Tax-Exempt, Elite University Presidents' Pay Topping $1M | The Center Square Daily

Private nonprofit universities pay leaders millions of dollars, Louisiana students surpass pre-pandemic levels in reading and math, and a bill to protect the elderly from fraud languishes in Illinois legislature. Top private nonprofit universities that receive government funding pay some of their top leaders millions of dollars and one even received a $20 million longevity bonus, an investigation by The Center Square found. That is despite political leaders and others questioning the way the schools are funded and their political policies. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to revoke the tax-exempt status of the country's elite private universities, most recently alleging that some harbor "radical left" policies and stoke antisemitism. Others have long questioned the fairness of federal policies that allow the schools to skirt tax liabilities while they amass tens of billions of dollars in assets, develop patented technologies with government support that are worth hundreds of millions and pay their leaders handsomely. Louisiana officials on Wednesday touted the state’s continued rise in national education rankings, after a new scorecard placed Louisiana first in reading growth and second in math growth. The report, produced by researchers at Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth, found Louisiana was the only state where average student performance has surpassed 2019 pre-pandemic levels in both reading and math. State officials credited literacy and math reforms, tutoring, school improvement efforts, high-quality instructional materials and a new statewide student attendance strategy. Gov. Jeff Landry also pointed to a return “back to the basics” and removal of “woke, DEI material” from curriculum. Plus America's Talking with headlines from across the country:  Illinois: Bill to prevent fraud on elderly, disabled opposed by financial institutions https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/article_3e58355a-2e09-4038-9a69-3d21df16acdb.html Arizona: Mexican national sentenced in major Middle East-Mexico-Arizona smuggling scheme https://www.thecentersquare.com/arizona/article_33dc9b37-2505-4d81-b5cf-02f7193293ac.html North Carolina: Cooper gets $31.4M share of $111.2M spend https://www.thecentersquare.com/north_carolina/article_b88df6e9-73cf-4065-9d16-67a98d8d27ba.html Ohio: Proposal would force agencies to ‘start over’ with budget every decade https://www.thecentersquare.com/ohio/article_aa84e1c1-8ae7-4fec-b418-40d31148b7ae.html ____________ 👉 Read more: https://www.thecentersquare.com 📩 Sign up for the newsletter for daily updates 00:00 Intro 00:32 Trans Sports Policy 08:18 Trump Visits China 23:40 America's Talking