Blog

January 31, 2013 by Ted Boettner
Home Ownership in West Virginia: Quality vs. Quantity

As many people may know, West Virginia ranks very high in home ownership among the 50 states. In fact, according to the latest Assets & Opportunities Scorecard released by the Corporation for Economic Development, West Virginia had the 3rd highest rate of home ownership in the nation in 2011 at 72.3 percent.  While home ownership…

Read More
January 30, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
Education Reform – Beyond the Numbers

Over the past few weeks, Ted and I have looked at education in West Virginia, both as a reaction to the governor's education audit, and the likelihood that education reform will be a major topic in the upcoming legislative session. First I broke down West Virginia's education spending, and found that with a few exceptions,…

Read More
January 29, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
Higher Education Already Squeezed Before Proposed Cuts

Today's Charleston Gazette noted that the State Advisory Council of Students is planning to petition Governor Tomblin over proposed budget cuts to the state's higher education system. The students are concerned that any state cuts would result in higher tuition, making college less affordable for many students, and pushing more students into debt. However, even…

Read More
January 25, 2013 by Ted Boettner
Setting the Record Straight on Marriage, Welfare and Poverty

Yesterday, the Daily Mail published an editorial claiming that "family disintegration", or the lack of marriage among low-income West Virginians, is the central reason why the state ranks low in several social and economic welfare indicators, such as poverty, truancy, and crime to name a few. To make its case, The Daily Mail  relied on…

Read More
January 24, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
More On Education Spending

Following up on my previous post on education spending, here are some more data on the issue. Last time, I broke down the state's per pupil spending into several categories, and made comparisons to spending nationwide. I found that for the most part, education spending in West Virginia is about on par with spending nationally,…

Read More
January 22, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
Eliminating the Personal Property Tax: Part 6 – Replacing the Revenue

(Continued from part 5 - published 1/14/13) Eliminating the personal property tax would cost a substantial amount of revenue at all levels of government across the state. Eliminating the personal property tax without some replacement revenue would be wildly irresponsible, and would have devastating effects on local services and education throughout the state. And to its credit,…

Read More
January 15, 2013 by Ted Boettner
Addressing Child Poverty is the Best Education Reform We Can Make

As state lawmakers and others review and debate the findings of the recent education audit, it is important that they consider the economic and social conditions of our state's children. This is especially true when evaluating our state's K-12 education outcomes, which likely has more to do with the income of a student's parent than…

Read More
January 14, 2013 by WVCBP
One-Third of Tax Credits Go Out of State

Last fall, the WVCBP published a report critiquing the state's efforts at evaluating business tax incentives. One of the documents examined in the report was the state's Tax Credit Disclosure List. Published every five years, the Tax Credit Disclosure List compiles a list of each individual claimant for any of the state's multiple tax credits…

Read More
January 14, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
Eliminating the Personal Property Tax: Part 5 – What’s at Stake for the State

(Continued from Part 4 - published on 1/4/2013) While the overwhelming majority of property tax revenue is collected at the local government level, the state of West Virginia does levy a small property tax. In FY 2012, total property taxes levied by the state of West Virginia amounted to $6,042,911, or about 0.4 percent of…

Read More
January 10, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
Where Do Our Education Dollars Go?

The education efficiency audit initiated by Governor Tomblin has attracted a great deal of attention in the state, and will likely be a major part of the upcoming legislative session. The audit was produced with two goals for the state: 1) producing the best possible outcome for its students, and 2) receiving the highest return…

Read More