Stories

It’s getting a lot easier for individuals and entrepreneurs in states across the country to get to work, start businesses, and grow their state’s economy.   Strategic efforts led by groups like the Knee Regulatory Research Center, Goldwater Institute, and Buckeye Institute, all grantees of Stand Together Trust, have led to reform and elimination of overly […]

The United States has entered a new era of education. For many students, a typical school day no longer involves boarding a yellow bus, sitting at a desk, and completing homework. Instead, students learn in non-traditional settings like neighbors’ homes or at skate parks and from instructors who aren’t certified teachers but are more than […]

Most Americans aren’t up to date on their state’s regulations and how they might affect them. It’s not their fault, either.   Anyone who has tried reading their state’s regulations often finds long documents with cumbersome language that can be difficult for a layperson to understand. Furthermore, a vast majority of states have an immense number […]

There are some things we look forward to year over year during the holiday season — like good food, time with friends and family, and festive décor. There are also things most of us dread — like conversations about divisive issues that threaten to spoil otherwise enjoyable times with loved ones.   Current events and our […]

When Cheryl Kirk’s twins were nearing high school, she had some tough decisions to make.   Wanting to give her children the best education, Cheryl researched the academic performance data of the schools in Indiana where she lived.   What she found was not encouraging — the schools in the neighborhood where she could afford to live […]

America needs health care innovation and principled policy reform more than ever.  Rising costs, sicker patients, and doctor shortages plague an overburdened and needlessly complicated system. Patients fear rising insurance premiums and astronomical medical bills. Crippling, top-down regulations imposed by broken laws, poor bureaucrat interpretation, and special interest lobbying prevent doctors from giving patients the […]

Students weigh a lot of factors when deciding where to go to college. What’s the graduation rate? Do they have a strong liberal arts program? How much is tuition?  A university’s commitment to free speech is one of them.  Enter the Foundation of Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) ,a grantee of Stand Together Trust. Every […]

Fixing complex problems requires comprehensive approaches, collaboration, patience, and people dedicated to finding realistic solutions. The Pension Integrity Project at Reason Foundation embodies these characteristics.   Founded in 2013, the Pension Integrity Project, a grantee of Stand Together Trust, is tackling one of the biggest fiscal issues states face today — pension plans. Pension liabilities (pensions […]

Families wanting more flexibility to individualize their children’s education notched big wins in 2023.   Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, and Utah enacted laws expanding universal or near-universal Education Savings Account (ESA) programs. This tool provides families with funds to cover a range of educational expenses of their choosing.   ESAs are a bridge to “different, not just […]

“What does school look like as a place you go to heal rather than a place you must heal from?” That’s the question teachers Zani Dalili-Ortique and Ebony Marshman asked themselves, their colleagues, and their neighbors beginning in 2019. Both say they couldn’t have imagined that a short three years later, it would be a […]