TopicalBoost WordPress Demo

Topic: Supreme Court of the United States

highest court of jurisdiction in the United States

  • This Labor Day, Pioneer Institute Highlights Importance of Vocational Training

    As Americans celebrate the achievements of our nation’s workers this Labor Day, Philanthropy Roundtable is proud to support organizations that eliminate barriers to upward mobility, expand opportunity and reward hard work. I recently sat down with Jim Stergios, executive director of Pioneer Institute, a think tank that envisions a nation where people can prosper and society can thrive because of “world-class options in education, health care, transportation and economic opportunity, and where our government is limited, accountable and transparent.” 

    The interview below has been edited for length and clarity. 

    Q: You lead Pioneer Institute (PI), a Massachusetts-based public policy think tank that concentrates on education, health care and economic opportunity. What is your mission and what role do you play in the broader public policy landscape? 

    Stergios: Pioneer’s mission is to advance innovation across multiple states in education, health care and economic opportunity through best-in-class research, advocacy and legal action.  

    Our education team works in multiple states with the goal of preparing students to be good citizens and economically successful. Our strategic focus is on innovations, especially the expansion of public (charter and vocational-technical) and private school choices, not on fixing broken public systems.  

    Our health care strategy focuses on the life sciences. In the last half century, the U.S. shed 40% of its hospital beds, largely because of the rise in outpatient care made possible by massive medical advances. Our life sciences team works in seven states and Washington, D.C., to promote transparent pricing, fend off price controls and expand adoption of pricing strategies that will make cutting-edge treatments more affordable.  

    On economic opportunity, we run on dual tracks, defending Massachusetts’s economic competitiveness and piloting in several states, for now, a program on the catalytic role of immigrant entrepreneurs in the U.S. economy as a way of building an understanding of capitalism. 


    Q: Over the last 30 years, PI has focused on policies that expand opportunities for all people. Where do you see the biggest opening for making gains in this area?  

    Stergios: In these increasingly politically charged times, organizations must focus on research, partnerships and legal strategies. That’s why we started the Pioneer Public Interest Law Center. Its job is to create precedents that will have immediate and lasting impact. Currently, it is focused on equal treatment for special needs students in private schools, enforcement of state obligations to teach U.S. history and civics, and the defense of immigrant entrepreneurs harmed by unnecessary government regulations. 

    Pioneer has seen significant progress in recent years, in Supreme Court cases like Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, where our amicus brief was cited in Justice Alito’s concurring opinion, and Carson v. Makin. Since these decisions, Pioneer’s research and advocacy on the ground in 10 states assisted local activists in securing legislation expanding choice.  


    Q:  While vocational training in schools has fallen out of favor over the last several years, you have focused on it quite a bit, authoring a book on this issue called “Hands-On Achievement: Massachusetts’s National Model Vocational-Technical Schools.” Why have you focused on this topic? 

    Stergios: Education reformers usually focus on either charter or private school choice. Massachusetts vocational-technical schools are public schools of choice that were ignored for too long. The commonwealth’s 1993 Education Reform Act required vocational-technical students to pass the same tests as their peers in other public schools to earn a diploma. That, along with a system in which students alternate weekly between academic and vocational education, has created a network of schools that outperform the state’s comprehensive high schools, ensure that students graduate with strong work skills and credentials, and have dropout rates a third of the statewide average.  

    That is especially impressive because Massachusetts’s vocational-technical schools educate more special needs and low-income students than other public schools. No state has gotten vocational-technical education right the way Massachusetts has. These graduates have a choice of pursuing further education or entering jobs that offer family-sustaining wages—without college and the debt that often accompanies it. Importantly, expanding stronger vocational programs in other states will address labor shortages in the trades and technology manufacturing and services sectors. 


    Q:  How have your strategic partnerships helped PI expand vocational and technical school efforts outside of Massachusetts?   

    Stergios: Pioneer is partnering widely to extend the impact of our vocational-technical school work. Through our longstanding partnership with the Massachusetts Association of Vocational Administrators, we were able to connect with national industry organizations such as SkillsUSA and Advance CTE.  Working through our chambers of commerce, we developed contacts with peers in our target states (Kentucky, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas). Employers we’ve connected with understand the deficiencies in federally funded workforce development programs. Finally, we work with State Policy Network affiliates to disseminate our work nationally. 

    Pioneer also has hosted webinars on “Hands-On Achievement,” garnering over 14,000 views in our target states, California, Florida, New York and Washington. The book generated national print articles in outlets like The Washington Post, The Washington Times, IndustryWeek, Public News Service, radio coverage, media attention in target states and think tank podcasts and articles. Our mini-documentary, “Training Our Future Workforce: Voc-Tech Success,” was watched over 84,000 times. 


    Q:  The recent Supreme Court decision ending affirmative action in higher education will impact students throughout the country. Why is focusing on K-12 education important in creating opportunities for all students?   
     
    Stergios: Our focus remains on K-12. Much of the racial tension generated by affirmative action results from the failure of our monolithic public schools. Affirmative action in higher education admissions is itself a clear indictment of the success of America’s public K-12 schools. If traditional public schools were doing their job, such an “end of pipe” workaround would never have been necessary. This is, in part, why the vocational-technical model is vitally important. We need more K-12 models that bridge achievement gaps.  


    Q:  What are the ongoing challenges or pitfalls for PI and organizations like yours that aim to address expanding opportunity through education? How are you tackling these issues?   
     
    Stergios: I’m very hopeful about education. In 2000, few would have believed that by 2023, district schools in the U.S. would lose 10% of their market share, as measured by enrollment, to charters and private education models. Instead of responding by improving the product, the two national teachers’ unions are doubling down on divisive, self-serving rhetoric.  

    Pioneer is part of a group of organizations supporting change in states where that is possible. Only the threat of even greater losses in market share will force traditional public schools to change direction and focus on providing educational opportunity to all students. 

     For more information about this organization or others providing Pathways to Opportunity, reach out to Philanthropy Roundtable Program Director Erica Haines.  

  • Denisha Allen (Merriweather) on Why Black Minds Matter


    Philanthropy Roundtable recently sat down with Denisha Allen (Merriweather), founder of Black Minds Matter, a “national movement to celebrate Black minds, support excellence and promote the development of high-quality school options for Black students.” Allen, an American Federation for Children senior fellow, is a champion for school choice and a Florida tax-credit scholarship recipient. Through Black Minds Matter, she hopes to help provide access to an excellent education for every Black student. 

    The interview below has been edited for length and clarity.  

    Q: You founded Black Minds Matter, a project of the American Federation for Children Growth Fund (AFC), in 2020, a time when many Americans were seeking to address social injustices in our country. What led you to create this organization and what role does it serve? 

    Allen: I came to AFC after working at the U.S. Department of Education with Secretary DeVos. I worked with the Trump administration for two years, and then came to AFC as a director of Family Engagement. Then, in 2020, I wrote an op-ed in Real Clear Education about my frustrations in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. Our country was in civil unrest, maybe even the whole world was in civil unrest, and people were looking for ways to challenge racism. I wanted to bring attention to areas that would help Black America attain empowerment and excellence in all aspects of life. And, to me, that meant focusing on education. When I looked at the data, I saw that Black students are not reading on grade level or graduating from high school at the same rates as their white and Asian counterparts. I wanted to focus on changing that.  

    Unfortunately, at that moment in the national conversation, there was not a widespread initiative from the Black Lives Matter movement to talk about education and education reform. So, I coined the term Black Minds Matter to highlight that we need to focus on education freedom. We received a tremendous amount of support for what we stood for. And I’m proud that one of our first initiatives was to bring together a network of Black school founders. This was very personal for me because I went to a Black-founded school, and I benefited directly from the school choice movement.   

    Our mission is to nourish Black students with a rich education of their parents’ choice by any means necessary. Our goal is to expand our reach by engaging new audiences. This includes both Republican and Democratic elected officials, HBCU’s and our growing Black Founders Network. We are also committed to expanding our visibility through high quality content that can also be used to generate revenue for our work.  

    Lastly, we want to bring awareness about education freedom to the communities where Black students are most likely to be relegated to poor performing public schools. We have over 430 Black-founded schools in our online directory at www.BlackMindsMatter.net, and 150 Black school founders in our network. We were thrilled to have many of them in attendance at our second annual Black Minds Matter Summit in Washington, D.C., earlier this year.  

    Q: Can you tell us more about your personal connection to the work you are doing? 

    Allen: I went to a private school in Jacksonville, Florida, on scholarship from sixth grade onward. I failed the third grade twice because I couldn’t read. As you can imagine, I had very low self-esteem, and I was lashing out by starting physical fights. My life trajectory was going in the same direction as many of the people in my family who had all dropped out of school. When I switched schools, I went from getting F’s and D’s to getting straight A’s.  When I founded Black Minds Matter, I saw the opportunity to highlight Black-owned schools as a part of that narrative, since school choice had such a transformative impact on my own life. 

    Q: Your website says that nourishing Black minds with a rich education is the first step to breaking generational poverty and societal inequities. What do you mean by societal inequities, and how does education combat this problem? 

    Allen: In America, there’s a class issue and there are a race issues, and sometimes those issues get intermingled and intertwined. But, at the root of both of those conversations is our education system. And the data shows that Black and brown students are performing the worst academically in this country. Just to give you an example, the NWEA just came out with a new study that follows in the same vein as recent NAEP [The Nation’s Report Card] scores. They said students on the whole will need three to four months of additional schooling in order to catch up from recent learning loss.  

    Shockingly, they found Black students will need two additional months to catch up. So, you’re telling me that Black students will need five to six months of additional schooling to make up for learning loss. When the system is pumping out hundreds of thousands of Black students who can’t read or do math into society, they end up in the criminal justice system. We call it the school-to-prison-pipeline. That is a societal inequity. That’s a civil rights issue. Black kids are not able to read. We need to change that. 

    When we look at education in America, we need to ensure that no kid is relegated to poor performing or failing schools because of where they live. Students in poorer neighborhoods are not receiving the same education as students who are going to schools where almost 90% of parents own their homes. We can solve this socio-economic/racial problem if we can create a market where competition is going to create incentives that perform better for students. Education freedom allows parents to choose the best school for their child regardless of school type. I sit on the board for Step Up For Students in Florida – the largest school choice program in the country. In Florida, we’ve seen academic outcomes for students in traditional public schools increase with every expansion of the state’s scholarship program. That’s because everyone is competing for students.  

    Q: Our 2021 Simon-DeVos Prize Winner Bill Oberndorf, chairman of the board of the American Federation for Children, has called access to education the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree, and if so, why is that the case? 

    Allen: I absolutely do. It is the civil rights issue of our time. One of the goals of Black Minds Matter is to help the public see that school choice and education freedom are a part of the longer struggle for freedom in the United States and have deep historical roots. The conversation has been led by policy folks for so long, which is important. But I really want to make it more approachable and accessible to everyone. When we talk about the history of freedom in America, it is inextricably tied to access to education, from slavery through the Antebellum period all the way up to today. The struggle has always been access to education.  

    One of the ways we are working to showcase the connection between freedom and education is by conducting exhibits that illustrate the extent to which slaves wanted to read. One part of our exhibit showcases findings from archaeologists who found “pit schools” or deep holes in the ground where they also found tablets and pencils for writing. The slaves understood that their freedom was rooted in the ability to read and write, and they risked their lives to try to attain those skills. I always like to say there is freedom of the body and also of the mind, and that has always been the goal of African Americans in this country. They have never been divorced from one another. 

    Q: The recent Supreme Court decision ending affirmative action in higher education could impact students throughout the country. How do you feel about this decision and why? 
     
    Allen: I think it’s going to be very obvious that we need better options for Black students, and this decision makes that clearer. Black kids are not reading on grade level and removing affirmative action in higher education means Black kids will have to perform even better academically to be accepted into colleges and universities.   

    Q: As you look ahead, what are you most excited about for Black Minds Matter? 

    Allen: I’m always very excited about the Black School Founders network. They are amazing, so to be able to support them and champion the work they do for students is very rewarding. Many of them have models that are worthy of replication. We are going to focus on capacity building and finding ways to support them. I’m also very excited to get more involved in states and districts with the worst academic and life outcomes for Black and brown students, and to advocate for better outcomes in the lowest performing districts in the country. For example, I get excited when I think about a city like Baltimore, where reading and math levels are abysmal. The creation of education savings accounts in that city will help students access better choices. Through projects like this, we are going to close the achievement gap.   

    For more information about this organization or others providing Pathways to Opportunity, reach out to Philanthropy Roundtable Program Director Erica Haines.

  • The Return of the Wealth Tax Debate

    Can the government tax charitable assets? A court case put before the U.S. Supreme Court may hold the answer to this question. By considering whether unrealized assets can be taxed, the courts could open the door for a new wealth tax covering assets within private foundations or charitable trusts.

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently sidestepped the equal apportionment clause of the 16th amendment by becoming the first court in the country to state that an “income tax” doesn’t require that a “taxpayer has realized income.” In other words, this opens the door to the possibility that you can be taxed on income you didn’t receive (yes, you read that right).

    Last week, Competitive Enterprise Institute petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the issue in Moore v. United States.

    To understand what is at stake, we begin with investments. When the value of stocks and investments rise but are yet to be sold, they are called unrealized investment gains. These gains are not taxed according to current tax regulations until the investment is sold and the capital gains are realized.

    To illustrate, let’s say you purchased a painting for $1,000, and after a year, its market value rose to $1,500. As long as you haven’t sold the painting, the $500 increase in value is considered an unrealized gain, and you don’t need to pay taxes on it.

    The decision by the Ninth Circuit, if not overturned, could usher in a new era of federal taxes being imposed on properties, stocks, appreciating assets, possibly even jewelry, artwork, vehicles and household furniture.

    What’s more, opening the door to the possibility of imposing federal taxes on wealth would have profound implications for the charitable sector.

    Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, two well-known French economists who have provided advice to Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders regarding their proposed wealth tax plans, have suggested a new approach to calculating tax bills for wealthy Americans. This new approach would consider not only the personal assets of these individuals, but also the assets of their charitable foundations.

    The change would be significant, given that American charitable foundations provided  $91 billion to nonprofit organizations in the previous year. If wealthy individuals’ foundations were to see a reduction in assets, the communities currently benefiting from those donations would experience a substantial (negative) impact.

    In 2019, the National Taxpayers Union Foundation conducted an analysis of Warren’s proposed wealth tax on charitable foundation assets and found the tax would consume between 6% and 25% of the annual disbursements of five selected foundations, including the Dell Foundation, the Omidyar Network and Dalio Philanthropies.

    The history of wealth taxes suggests they are not effective and are frequently abandoned due to the economic damage they cause. Fifteen European countries have introduced wealth taxes over the last century, but only three still enforce them.

    In 2017, France eliminated its wealth tax after the prime minister acknowledged it was prompting the departure of 10,000 to 12,000 millionaires each year. This tax impeded economic growth and contributed to just over 1% of overall tax revenue, which is an inadequate return for the cost.

    Sweden, which is often cited as a progressive policy model, had a wealth tax for almost 100 years before abandoning it in 2007. The tax had virtually no effect on government finances while being blamed for significant capital flight. Germany also had a wealth tax, but it was deemed unconstitutional and abolished in 1996. Wealth taxes have not proven successful worldwide, and it remains uncertain whether the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the authority to impose such a tax.

    The 16th Amendment says “taxes on income” do not need to be apportioned among the states. This likely means that other federal taxes, such as a tax on unrealized capital gains and other wealth taxes, must be applied equally to all 50 states, according to population.

    Alabama, which makes up roughly 1.5% of the nation’s population, would have to produce roughly 1.5% of the revenue raised by the tax. But Alabama and seven other states have no billionaires, and California and New York combined have 43% of them, so equally apportioning the tax among the states would be impossible.

    As the decision by the Ninth Circuit Court is petitioned, the Supreme Court may issue a decision on this matter — it could have profound implications on the possibility of federal wealth taxes being imposed on the unrealized assets of Americans.

    Whether we consider the economic costs of a tax on unrealized capital gains, the historical precedent of nations abandoning wealth taxes or the question of constitutionality, the result would be less economic growth, fewer jobs and a significant reduction in philanthropic giving.

    To learn more about the impact of wealth taxes on charitable giving, read our policy primer here.