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Millions of Texans have committed a criminal offense at some point in their lives. The conventional wisdom is that an ex-offender can settle his debt to society by paying a fine, maybe serving a little time, and completing probation or parole. But increasingly, ex-offenders in Texas are finding that their state government continues to treat them like criminals, thwarting their ability to make an honest living and positive contributions to their communities. The Foundation’s Center for Effective Justice hosted a Policy Primer on November 7, 2007 that addressed this issue - the audio of which is available in the multimedia section on TexasPolicy.com. The Center has also issued a new report on this issue entitled, “Working With Conviction: Criminal Offenses as Barriers to Entering Licensed Occupations in Texas,” and its author, Marc Levin, is our guest this week.

The Honorable Maurice McTigue had a distinguished career as a member in the New Zealand Parliament, during which he played a key role in the reform and deregulation of a variety of industries and government functions, including public education. When McTigue took office, New Zealand’s education system was plagued by bureaucratic micromanagement, outsized administrative costs, and poor student performance. (Sound familiar?) What McTigue and others came up with was the “Tomorrow’s Schools” initiative, which broke up the government bureaucracy and gave parents unprecedented control over the operations of their children’s schools. We discussed that with him in the second part of our two-part interview.

The Honorable Maurice McTigue had a distinguished career as a member in the New Zealand Parliament, during which he played a key role in the reform and deregulation of a variety of industries and government functions. In 1999, Queen Elizabeth the Second bestowed him with the Queen’s Service Order, one of the highest honors attainable for public service in New Zealand. Today, he is Vice President and Director of the Government Accountability Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, which allows him to communicate the lessons of his practical experience to policymakers in the United States. In the first of a two-part interview, he shares his thoughts on how to create a more prosperous Texas.

The Texas tax system has been a major reason why our economy and population have been booming the last several years. But with a new business tax kicking in next spring, will Texas still look good compared to other states? We explored these questions with Stephen Moore, senior economics writer and editorial board member at The Wall Street Journal, when he was in Austin last week to speak at the inaugural Capital Campus Texas.

The media frequently reports on math and science shortages, both in industry and in the teaching field. This is no surprise, given that Texas and U.S. students score behind the rest of the world in math and science achievement tests. Over the past two years, the Texas Public Policy Foundation has investigated the state of math and science education in Texas, publishing a series of papers that will soon culminate in a reform agenda for Texas policymakers. Discussing these findings with us this week is Jamie Story, an education policy analyst at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Over the last few years, Texas has been on the leading edge of a national debate on how best to meet the infrastructure needs of a growing population and economy. In many countries, the private sector has been given a prominent role in the development and management of major infrastructure projects. But in Texas, proposals for privately built and financed toll projects have met with vehement opposition. We look at these issues in the second part of our interview with Len Gilroy, senior policy analyst at the Reason Foundation and managing editor of the Reason Foundation’s Privatization Watch newsletter.

States, counties, and cities across the country are finding that privatization and managed competition can help them provide their citizens with a higher quality of services at a lower cost. We take a closer look at these concepts in the first of a two-part interview with Len Gilroy, senior policy analyst at the Reason Foundation and managing editor of the Reason Foundation’s Privatization Watch newsletter.

Too many graduates from Texas high schools are academically unprepared for the rigors of college-level work. A new report from the Texas Public Policy Foundation detailed how the need for remedial education at the college level costs students, higher education institutions, taxpayers, and the economy. Sharing her findings this week is the paper’s author, Brooke Terry, an education policy analyst at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

On Monday, October 1st, former Vice President Al Gore brings his “Inconvenient Truth” speaking tour to the Frank Erwin Center at the University of Texas at Austin. But in this week’s PolicyCast, we talk to Drew Thornley, a policy analyst in the Center for Economic Freedom at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, who viewed his film, researched his claims, and found the truth to be conveniently missing.

Most of the laws passed by the 80th Texas Legislature went into effect on September 1. Reviewing the most significant new statutes in the area of criminal justice is Center for Effective Justice Director Marc Levin.