None dare call it bankruptcy

Forbes magazine has jumped on the public employee fringe benefits story that Kentucky's media hasn't quite grasped yet:

"The common presumption is that public servants forgo high wages in exchange for safe jobs and benefits. The reality is they get all three. State and local government workers get paid an average of $25.30 an hour, which is 33% higher than the private sector's $19, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Throw in pensions and other benefits and the gap widens to 42%."
"Four in five public-sector workers have lifetime pensions, versus only one in five in the private sector. The difference shifts huge risks from government to private-sector workers."

It's an eye-opening article. Here's hoping it opens some Kentucky eyes.

Questions with Solid, Though Definitely Not Good, Answers

Fellow Bluegrass Institute blogger David Adams and I recently got challenged in his Kentucky Progress blog as follows,

“When are you going to discuss in respect to education policy---

How much should local school districts contribute to public education?

How much should the state contribute?

What about Pre-school and Kindergarten?

Should there be all day kindergarten?”

These are legitimate policy questions; however, there is a very solid reason why we have not addressed them to date. That reason is the underlying data to intelligently answer these questions requires a trustworthy education financial system that allows us to accurately figure the “buck” part of the “bang for the buck” performance of the various education programs that Kentucky operates. That information should come from the Kentucky Department of Education’s MUNIS financial system, but right now MUNIS is a mess.

And, MUNIS has been an acknowledged mess for at least two years when this report came out.

So, we don’t have a decent idea about what we are paying for many programs such as teacher professional development or how much the state’s CATS assessment program really costs.

How, exactly can we decide how much more to spend on programs when we don’t have a good idea what we are spending on them now?

So, our policy answer to the questions above is to first get the MUNIS fiscal accounting system in order and then to conduct some real efficiency studies to see which education programs are really working.

Once all that is done, we will finally be ready to intelligently discuss the full answers to those policy issues, but not before.

"Brother, can you spare a job-creating loan?"

President Barack Obama had more stimulating words this morning:

He said "we'll help lower mortgage costs and extend loans to small businesses so they can create jobs."

Dependence on bailouts is growing almost as fast as the cash infusions are proving to be inadequate. It's hard ,therefore, not to imagine that once we start giving out "job-creating loans" we will soon need a fresh crop of bureaucrats to run something like a permanent Federal Office of Job-Creating Business Loans.

Of course, that would amount to job creation, wouldn't it? Even John Maynard Keynes is spinning around in his grave thinking about this one.

Ohio Chasing Kentucky Ed Fads

I must admit I was shocked to read today’s Kentucky Enquirer opinion piece, “A bid to remake Ohio schools.”

It's loaded with "stuff" like,

“An "evidence-based" approach to develop new teaching formats”

“Interdisciplinary "project-based" learning”

“Teaching to "foster creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving"

“Real-life skills”

Wow! It sounds so forward thinking – until you realize all of these ideas are two-decade old education fads that have been tried, without much real success, in Kentucky since 1990. It is sad that Ohioans are now so insular that they totally ignore what’s going on around them, right across their southern border.

Dropping Ohio’s graduation test, sort of an end-of-course exam, is ironic. Kentucky is debating changing from its current troubled CATS assessments – to end-of-course exams!

What Ohio’s situation really shows is the deplorable lack of decent education research to guide policymakers about what really does work in education. That problem has seen Kentucky chasing expensive education fads since 1990. Sadly, it now it looks like the same lack of data to support intelligent education choices is going to wreck havoc on the north side of the Ohio River.

276

You know by now Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is gone. One point in the bio of his successor, Gov. Pat Quinn, raises a possible reform in Kentucky worth discussing:

"He led a successful effort to pass the "cutback amendment" -- a change in the Illinois Constitution that cut the size of the House from 177 members to 118."

My thought is that Kentucky might do well to consider doing the opposite and actually raise the amount of Kentucky legislators from the current 38 Senators and 100 Representatives.

In 1891, when the current numbers were set, there were about 2 million Kentuckians. Our population has doubled since then to more than 4 million. Seems like we have vested roughly double the power in each member of General Assembly than was originally intended.

How do you think that is working out?

Working out the logistics of dealing with 200 Representatives and 76 Senators would, of course, be the hard part at the state level. But improving government accountability locally is something worth investing some thought time in.

A tipping point for dumb taxes?

As Kentucky's grand idea to save state spending programs with higher tobacco taxes fizzles out, some might find satisfaction that state lawmakers elsewhere are catching hell for wacky ideas to keep themselves on the gravy train.

A Georgia state senator says he will file a bill to charge a five dollar state cover charge for everyone who enters an "adult entertainment" nightclub. The same tax was found unconstitutional last spring in Texas, so this shouldn't be a very long conversation, either.

One funny thing is the eerily similar rhetoric to ours about the cigarette tax:

""Strip clubs perpetuate (the notion) that women are for sale" and "we want the money to come back to the people it could potentially harm.""

What would they do if men stopped going to clubs and paying that tax? That and hoping people keep smoking so we can bring in enough money to fund smoking cessation and health programs makes as much sense as funding government operations with a murder tax.

Just concentrate on cutting spending, guys.

National Group Pans Kentucky's Teacher Program

The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) just released its new reports on teacher quality around the country.

Kentucky didn’t fare well. Overall the state got a “D+” for its teacher management policies.

We got slammed pretty much across the board for things like having, “all the elements of a student- and teacher-level longitudinal data system,” but not using, “this system to provide value-added evidence of teacher effectiveness" (of course, this would be based on our CATS assessments, which the NCTQ didn’t evaluate).

In fact, the report says, “While the state does require classroom observations of teachers, it does not mandate the inclusion of objective measures of student learning as a component in the evaluation.” So, whatever our teachers are getting evaluated for, it doesn’t include what you and I would consider the bottom line most important factor of all – do the teacher’s students learn anything?

By the way, the top-ranked state in the area of evaluating teachers with objective longitudinal data on students was Tennessee, a state which we have spoken favorably of in the past.

The report has lots more disappointing findings. It says Kentucky’s “Requirements for permanent licenses have not been shown to advance teacher effectiveness.” Decoded – you can get tenure as a teacher in this state even if you are not really effective. In fact, the report actually says, “The awarding of tenure appears to be virtually automatic.”

A big surprise to many will be one of the report’s general comments that applies to all states. The NCTQ says, “Research is conclusive and emphatic that master’s degrees do not have any significant correlation to classroom performance.” In other words, all that time and money we have been spending on requiring teachers to get a master’s degree doesn’t matter! Another education fad idea bites the dust, at least according to the NCTQ.

If you have the courage to read more, here’s the link to the Kentucky report.

Just another unrelated coincidence

Now that the state unemployment numbers are all in, it appears that states that are still growing jobs have a disturbing tendency toward lower tax burdens and greater worker freedoms.

"In employment growth — an indicator of which states are likely to restore jobs most quickly — Wyoming also showed the healthiest signs, with a 2.2 percent increase in employment since last year. Four other states — Texas (1.5 percent), Oklahoma (1 percent), Alaska (.9 percent) and South Dakota (.8 percent) — recorded an increase in the number of people employed."

Only four states, according to stateline.org, show an increase in employment in the latest survey. Of those, Texas, Alaska, and South Dakota, have far lower state and local tax burdens than we have in Kentucky.

And again, of the four states with positive job growth, Texas, Oklahoma, and South Dakota do not require forced unionism against their workers like Kentucky does.

Kentucky has tried for long enough to prove the efficacy of high-tax policies and those hostile to worker freedoms. It just hasn't worked. And given the definitive losses to our state treasury for paying union wages on public construction projects, what case can be made for not giving a shot to some strategies that are more likely to actually work?

What are you getting for $240?

Kentucky's media outlets are going to have a field day with this.

A left-wing group called Citizens for Tax Justice today issued a state-by-state report in keeping with the Bailout Age. In it, they find that the bottom 60% of tax filers will get $518 from the House Democrats "stimulus" bill and only $278 from the Republican tax rate reduction plan.

A sufficient number of that 60% will get the message. Mob rule reigns.

Click the image to expand it.

Kentucky’s College Preparation Woes Continue

Kentucky’s P to 12 Educators can make all the claims they want about Kentucky’s public school system, but the fact remains that the product of those schools isn’t up to snuff, not even for Kentucky’s own college system.

New reports from the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education provide evidence.

Medicaid cuts while politicos live large?

Kentucky's $231.8 million Medicaid deficit hasn't gotten the attention it deserves given increasing enrollment in the indigent healthcare program, but reality may be about to catch up to us.

The Wall Street Journal reports more than 25 states are trimming Medicaid benefits. Kentucky is not one of them.

The Journal reports:

"As it stands now, the stimulus legislation would require states to retain or restore Medicaid eligibility levels to those of July 1, 2008, but it wouldn't prevent states from making benefit or provider cuts."

Nevada is looking at "eliminating Medicaid coverage for low-income pregnant mothers" and has already cut othodontics and vision coverage from its SCHIP program.

In order to avoid similar cuts, Kentucky officials are going to have to drop their intransigence on labor union reform for starters. And we are still looking for the $180 million a year in Gov. Steve Beshear's promised efficiency study.

More serious than Beshear's campaign puffery is the need to gain a proper accounting of our education system. If we can't get serious about increasing accountability for Kentucky's political class, the underprivileged will pay the price.

Free market economists fight back

Here is a great advertisement going in the New York Times sometime in the next week. The Cato Institute bought the ad with a slew of economists signing on who disagree with President Barack Obama's ridiculous statement that everyone agrees we can spending ourselves into a huge hole and then spend ourselves right back out.

To read the ad, click here. And if you see University of Kentucky's John Garen, University of Louisville's Stephan Gohmann, or Western Kentucky University's Dennis Wilson or Brian Strow around the Bluegrass State, congratulate them on their good judgment.

Guess where the next bailout is going

The Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet just reported the state's unemployment rate climbed to 7.8% in December, its worst rate since May 1988.

Fighting the trend and continuing its remarkable growth rate was the government sector, again, which actually increased by 1200 jobs last month.

And they want to raise taxes.

CATSfusion About Scoring

Probably without fully understanding what they were writing, the Times Leader Online reports on January 23, 2009 that, “A state recalibration of school district scores under the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System puts the local district closer to a goal of 100 percent student proficiency by 2014.”

Imagine that. By the stroke of a pen, suddenly the local district’s schools are closer to the CATS goal. Does anyone think that paperwork shuffle suddenly changed education performance for even one single child?

It’s just what we said here and here had happened when the CATS scoring scales were reset, and further inflated, by changes in 2007.

In fact, we’ve shown in detail that CATS scoring was getting inflated even before the massive 2007 changes came along.

So, while the Times Leader actually says something that is correct, the article still doesn't seem to get it – this isn’t a sign that Kentucky public schools are getting better. It’s just more evidence that CATS is being watered down to make us think that is happening.

Can't stop the outsourcing train

The new reality is inescapable: worldwide economic difficulties would have created more outsourcing of jobs anyway. Does anyone really think more massive federal bailouts, new laws to strengthen labor unions, new policies to limit free trade, higher taxes, and the specter of a growing social welfare system will do anything but accelerate the growth of this trend?

Take a few minutes to watch this eye-opening video and then try to make an argument for more big government saving us from our big government folly:

If we are not teaching our children entrepreneurial skills we are doing them a terrible disservice. At the very least, Kentucky should rethink policies that send employers running faster to Costa Rica and Philippines. Some of those policies are forced unionism, corporate welfare, and out-of-control government spending.

What makes government "successful?"

In times of plenty, too few people want to seriously consider the order of priorities in our system of self-government. Spending wins votes, plain and simple. So our elected representatives spend.

In that sense -- and at least until the state bailout money comes in the mail -- any reflection caused by the current turmoil has the potential to do good.

What, for instance, defines success in a government program? In the business world or in our homes, we attack a problem until it is no longer a problem. Or at least until it becomes less of a problem and can, therefore, be worked around.

Government usually doesn't work that way. And all too often, government's media cheerleaders make the problem worse.

Take as an example the Lexington Herald Leader's grief over the demise of Kentucky Homeplace, whose closure will save $2 million annually:

This "investment" has provided a valuable service by accessing charity medical products for people of limited means whose income disqualified them for Medicaid. Rather than spending the last fifteen years developing an ongoing constituency and a justification for its continuing existence, Kentucky Homeplace should have been showing people how to gain this access for themselves, their friends, relatives, and neighbors. (It's not that hard. Use Google.)

If this approach had been taken fifteen years ago, the closing of Kentucky Homeplace would be met with satisfaction for a job well done and for lives improved. Instead, we only hear whining and crying by those frustrated in their efforts to expand government:

How could they leave this out?!?!

United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger had Kentucky on his mind last week at the Automotive News World Congress and Kentucky's mainstream media outlets seem to have edited out that part of his comments.

Gettelfinger was quoted in Automotive News saying the following:

This extraordinary quote didn't appear in the Lexington Herald Leader, the Louisville Courier Journal, or the Georgetown News-Graphic. Incredible!

So which is it, Mr. Gettelfinger: did the Big 3 automakers ruin themselves paying their employees too much or too little? Either way, this kind of brings into question the value of paying union dues, doesn't it?

This kind of double-talk from union guys strengthens the arguments against pro-labor union policies in Kentucky that scare off potential employers and inflate the cost of public construction projects.

Cutting "Grey Poupon" health bennies

As of June 30, 2008, Kentucky's state employee health fund for non-hazardous employees was funded at only 11.1%, according to the state actuarial report.

That is the last available information. The problem is certainly worse now.

This means taxpayers, most of whom will never see employer-provided health benefits in early retirement, will have to pay a lot more in taxes to fund the same for state employees.

There is no way to eliminate this hugely pricey benefit in time to help escape our current fiscal dilemna but we should get rid of it now anyway. Incentivizing employees to retiree around age fifty clearly belongs in the category of luxuries we can no longer afford.

No taxation without presentation

Kentucky government officials have fallen well short of their promises to provide spending transparency with a web site that just doesn't get it done.

The worst part is the mainstream media has been worse than asleep in the face of this smokescreen; it has been complicit.

I'm sure the Beshear administration press release said the site went up on January 1, but it's not true.

Surely it is not too much to ask our government servants and media watchdogs to provide better service than this. Taxpayers who want to see what a real spending transparency web site looks like should try Texas and Missouri.

It is beyond ridiculous to be talking about raising taxes even a single penny when they won't show us the checkbook.

Well Done, Lawrence County Board of Education

Here’s a tip of the hat to the newly elected members of the Lawrence County Board of Education. Right after taking office, they reinstated the right of the public to make comments at board meetings. (Source: Big Sandy News, Louisa, Jan. 21, 2009 – Subscription). The old board shut out the public last summer.

If your local board snubs public comment, we’d like to hear about it.

So, you want to cut tobacco-related deaths?

The U.S. Senate will soon pass a cigarette tax of 61 cents per pack to justify removing the income cap from SCHIP eligibility. This also sucks out whatever oxygen was left in Gov. Steve Beshear's effort to raise taxes 70 cents.

But all is not lost.

Beshear's big plan was to raise revenues so he could keep spending, but cigarette tax increases are usually very disappointing when counted on in this way. Of course, he already knows this.

What if we, instead, raised Medicaid co-pays, cut benefits, and sought other, more realistic ways to provide a smoking disincentive for smokers who are likely to not be able to afford the medical consequences of their expensive habit?

That way, we could move away from trying to expand government's size based on revenues from an activity we claim to want to eliminate and give smokers more reasons to consider the wisdom in smoking themselves to death.

Louisville leads on honesty and openness?

Beshear Administration officials still need a kick in the butt to get them serious about putting government spending data on the internet so taxpayers can better help pinpoint misuse of public funds.

Some Louisville council members have the right idea. When the biggest city in the state posts its checkbook to the internet, more citizens will be emboldened to force their representatives to do the same.

Meanwhile, it appears the legislature is going to have to get Beshear back on track to fulfilling his promise to make government more transparent.

Way before you will deserve more of our money, Governor, you need to come clean about where every penny is going. We can't afford any more secrecy and double-dealing.

Kentucky Residents Denied Access to School Performance Data

Want to know how Kentucky ranks for the percentage of our high school kids taking upper level math and science courses?

Forget it!

A recent report from The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education attempted to collect that information from all the states, but the Kentucky report says on page 5,

“Policymakers and state residents do not have access to important information about the courses students take in high school because the state declined to participate in the national survey.”

Why did our educators refuse to participate? If we really are doing so well in education, don’t you think they’d want these numbers shouted from the rooftops?

A tip of the hat to the Prichard Committee Blog for directing our attention to the National Center’s report.

Harvard economist calls Biden a liar

For the last eight years, any instance of dissent between conservative thinkers and President George W. Bush was trumpeted around the world by the mainstream media.

Should we expect the same when a Harvard professor questions Vice President Joe Biden's veracity on a subject as important as the federal bailout of cities and states?

Doubt it.

Sort of like when a University of Kentucky professor whose research seriously questioned core policy positions of the state's education bureaucracy yesterday.

California dreamin' on pension reform

A California activist wants to be savagely murdered by public employee union thugs.

Not really, of course, but Paul McCauley is taking on pretty tough opponents with his ballot initiative effort to cut public employee pensions. Here is the text:

It's telling that McCauley (who is no conservative) states in the initiative language that employee salaries would be increased to make up for pension cuts. Public employee pensions have been able to get so far out of control only because they accrue largely outside of public view. Unions depend very heavily on that shroud of secrecy.

Kentucky's public pension disaster won't be averted by renegotiation of benefits, just as California's won't. The entrenched special interests would rather watch our houses burn down. To say the least, Kentucky has some very important budgeting decisions to make. Our officials had better start making some of them pretty soon instead of goofing around hoping the problem will just go away.

Are Your Kid’s School Dues Going Where They Should?

In Kentucky the funds schools collect for club memberships and ticket sales are supposed to be accounted for carefully with some specific rules.

If you want to learn more about that, including the rules that people handling the money are supposed to follow (which might include parent volunteers), check this out in the Bluegrass Institute’s new Wiki site.

MUNIS – Kentucky Education’s Financial Accounting System

------- Sort of

Many in the commonwealth, including more than a few legislators, were shocked last week when the Kentucky Auditor of Public Accounts informed the legislature’s Government Contract Review Committee that there is no way to determine the full costs of the CATS school assessment program.

The reason is that there are a number of failings in the state’s education financial accounting system, known as MUNIS. If you want to learn more about why Kentucky hasn’t even a clue about the true costs of many very expensive parts of our education program, just click here.

How Did Kentucky Do on the Latest Federal Writing Test?

OK.

Here’s a KERA test question for “the rest of us.”

How many states scored a statistically significantly lower proficiency rate in the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress Grade Eight Writing Assessment than Kentucky?

Clues:

A total of 45 states participated.

Kentucky has had a hugely expensive writing portfolio program in its state assessment program ever since 1992.

No state excluded a higher proportion of its students from the federal assessment due to learning disabilities than Kentucky did.

In honor of what our kids have to do on CATS, this is an open-response question. However, we could just as easily have made it multiple-choice, at far less expense.

For the answer, see the first comment. NO PEEKING!

My, aren't you generous?

A University of Kentucky press release yesterday trumpeted the donation by UK Healthcare of 7000 hours medical personnel time to the World Equestrian Games, but doesn't properly credit the people making the donation.

That would be Kentucky taxpayers.

The World Equestrian Games will be in Lexington Sept 25 to October 10, 2010.

Research supports school choice options

A research report by the chairman of the University of Kentucky Economics Department out today confirms a dire need for the Commonwealth's General Assembly to embrace charter schools and voucher programs for better education outcomes.

Dr. John Garen says letting bureaucrats wield power at the expense of taxpayers and future generations of Kentuckians is a counterproductive use of public resources.

"The reliability of our own CATS testing system is increasingly doubted, with a widening gap between what CATS and federal testing deem proficient and recent test-grade auditing indicating inflated scores," Garen said. "Despite all of these problems with state-directed reform, the Kentucky Legislature continues to propose laws that attempt to micromanage schools from Frankfort."

Dr. Garen sited specific data supporting his conclusion that school choice programs are quite effective at serving students, help improve public schools, and have worked where they have been tried.

"Judging by their popularity, parents seem satisfied with school-choice programs across the country. This fact alone ought to speak volumes to policymakers," Garen said.

Using Obama's rhetoric against Beshear

The Wall Street Journal's idea for saving $40 billion in the Obama bailout of states is Kentucky's idea for saving the Commonwealth $130 million a year.

It's as simple as eliminating the requirement of prevailing (union) wages for public construction projects.

In his Inaugural Address yesterday, as WSJ notes, Obama urged setting aside "worn-out dogmas" and the paper encouraged him to follow his own advice with regard to union-enforced waste.

Beshear should be told that same dogma won't hunt in Kentucky.

Prichard Finally Enters Blogosphere

Despite many invitations from the Bluegrass Institute to join with us in frank discussions about education issues, in the past the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence always declined.

Now, Prichard has joining the Blogosphere.

That at last gives the public and the Bluegrass Institute a welcome opportunity to respectfully discuss Prichard’s ideas in an open forum. This can only lead to a better informed citizenry as we all get the opportunity to more fully understand some of the things Prichard is saying.

For example, we have some questions about Prichard’s first posts. Prichard talks about how well we reportedly do on National Assessment of Educational Progress science tests in the fourth and eighth grades but omits any discussion of how we do at the high school level.

The fact is, any Kentucky science advantage, if it exists at all in the lower grades, apparently evaporates in high school, as the following figure covering science testing conducted by the ACT, Incorporated shows.



Prichard’s blog on the science scores also briefly crows about Kentucky NAEP scores in reading, math and writing. However, another initial Prichard blog post makes reference to a report titled, “MEASURING UP 2008, THE STATE REPORT CARD ON HIGHER EDUCATION.”

Page 5 of that report has this to say about Kentucky’s latest NAEP performance:

“The performance of 8th graders in Kentucky on national assessments in reading is fairly low, and in science is only fair. They perform poorly on national assessments in math and very poorly in writing.”

Somehow, that seems to put our NAEP results in a rather different perspective from the one Prichard conveys.

In any event, we welcome the Prichard Committee to the Blogosphere. We’re glad you finally joined us in an open forum that all can see and that you have asked the public for comments. We believe such open discussions are essential for a better informed public that will in turn lead to better education for our children.

Mixing religion and taxes

Lexington Herald Leader columnist Larry Dale Keeling looks into the abyss of state government obligations and comes away with his faith in the status quo unshaken:

"Democrats spread the gospel of raising new revenue as a means of avoiding a "scorched earth" destiny for various state agencies and services."

"Where this gospel is concerned, Republicans play the role of skeptical agnostics who think the revenue situation for the current fiscal year may not be as grim as the projections (from the independent Consensus Forecasting Group) suggest."

"Reality probably lies somewhere between the two extremes, although closer to the D gospel than the R agnosticism. There will be a significant revenue shortfall this fiscal year, and most likely a bigger shortfall next year. And dealing with those shortfalls without additional revenue will require severe cuts in some state services."

Agnosticism is generally defined as a belief that gaining knowledge of certain truths is impossible. It is used here by Keeling to connote a willful ignorance of reality. He applies this term, of course, to people who don't want tax increases and prefer to trim government back to an affordable level rather than continuing the well-established trend of endless growth in spending.

At a time in which more people are starting to doubt Keynesian othodoxy just as government rent seekers pursue bailouts with missionary zeal, it's funny to see local commentators clinging to the old religion.

Piecing together another government snafu

Kentuckian Dea Riley is a marketing executive who has helped organize and run major international sporting events including the 2002 Winter Olympics. She says the 2010 World Equestrian Games will fail to benefit Kentucky like it could have and will wind up costing taxpayers at a time when budgets are already strained.

"Kentucky has really botched the deal and the reason is the governments in charge of it –- they’re a year out and additional major sponsors have yet to sign up," Riley said.

Riley said the Beshear administration in Frankfort seems to not be working with the Newberry administration in Lexington.

"One thing you learn about an event such as this is that everyone is in it together and the goal is everyone’s success," Riley said. "It seems the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing."

The major opportunity provided by an event like the World Equestrian Games comes in the form of dollars from corporate sponsorships. Riley said the deal given to title sponsor Alltech, Inc. was possibly too generous and may have contributed to the lack of additional sponsors and caused great harm to the overall effort.

"The opportunity to get more major multi-million dollar sponsors seems almost impossible at this late date," Riley said.

The World Equestrian Games are scheduled for September 25 through October 10, 2010.

Turning pension mess to stimulus?

Don't show this to Gov. Steve Beshear.

Kentucky officials have messed around and messed around with the growing public employee fringe benefits disaster for decades, apparently hoping it would just go away.

Of course, it hasn't.

The commonsense solution would involve properly funding growing obligations at the expense of other spending desires less critical to keeping the state solvent and with cutting future benefit obligations.

We are probably more inclined to do something like this, though:

Voila! Job creation!

Guess who's paying attention

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has decided that tax increases and more government spending is settled science.

But others aren't so sure.

It really is amazing we are still having this conversation. I'm counting the days until our federal government uses our own money to prevent us from buying Chinese which would otherwise, I'm guessing, be big sellers.

Beshear/Obama plan irks Conway

By Leland Conway

Governor Beshear has approached President Barack Obama with his hands out for some stimulus action, and why not? He’s only doing what all but three other state governors are doing. Only Alaska governor Sarah Palin, Rick Perry of Texas, and South Carolina’s Mark Sanford have refused to ask for federal bailout funds for their states.

Some may think that Beshear might as well get some for us, since everyone else is doing it. They may even think that spreading all of this cash around is actually a good idea. I ask you to look at this from a different angle.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is nothing more than the fattest ham ever smoked in Washington. In this bill there are earmarks that would make even the most fiscally irresponsible scratch their heads. $640 million dollars for new climate change computer modeling technology. Why would we need that? I thought climate change was a proven fact – what would be the justification for doing any more climate models? How many jobs will this create?

There’s $1 billion dollars for extra census surveys. How will it stimulate the economy to count ourselves over and over again?

There is $650 million more dollars for additional $40 coupons for the purchase of digital converter boxes for analog TVs. How will this stave off economic disaster?

$6 million dollars have been set aside for snow machines in Minnesota, and millions more for a Mob Museum in Las Vegas.

We must remember that government has nothing that it doesn’t first take away from us. This is not a stimulus package, but rather an economic tranquilizer gun. Imagine an even larger portion your future productivity being wiped out to pay for climate computers, senseless people counting and digital converter boxes. Better yet, imagine a portion of your children’s future wealth being ripped away from them before they even start to build it.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment act will “recover” more of your proceeds and “invest” them in a bloated, bureaucratic government, with arms too fat to reach over its own head.

Economists estimate that the combined cost of the bailout and upcoming stimulus packages will top 2.5 trillion dollars. Where will this money come from? The answer is frighteningly clear. Government has no ability to produce wealth, only the ability to take ours by force. Those of us who are already carrying the greatest share of the economic burden will be asked to shoulder even more.

There are pundits who will point to the $275 billion dollars in tax cuts in this behemoth spending bill. But Washington Democrats struck out the most important tax cut contained in the original legislation. Even President Barack Obama recognized that employers needed tax relief in order to prevent massive layoffs. But Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid struck a per employee tax credit for businesses that hired new workers or avoided layoffs. Giving no explanation for this total failure in logic, they just took out their knife and started slashing. Perhaps they thought it would better stimulate the economy to spend that money on protecting the endangered nests of the Red Crested, Web footed Cave Willow?

While our governor gets in line with the rest of the beggars, remember that this stimulus is no stimulus at all. It is the greatest perpetration of theft on the American taxpayer in the history of our nation. As Congressman Ron Paul said, “we’re going down the road to nationalization, without even a whimper.” This stimulus package is in fact no stimulus at all, but an economic tranquilizer.

Will we be asked to bail out WEG, too?

Previously unconfirmed rumors about strife between Lexington officials and state officials over the stalled progress on the 2010 World Equestrian Games has turned into off-the-record confirmation from trusted sources versus on-the-record denials from the usual suspects.

On Friday, Gov. Steve Beshear had a meeting of his Governor's Advisory Commission set up to deal with the Games. It was the first of his administration. Organization at the city level doesn't appear to be any better.

Taxpayers have already kicked in tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure funds for the World Equestrian Games. We need to be demanding detailed written assurances that we aren't just pouring scarce resources down a rat hole.

Kentucky had financing issues with this project early on, before the current economic situation. We can certainly ill afford unfulfilled promises now.

All the more reason to force officials to post government spending and contracts to the internet so taxpayers can better keep an eye on what they are doing.

CATS Audit Mess # 2 – Not Minding the Store

The new “Performance Audit of the Kentucky Department of Education’s Oversight of State Assessment Contracts” is loaded with evidence of what State Representative Brad Montell calls an “unbelievably convoluted, mixed-up mess.”

Among messiest findings of all, for those who know the history, are the audit’s listings of deficiencies in the department’s administration of the CATS assessment contract with the prime contractor, Measured Progress.

Failure to closely watch the Measured Progress contract is especially inexcusable.

Here’s why.

Irony, thy name is New York Times

As the United States jumps head first into the government bailout era, one need not go far to get an idea of how things might work out and how they might be portrayed in the media.

Look at Mexico.

In 1972, the Mexican government nationalized that country's lone telephone company, buying its shares for about fifty percent more than their price on the Mexican stock market. Then, in 1990, the government sold the company under questionable circumstances to a group led by a politically-connected Carlos Slim, who parlayed the acquisition into a fortune worth tens of billions of dollars.

Interestingly, the same New York Times that savaged Mr. Slim for using Mexico's "mixed economy" system to fuel his own ascent, now needs his money and seems to like him just fine.

From an August 2007 column by Times editorial writer Eduardo Porter:

"But the momentous scale is not the most galling aspect of Mr. Slim’s riches. There’s the issue of theft."

"Like many a robber baron — or Russian oligarch, or Enron executive — Mr. Slim calls to mind the words of Honoré de Balzac: “Behind every great fortune there is a crime.” Mr. Slim’s sin, if not technically criminal, is like that of Rockefeller, the sin of the monopolist."

And from Sunday's Times, in a story about Mr. Slim possibly helping the newspaper pay its mounting debts amid falling revenues:

"Mr. Slim, one of the wealthiest people in the world, controls cellular and landline phone companies and has major investments in retailing, construction, banking, insurance, railroads and mining. In March, Forbes magazine estimated his fortune at $60 billion."

Incidentally, the nationalization and re-privatization of Mexico's banks followed a similar timeline as that of the nation's telecom industry with one glaring exception: the banks were driven into the ground by their well-connected private owners and had to be bailed out again.

No mention of that in the New York Times.

Frankfort still hiding our money

Pushing Gov. Steve Beshear to show taxpayers where the state is spending our money has been a lot of work. The web site Beshear set up purportedly to provide transparency to government operations has been a bust. In fact, it doesn't even work:

Interested citizens looking for a way to set government back on a track of serving the public need search no further than spending transparency to find the soft underbelly of the bad politicians who have created our fiscal mess.

As more Kentuckians push harder to get government to show us the public check register, politicians will have a harder time saying no or, like Beshear, delaying beyond all reason.

We need more citizens asking their local governments to post public expenditures to the internet with details and in a timely manner. Within two weeks should be fine. Contracts, too.

In fact, if we got our school systems to do this, it is likely much of our funding "shortfall" situation would be cured.

Welfare recipients have satellite tv, too

News from California that the state will suspend welfare checks in two weeks will provide ample video for tv news of the coming riots.


Less visible, perhaps, will be the worried welfare recipients in other states across the nation moving to where the money flow may be a little more secure. As that image settles in, think of the shocking fiscal woes in Illinois and the fact that Kentucky is relatively better off.

A one-way ticket on Greyhound from Chicago to Louisville is only $57. Kentucky should seriously consider limiting public assistance to new arrivals from other states rather than merely hoping no one else is thinking about this.

Government healthcare fails again

Some Kentuckians who have come to depend on Kentucky Homeplace Program for free medical services are now out of luck.

The program is out of money and has been closed.

Framing the problem as a "budget shortfall" is a convenient way to make the case for tax increases. But whether Frankfort is bailed out by federal taxpayers or state taxpayers fails to address the persistent issue of too much spending.

And the main point is that programs like this seek to spread dependency on government to people who have too much income to qualify for Medicaid. And when they fail there will always be people they can prop in front of cameras to make the case for another, bigger program.

How many failed programs must we endure before we stop setting up more government programs to buy healthcare for people who could buy it more cheaply if they didn't have to compete with the government for medical services?

That last question may take a little while to sink in. It's a shame that living without government manipulation of healthcare in America is now an abstract concept.

This is how things get fixed

The hand-wringing about the economy wouldn't be nearly so frenetic if more people just looked at the gasoline market. There, demand went down and prices followed. Producers who overextended on the way up (think Venezuela) will get hit hard by gravity. Those who kept their wits about them when demand was high (like Exxon) have proven themselves well-prepared to ride out the storm.


Not forcing banks, auto makers, and cities and states to live by the same rules is a mistake we will be paying for a long time down the road. When demand goes down and prices are allowed to respond in kind, markets shake out inefficient producers, rewards efficient ones, and the world goes on. Training a generation of bankers, auto execs, and politicians to default instead to feeding at the federal trough can't possibly be justified in light of this simple truth.

UI: public problem in need of private solution

Gov. Steve Beshear announced Thursday formation of yet another silly "bipartisan task force."

This one seeks political cover, er, excuse me, a long-term solution for the impossible to fix unemployment insurance (UI) program. Think Social Security, but funded by the states and minus a few zeroes.

Surprising no one who has been watching, Kentucky's UI trust fund is almost empty. That means we get to borrow from the federal government to pay more people not to work.

Gov. Beshear blames the problem on the economy:

But the problem with UI is that it is another New Deal program that will only "work" if taxpayers continue to pour more and more money into it. In much the same way that private disability insurance protects workers from unexpected injuries or illness, though, private unemployment insurance could offer coverage for job loss without the government bureaucracy, politics, and very predictable cost overruns.

This is sick

Kentucky officials aren't going to see the natural consequences from decades of overspending as soon as they should. Below is the federal "stimulus" bailout coming their way. The crazy thing is that this only delays the inevitable. And probably not for very long as the biggest thing we will stimulate with this move is irresponsibility and dependency.

About the time Chysler, GM, and Ford come knocking again, we can probably expect the states to be lining up for some more love.

Appropriations Stimulus 0115

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Government Business & Legal obama stimulus plan

Charter School Research – They’re Working!

One of the biggest challenges to learning about what works in education is finding reasonably well done research. I’ve commented on that before, and many other people, such as Arthur Levine, past president of Columbia Teachers College (one of the oldest and best known teacher training schools in the country),agree.

Nowhere has there been more of a smokescreen about what really works in education than for charter school performance.

Now, researcher Jay Greene has assembled a list of quality research reports on charters that do acceptable “apples to apples” comparisons with regular public school performance. Greene’s studies focus on those schools where admissions have been randomly controlled in ways that provide fair comparisons to the schools those students would otherwise have attended.

Find Greene’s list of reports here.

These reports indicate that charters are making a positive difference in test scores and graduation rates. You just have to sift out all the unscientific (dare I say biased, apples to lemons) reports to learn this.

Public Education’s Cloud May Have a Silver Lining

Every sector of the economy, public and private, is facing some tough choices due to the present downturn, and public education is no exception. Certainly, this situation looks awfully cloudy.

But, on the plus side, fiscal stress is pushing state leaders to seriously reassess our public school system, and some real out-of-the-box thinking is apparently taking place according to the Daily Independent.

Some of the ideas being floated – like evaluating our dubious CATS school assessments with an eye towards adopting a simpler, more accurate and less expensive testing program – are long overdue. The Institute has written plenty on that subject.

Other ideas, such as cutting the school year to save money if CATS is dropped, are new surprises. The point is well taken that schools generally abandon effective education during the last three weeks of the year after CATS testing is completed. Legislators are wondering, “If those days are being wasted, why not just drop them.”

Certainly, there must be a better “bang for the buck” potential hiding behind this long-term problem, though whether it’s just cutting the wasted part of the year, or recovering those wasted days with productive education effort, is something still to be determined.

In any event, the fact that legislators on both sides of the aisle are doing some really serious thinking about our schools is a refreshing “plus” in our current cloudy financial situation.

A stiff premium for false choices

At a Thursday public forum in Louisville, Gov. Steve Beshear's Chief of Staff Adam Edelen elevated the government hysteria for higher taxes by saying this:

"What is it you value? Is it your future? Is it your children's future? Or is it cheap cigarettes?"

What kind of sane person would continue to oppose a cigarette tax increase if it truly involved improving our future and that of our children?

The problem is that this overblown rhetoric simply has nothing to back it up. If the political class in Frankfort valued our future and that of our children more than they did their ability to win the next election, we wouldn't have the public debt and unfunded pension liabilities that put us at real risk of insolvency. So why would we even consider taking advice from them about our values?

Cigarette tax hikers talk about changing smokers' behavior by incentivizing them to smoke less, but write budgets heavily dependent on them smoking even more. The clarity our politicians would gain by scaling back entitlements like Medicaid and corporate welfare and ruinous labor policies might lead them to conclude that government best plays no role in citizen behavior modification.

Then they could focus on little things like not bankrupting us or our children.

Secret Superintendents?

An interesting government transparency fight is playing out in Spencer County. The Spencer County Board of Education wants to do their superintendent’s evaluation in closed session. However, that violates Kentucky’s Open Meetings Act according to the Office of the Attorney General, who has already ruled on the issue. Now, all sorts of taxpayer funded organizations, including the Kentucky Department of Education, are lining up – in opposition to transparency.

Somehow, I think the Spencer Magnet News’ editorial on the issue gets it right.

What, exactly, are all the foes of transparency in this situation afraid of? If you think I am missing something, please provide a comment.

Beshear gets low grade on new web site

Gov. Steve Beshear dragged his feet last year on providing taxpayers much-promised transparency of government spending with a user-friendly, searchable web site. Then at the first of this year, he dragged his feet some more.

Well, the transparency web site is up, but Beshear's promise remains unkept. But don't ask me. Let's ask retired state employee Ralph Long, a Lexington Democrat who actually ran for the state House in 2004 against Rep. Stan Lee. Surely he was impressed with Gov. Beshear's effort, right?

Wrong.

Long said "it doesn’t go nearly far enough. We need a lot more detail. The information is available, a lot already in digital format."

From Ralph Long's site:

The Beshear Administration leaves a lot of information hidden from taxpayers with their "transparency" web site. This is very disappointing.

Where is Damon Thayer's certificate?

Gov. Steve Beshear gave some state workers cash prizes and certificates for saving the state a measly $1.4 million in expenditures.

Pretty amazing to think what he might give Sen. Damon Thayer after following his advice and saving the state at least $130 million a year by repealing prevailing wage.

Prevailing wage policies grossly inflate the cost of state construction projects by forcing taxpayers to cough up union wages.

Taking notes: South Carolina's two-fer

South Carolina State Representative Eric Bedingfield filed a resolution Tuesday urging defeat of federal union card check legislation and mentioning another worker protection policy Kentuckians would do well to notice (click the image to expand it):

Rep. Bedingfield added, "In addition to being anti-worker, this federal legislation is also anti-business. In an economy that is on shaky ground, the threat of dramatically increased labor costs due to collective bargaining agreement won’t create jobs. It will have a chilling effect on in hiring and start-up businesses."

Kentucky certainly doesn't need much help scaring off business. Let's hope some of our legislators use the break in General Assembly action this month to take notice of the Palmetto State's effort.

CATS audit mess – no one knows the cost!

State auditors told the Kentucky Legislature’s Government Contract Review Committee today that Kentucky’s CATS school assessment program cost at least $18.6 million in 2008 – FAR higher than any figure I have seen previously – but the auditors were quick to point out that this figure does not include the total cost. The shocking reason is there simply isn’t any way to determine how much local school districts pay to support CATS testing.

The news article doesn’t mention why those costs are unavailable, but the answer is that the state’s MUNIS education finance system remains a mess more than two years after Kentucky Legislative Research Commission Report 338 identified major problems with this fiscal accounting program.

After almost 19 years of KERA, the idea that we still cannot accurately account for education spending, not even on big items like our assessment program, is simply an outrage.

So, hats off to State Representative Brad Montell R-Shelbyville, for calling this situation, “an unbelievably convoluted, mixed-up mess.” Representative Montell, that it surely is!

Beshear's got us by the bonds

Acting State Budget Director John Hicks said today at a Joint Budget Committee meeting that Gov. Steve Beshear plans to go back to the municipal bond market next month to borrow more money.

Beshear actually celebrated last time the state mortgaged our children's future to the tune of almost $400 million. Now that our fiscal situation seems even worse, he may need his smelling salts.

Last year, lawmakers granted Beshear authority to bond over $1.5 billion in the current budget cycle.

Cig tax spin gets sillier

The Lexington Herald Leader has shifted its full-court press on a cigarette tax increase by suggesting we should do it because other states are doing it. Today's spin involves South Carolina:

It's interesting that the South Carolina news story linked to in the Herald Leader item doesn't mention Gov. Mark Sanford vetoed a cigarette tax increase only last May. In fact, the story fails to even mention Gov. Sanford's name.

Kind of reminiscent of The Louisville Courier Journal's investigative report confirming that they had the votes for the tax hike.

Head fake heard round the Bluegrass

Senate President David Williams threw a major league curveball at House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Gov. Steve Beshear by proposing a statewide smoking ban to get people to stop smoking.

The look on Beshear's face was priceless. I will post it as soon as it becomes available.

The shock and stumbling exhibited by Beshear and Stumbo makes clear that as far as promoting healthy lifestyles goes, they'd really rather just have the money.

Wasting money with our pinkies extended

Gov. Steve Beshear has a lunch meeting with some philanthropists Wednesday in Frankfort to discuss fund-raising our way to prosperity.

The key to this is simple: if the money raised by the Commission on Philanthropy is used to retire debt or pay old bills, that's one thing. But if the plan is to use this to avoid the hard work of making government in Kentucky affordable or to start new programs based on projections of ever-increasing philanthropy, we should politely decline.

Old news made new again

The Louisville Courier Journal is catching up to the Bluegrass Policy Blog on the state public employee benefits disaster story. Sort of.

In today's paper, an article about state pensions starts like this:

"The funding shortfall facing the public employee and teacher retirement systems has grown by roughly $3 billion in the past year, according to recently released annual reports."

"The funding gap plaguing the Kentucky Retirement Systems and Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System is now nearly $30 billion combined."

The problem is with the words "in the past year" because the annual report quoted in the story only divulges data up to June 30, 2008. That's before the stock market and mortgage bonds crashed.

The problem is even worse now.

Instead of believing their own negative spin about the Bluegrass Institute, the CJ reporters should have been quoting the Bluegrass Policy Blog from two weeks ago.

When do we bail out CellphoneCare?

A growing number of states are now spending taxpayer money to provide cell phones to poor people. Basically, if you are already on the dole, you get a "free" phone with rollover minutes!

Talk it up!

How long will it be before Gov. Steve Beshear calls a press conference to announce greater "free speech" rights for Kentuckians?

In case you aren't paying too much for cell phone use already, take heart. You will be soon.

Here are all the details. Maybe the magic cigarette tax will pay for this too.

Corporate, free market example ignored, again

Interesting story in Monday's Wall Street Journal about Exxon could have provided a good lesson for Kentucky politicians if they had been wise enough to listen:

"The Texas oil behemoth finds itself in such an enviable place because it never chased oil's recent bull run, though it earned heavy criticism for its restraint. In the past two years, as oil climbed near $150 a barrel, politicians called for Exxon to spend some of its riches ramping up production to drive down prices. Other oil companies grabbed expensive new assets that now will be a drain on operating income with oil selling below $50 a barrel."

"Exxon Chief Executive Rex Tillerson chose to sit on the sidelines, saying he thought oil prices were unrealistically high and would inevitably fall. As a result, he remained fiscally disciplined, giving the company ample room to weather the plunge in oil prices as rivals flounder."

"Mr. Tillerson made that point to reporters after a speech in Chicago in December. In the past year or two, he said, there were "some pretty high prices paid for some resources. [These companies] had to be operating with a very different view of future prices than we do.""

"Since the beginning of 2000, Exxon has increased its cash on hand to $36.7 billion at the end of September from $3 billion. It also began a share buyback program. So far, it has purchased 2.2 billion of its shares, which are now worth $170 billion, about the market capitalization of Microsoft Corp. or General Electric Co."

"Exxon is "sitting pretty," says Philip Verleger, an oil consultant and professor at the University of Calgary. "They have money and [now] there are a lot of companies that are desperate.""

Those of us who cautioned Kentucky officials about their spending spree over the last decade have gotten used to being dismissed as cranks and pessimists. Now, make no mistake, our advice is to avoid tax increases and to cut spending instead.

Conway cracks cash cow craziness

By Leland Conway

We have been lied to, and smokers will be the first to pay the price. But don't worry, the rest of us will soon follow. That's the reality of the coming increased cigarette tax. Why? Because of the extremely effective propaganda machine put together by the powerful combo team of liberal health activists and restrictive government forces.

I knew something was amiss when Governor Steve Beshear travelled the state with his entire cabinet in tow on his "listening tour." Never mind the cost to fly the entire group all over the commonwealth on the state plane. It was far more important that the Governor tell us that we were facing an "austere budget."

What seemed strange, however, was that shortly after he uttered those famous words, he was seen on national television at the Democratic National Convention proclaiming that Kentucky's economy was "dynamic" and attracting the "attention of the entire world."

I was dubious when the governor told me on my radio show that he would "consider looking into" the idea of eliminating the Kentucky income tax to stimulate economic growth. But shortly after that discussion all he seemed to be able to talk about was raising the cigarette tax in order to "raise revenue." Surely tax increases are not the only solution to economic stress.

For months now, all we have heard from Frankfort is how terrible our budget problems are in this difficult economy. State officials have criss-crossed the commonwealth on behalf of the Governor trumpeting the coming economic apocalypse. Doctors and nurses and health groups have grandstanded on the terrible plight of the American smoker and all those unlucky enough to stand within three feet of them. Editorial boards from all of the major newspapers have dutifully sounded the alarm and scrambled to recite the necessary statistics to convince us that raising the tax will be good for the smoker, the bystander and the treasury altogether. But no one describes an end game to this proposal. What will the next behavioral tax be when we have exhausted this boost to the treasury?

The reality is that there is a big difference between how much money Kentucky needs to operate, and how much our legislature wants to spend.

Many of the Governor's so-called economic experts project that the cigarette tax will raise around $88 million dollars this fiscal year, and somewhere close to $200 million over the next two years. But at the same time they trumpet these numbers, the health groups are telling us how great it will be when everyone finally stops smoking. How can the revenue from the increased cigarette tax grow while the sales of cigarettes simultaneously drop?

Now that we have discovered that someone is being less than honest with us, it would be a good time to reveal the truth that tax and spend politicians and their nanny state, health advocate friends don't want you to hear. Despite all of the fear mongering over Kentucky's budget crisis and the hard sell on the need to raise revenue, Kentucky's revenue is actually up. That's right, revenues are up. Not a dash, not a tidbit, but significantly. December revenue was up a whopping 5% over the same month last year. In fact, the treasury has taken in nearly $50 million dollars more so far this year than over the same period last year. Wow.

What you have just read is definitive proof that Kentucky's problem is not a lack of spending money, but rather a lack of spending discipline. I don't care much for big government, but I enjoy being lied to even less.

Step one: assume a spinning economist

Harvard Economics prof Greg Mankiw says President-elect Barack Obama's incoming chief economist assumes in her economics models now that increased government spending has a much larger positive economic impact than tax cuts do. That's interesting, Mankiw points out, because in March 2007 report she did at UC Berkeley, she came to the opposite conclusion:

"That is, Team Obama assumes that tax changes are less than half as potent in influencing the economy as the new CEA Chair estimated them to be in her own research."

Just wait till Team Obama gets together with Team Beshear about saving Kentucky.

What Happens When You Don’t Have a Good Accounting System

Kentucky’s MUNIS education finance system remains broken more than two years after the problems were identified to the legislature. That creates temptations. Temptations lead to this.

WHAS TV’s Take on SJR 19

Here is what WHAS-TV in Louisville has to say about the legislative resolution to revise Kentucky’s math standards.

Truth hurts tax-raisers' cause

Kentucky sales and use tax revenues were up $11.6 million or 5% in December over the same period in 2007. If you are keeping score at home, this is the December in which the world was supposed to be ending and Gov. Beshear was hankering for a bailout from President-elect Barack Obama.

Fiscal year revenues, since July 1, are up $49,724,244 over the same period last year.

Kentucky has a spending problem, not a revenue production problem. Therefore, tax increases are not the answer. Less spending, within our means, is the answer.

Putting the Freeze on Universities

Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, rightly proposes freezing tuition at Kentucky’s universities and takes a swipe at university presidents, who are playing petty games with our students’ futures.

These chief educational politicians are channeling their frustrations over not getting huge increases in funding each year from the General Assembly into double-digit tuition hikes. They instigate students to come to the Capitol and pound their pitchforks while blaming lawmakers for the steep increase in the price of their college education.

Williams rightly assessed the situation in Friday’s Courier-Journal: “I believe some of the institutions have raised tuition when they didn’t get everything they wanted from the General Assembly to try to raise some sentiment against the actions of the General Assembly.”

Instead, students should consider pounding their pitchforks outside the homes of Kentucky university presidents’, although they probably can’t get to them because they likely live in gated communities – considering many make salaries larger than the governor’s.

No way it will ever be enough

Gov. Steve Beshear expressed excitement and an interesting economic theory Thursday afternoon in response to hearing President-elect Barack Obama's plan for a bailout of the states.

"Without fast and comprehensive action," Beshear said, "our nation and state will fall into a deeper recession."

Beshear didn't provide any information to back up his suggestion that "fast and comprehensive action" -- which simply means spending some borrowed tax money -- will prevent a deeper recession.

The worst thing about a bailout of the states is that inefficiently allocated assets don't get a chance to be put to better use. The second worst thing is that the money will be gone all too soon.

Beshear, meanwhile, is still talking:

"We are ready, as a state, to invest this stimulus funding. To that end, I will continue to work aggressively with Kentucky’s congressional delegation, state and local officials and the incoming administration to ensure that we are prepared to maximize the impact of funding to create jobs and ensure that we are moving our state forward with responsible investments in infrastructure."

This is not going to end well.

Math Resolution Hits Senate

The Kentucky Senate’s Education Committee heard testimony on mathematics instruction this morning and then voted out Senate Joint Resolution 19, which calls for the Kentucky Department of Education to revise the state’s mathematics standards and testing programs. The resolution is a reaction to continued poor mathematics performance in the commonwealth.



SJR 19 recommendations are based on three key documents:

• The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ “Principles and Standards for School Mathematics”

• The NCTM “Curriculum Focal Points for Prekindergarten through Grade 8”
Issued about two years ago to deal with interpretation problems with the “Principals and Standards.” And,

• The final report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel
This was a presidential panel convened to deal with the nation-wide deficiencies in math instruction.

Collectively, these three documents call for instruction to mastery of what many term “the basics.” The documents also indicate that algebra, rather than other, more esoteric subjects, needs to be the next focus as students progress. Esoteric math subjects should be dropped in the lower grades until these basic needs are met, first.

Education pays!

As Kentucky's unemployment insurance fund runs out of money over the next few weeks, it will become the unemployment fund of money borrowed by Kentucky taxpayers.

So it is more than a little distressing to see Education Cabinet Secretary Helen Montjoy claiming "effort to rise to the challenge" while she is talking about setting up more phone lines to sign people up for unemployment checks.


Is my irony meter the only one being pegged?

Quick, call a newspaper consultant!

While more people than ever are turning to alternative information sources on the net, The Lexington Herald Leader provides an excellent example of why their industry is failing.

It's another Silly Distortion Day at Main and Midland:

The whole editorial is available here.

If the Herald Leader wants a return to respectability or, indeed, to stay in business, they are going to have to do better than this.

Sen. Williams never said getting rid of CATS would "solve" the budget mess. He said it would save money. And it would by shifting our emphasis in testing from CYA for bureaucrats to an education tool of value to students. Also, it's hard to not notice this editorial neglected to mention the benefits of getting rid of the three weeks wasted every year after CATS testing ends.

And The Bluegrass Institute has been all over the phoniness of CATS results for a long time.

Really have to wonder if the suits and bean counters at the Herald Leader have the same appreciation for the paper's ability to throw away it's credibility on Big Education voodoo that the editorial writers do.

Kathy Stein strikes again

Sen. Kathy Stein needs people to buy cigarettes in Kentucky in order to help save the state from going bankrupt under a tidal wave of unfunded pension benefits (wink, wink), but she is also determined to control where people smoke.

Enter Senate Bill 35, Stein's first Senate bill, which bans smoking in cars by minors.

Boston Charter Schools Score High in New Study

The Boston Globe reports that a new study on public schools in “Bean Town” shows that charter schools notably outperformed regular public schools and another non-standard experimental public school called “Pilot Schools.” The pilot schools are somewhere between regular schools and charters, with the main difference apparently being more union involvement in the pilots.

The research was conducted by a Harvard-MIT team, so the qualification of the researchers should have been well above average for usual education studies. The results were controlled to create a fair comparison of students in both charter and regular public school systems. The results are so remarkable that they could lead to an increase in the Massachusetts cap on charter schools.

Meanwhile, in good old Kentucky, we only have two – sorta – charters: the Model Laboratory School at Eastern Kentucky University and the Gatton School at Western Kentucky University. For the rest of us Kentuckians – nothing.

Why should kids in inner city Boston get a better education deal than our kids get?

More evidence message isn't getting through

Sen. Tom Buford filed a bill that would change the Kentucky Constitution to give members of odd numbered seats in the House of Representatives four-year terms starting in 2012. Members in even numbered seats would gain four-year terms starting in 2014. They all currently serve two-year terms.

Giving more power to our elected representatives right now seems like an odd request, doesn't it?

If members of the House are too busy to run for re-election every year, perhaps we need to split every district in half to lighten each person's workload. That way, the people could get more representation and the politicians would be less likely to ask for such silly things as this.

Look for a Fight on the CATS School Assessments

WYMT News reports that legislators are upset with the lack of “bang for the buck” with Kentucky’s expensive CATS tests and are likely to take another shot at ending this troubled program during the current legislative session.

It’s clear from the reader comments to the Web article that there is plenty of public sentiment against CATS, as well. They must have been reading our analyses of this inflated and untrustworthy program.

Catering to voters with bad credit

Rep. Jim Gooch has filed a bill that would limit how much auto insurance companies could raise rates on drivers with bad credit.

Insurers have overwhelming evidence that drivers with bad credit are more expensive risks behind the wheel. The American Legislative Exchange Council issued a report back in 2003 finding bills like this increased insurance costs for drivers with good credit:

"A prohibition against insurance scoring would concentrate benefits among a relatively small group of high-risk individuals who would be relieved of the burden of paying insurance premiums that are commensurate with the risk they present. It would accomplish this at the direct expense of a larger group of low-risk individuals, who will pay more than they would if insurance scoring was allowed."

A similar but more restrictive bill failed to get a floor vote last year.

Home-schooling on the Rise

More parents are “dropping out” of public schools in the interests of better education for their kids, a new study reports.

And, there are more reasons parents are taking the home-school choice alternative – reasons that indicate public schools are not meeting student needs despite all the “noise” about how diverse our public school system has become.

Indiana’s Governor on Education’s Purpose

In remarkably frank comments to an Indianapolis Rotary Club concerning his state’s budget challenges, Indiana’s governor Mitch Daniels says, “Put bluntly, the education system of this state, or any state, must be a learning system for children, and not an employment bureau for adults.”

Kentucky legislators would do well to keep this in mind as they get ready to tackle our budget challenges.

Gov. Beshear says he wants our ideas

Gov. Steve Beshear said via press release this morning that he wants taxpayers to send him government cost-saving ideas.

Here goes: Repeal prevailing wage to lower public construction project costs. Repeal certificate of need to lower healthcare costs. End the practice of doling out corporate welfare "economic development" deals. Stop requiring government agencies to buy newspaper advertising for public notices. Stop allowing legislators to transfer pension credits to higher-paying jobs elsewhere in state government. Require the Kentucky Department of Education to post each of its expenditures online so taxpayers can help them waste less money. Devote less money to need-based higher education financial aid to lower college costs. Stop trying to raise taxes and stop borrowing money we don't have.

Those are a few of mine. Take a minute and click here to give him some of yours.

Food for socialized medicine thought

Massachusetts' government healthcare program keeps blowing through budget projection after budget projection, while lack of money is keeping Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear from attempting the same thing.

Score one for letting government have less money.

Efficient schools fight poverty better

Fresh off his effort to sign up more Kentuckians for unsustainable government health insurance plans, Gov. Steve Beshear is now promoting federal tax credits as powerful poverty fighters:

""The EITC is one of our best anti-poverty tools, and I want to make sure every eligible Kentuckian takes advantage of it and gets the money they deserve," Gov. Beshear said."

Education is a far better anti-poverty tool. And given Kentucky's long and sad record of poorly-run schools, it would certainly be more inspiring and effective if he were to join in a bipartisan effort to improve the state on that front.

Washington DC Superintendent – National Teacher Certification Doesn’t Improve Student Performance

In a shocker that has important implications in Kentucky, the Washington Post today announced that DC’s schools’ leader, Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, is dropping district support for teachers seeking certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Rhee cites a lack of evidence that this expensive and time-consuming program produces better student achievement.

The Post also says Cheryl Krehbiel, Rhee's top deputy for professional development and a NBPTS certified teacher, admits links between NBPTS certification and student performance are weak.

The reason this is important to Kentucky is that taxpayers here provide extra stipends for teachers who have NBPTS certification, and Kentucky also supports those teachers getting certified.

In this time of fiscal austerity, if the NBPTS program isn’t providing much, or any, bang for the buck, as DC educators allege, we need to investigate that right away.