your own actions. Lots of Missourians are willing to do that, but government refuses to do simple things to help people take charge of their lives. How about more school choice for parents and their children? And fewer government handouts to corporations and developers? Why not make sure with public pension plans that the money will be there for retirees? Liberty means a health care system designed to help patients not the big insurance companies. It also means lowering taxes so Missourians have more options in what to do with THEIR money. As Ronald Reagan said, as government expands, liberty contracts. Check out our 2017 Missouri Blueprint: Moving Missouri Forward at showmeinstitute.org