Insights & Takeaways is Sutherland Institute’s official blog that informs the public and policymakers alike. The blog addresses important issues through the two distinct yet complementary lenses of the seasoned policy professional and the engaged citizen.
Insights: analysis, research, and informed commentary from Sutherland experts. For elected officials and public policy professionals.
Takeaways: the most important things voters need to know. For civically engaged citizens.
How religious schools help tackle key higher education challenges
When the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching was launched in 1905, it specifically excluded religious schools from its benefits. Here’s why that was shortsighted.
New Utah legislation seeks compromise: teacher pay and education choice
HB 215 reflects the best of Utah’s policymaking ethic: avoid making a zero-sum game of two important education policy reforms – and seek changes that serve the common good.
Looking at accessibility of higher ed from a different angle
Religious schools are pursuing innovative ways of addressing the challenges facing universities and their students, including work-study and cost-saving programs.
Education pluralism: education choice legislation
Modern private education choice policies include education savings accounts, vouchers, tax credit scholarships, tax credit education savings accounts, tax credits and deductions.
Religious liberty and national security
While debates around religious freedom in the U.S. tend to revolve around the conflict of constitutional rights, religious freedom internationally is often a life-or-death situation.
The pandemic changed the way we view education
The COVID-19 pandemic left parents rethinking their choices about how to educate their children.
2022 election verdict: Vote by mail didn’t advantage either political party
Election outcomes in three states that expanded early voting periods and/or vote by mail (Vermont, Kentucky and Nevada) were comparable to the states’ previous election results.
Education pluralism: the state of microschools
Microschools allow fewer students than in a traditional school to meet in a mixed-age environment, much like a one-room schoolhouse.
Biden’s signature on marriage act is vindication of the Utah compromise
Finding legislative consensus requires us to set aside our prejudices – both those against LGBTQ Americans and those against religious Americans.
Biden’s democracy speech and the evolution of the presidency
One of the most hopeful civic facts of life in America is that our elected representatives follow where we, the American people, lead them.
Reading McCullough
The late American historian David McCullough taught us that great men and women often live for years as ordinary people until an opportunity or circumstance arises and demands they rise to their full potential.
Fuss over Alito’s lighthearted comment overshadowed his important points
The Supreme Court justice highlighted the good that comes to nations that provide robust religious freedom protections. “Religious liberty and other fundamental rights tend to go together.”
Rising antisemitic attacks are a bitter reminder of lessons not learned
Polarization is not only an ugly feature of social media and politics, but it can have dangerous and even deadly consequences – especially for minority groups.
This V-J Day, let’s learn some lessons from WWII
WWII holds some striking parallels to military conflict raging today – and some monumental differences.
WWII showed America’s ability to overcome its divisions
Ironically, a source of hope for a better future than many people predict comes from a period of history when America was engaged in one of its deadliest wars.
Pandemic measures, children’s well-being, and the effects of religious practice
Research suggests that the pandemic response hurt children’s education and mental health. Social connectedness, including religious participation, may help offset these harms.
Romney: Are we attacking the basic Constitution itself?
The day-to-day freedoms that we depend on for our well-being and our pursuit of happiness as Americans are not broadly sustainable without healthy and trusted civic institutions.
Owens: The role of parents in education
In the United States, the legal protection of parental rights has been closely linked to the educational context, as illustrated in three major Supreme Court cases.
