The American Education Model Began On A Foundation Of Local Control In colonial America, education looked drastically different from the standardized, rigid system we have today. Parents, communities, and churches played the primary roles in educating children. There was no overarching system dictating what students learned or how they learned it. Each colony, each town,…

When I first saw the announcement of the Cardinal Institute’s 10 Year Anniversary Gala, I was ecstatic. Not only do I love any excuse to wear a tuxedo, but I would also finally get to meet many of the faces I have only known from the Cardinal Institute’s “Meet the Team” page. I also looked…

Good Governance & Finance Audits are not sexy. They are not even exciting, enticing, or exhilarating, however, what they are is . . . revealing. A common talking point amongst fiscal conservatives and general free-market types is the need to cut spending and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in the budget. The Cardinal Institute even…

The Challenges Of The Public Education System  It’s difficult to overstate the challenge of thinking critically about the public education system — mainly because we love teachers. And let’s be honest, cognitive dissonance plays a role too. After all, most of us went to and sent our children to public schools. Thinking critically would put most…

Spooky Policies to Beware of As Halloween creeps around the corner, let’s expose the ghosts of bad decisions past and unearth insidious policies lurking in the shadows of bloated bureaucracy. A few of these policies may appear innocuous on the surface. However, as many horror films demonstrate, sometimes the seemingly innocent ideas can harbor bone-chilling…

Governor Justice Calls a Special Session On September 30, Governor Jim Justice called the legislature to convene for a special session. The initial call had 27 items for lawmakers to address. The call was then amended twice, bringing items of business up to 40. Supplemental appropriations to a wide variety of agencies and associated services…

Ruminating on the Purpose of the Cardinal Institute The Cardinal Institute’s 10th anniversary is fast approaching, so I have been thinking a lot about the organization’s history, future, accomplishments, missteps, missed opportunities, wins, and losses. I have also been thinking quite a lot about the Cardinal Institute’s purpose. We could take the standard approach by…

Two Kinds of Accountability in Education Accountability in education is a complicated thing. There are two distinct types: fiscal accountability and academic accountability. To make matters more complicated, there’s the overlap—where fiscal facts impact academic outcomes. Suffice it to say, that sorting this out in any school environment is a mess.  But let’s set aside…

Don’t hit that back button or close this tab! You have not somehow stumbled upon a carpentry forum when you were previously browsing the Cardinal Institute’s Cardinal’s Nest Blog. You are still in your familiar repository for all things Montani Semper Liberi. So why are we talking about floors and ceilings? As the 2024 presidential…

Fall is Nature's Elegy September 22 marks the close of the bright season of the summer, commencing the start of fall with earlier sunsets, chilled air, and warm palettes of once-green leaves crinkling into rustic, hickory tones. As Paul Laurence Dunbar lyrically depicts in the following portion of his 1896 poem, “Merry Autumn,” he encourages…