The 2012-2013 school year will be the first year that the new statewide open enrollment law takes effect. The new law (HB 3681) allows Oregon parents to enroll their kids in any Oregon public school district, as long as the receiving district is accepting transfers. This will stop local districts from holding students captive to [...]

WHAT THE LAW DOES The new statewide open enrollment law will take effect in the 2012–2013 school year. The new law allows Oregon parents to enroll their kids in any Oregon public school district, as long as the receiving district is accepting transfers. No longer will the student’s resident school district be able to block [...]

Click here to listen to the testimony. Christina Martin’s testimony to the House Interim Committee on Business and Labor starts at 41:00.   Co-Chair Garrett, Co-Chair Kennemer, members of the Committee:   My name is Christina Martin. I am a policy analyst with Cascade Policy Institute.   I am here today to talk about unemployment [...]

Listen to Christina Martin as she talks with Portland radio host, Victoria Taft, about school choice and its parallels to health and pain. Christina Martin talks with Victoria Taft about Government Anesthesia

Policy Analyst Christina Martin discusses her latest commentary on a desire for control leading to the fall of education. Click here to see her full commentary.

Nobody likes pain, but we need it. This may sound counterintuitive or cruel when you are suffering with an injury or illness, but severe dangers accompany a life without pain. A rare genetic disorder renders some people incapable of feeling pain, heat, or cold. Life for them is full of unexpected dangers, particularly for children, [...]

Christina Martin talks with Victoria Taft on her latest commentaries about control in education and starting the new year by cutting red tape! Christina Martin talks Control Cometh Before the Fall of Education

Americans live in a regulatory minefield. Consider the tens of thousands of statutes, regulations, and court precedents that affect nearly every aspect of your life: The United States Code is 50 volumes; the Code of Federal Regulations is 150,000 pages; State laws, administrative rules, and city codes add tens of thousands more pages. Add the [...]

The desire to be in charge is as human as pride. It’s easy to see it in others. We scoff at arrogant, controlling dictators. We criticize parents who use guilt to influence their grown-up children. We commiserate about friends who manipulate others to get what they want. Yet, when it comes to politics, we tend [...]

Recently, I had a long conversation with an owner of a bakery near Medford, Oregon. He told me of the problems his company faced due to the disincentives inherent in Oregon’s unemployment insurance system. Two years ago, in the middle of the recession, this entrepreneur offered a job to a man who promptly responded that [...]