Not all public-private partnerships are good
In the past, the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii has been favorably disposed to public-private partnerships (P3s). While not quite the same thing as privatization, these partnerships are often a good way to improve public services and relieve taxpayers of some of the...
Beware of Maui County’s ‘shiny new ball’
This article was originally published in The Maui News on Thursday, Nov. 29. Maui County Council members this month voted to “go vertical” and move forward on financing a proposed $81.2 million Wailuku Civic Complex, but policymakers would be wise to focus less on the...
Lower cost of living to help teachers, everyone
This was originally published as a letter to the editor in The Maui News on Oct. 28, 2018. Lowering Hawaii’s cost of living would be a better way to help our public school teachers than the proposed constitutional amendment that was thrown out Oct. 19 by the Hawaii...
More taxes not a cure
When even a Hawaii Supreme Court Justice isn’t sure who is supposed to pay a new tax, you know you have a confusing ballot measure. On Thursday, Hawaii’s highest court heard the counties’ arguments against the wording of the proposed state constitutional amendment...
Hawaii public teachers’ salaries misrepresented
This column was originally featured in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Wednesday, Oct. 17. This version includes the charts and footnotes. A widely cited study issued last month by WalletHub erroneously stated that Hawaii public school teachers make a starting salary...
Aaron Lief is a writer and researcher for the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.