In the latest round of gubernatorial questions, the Herald-Leader asks Gov. Fletcher and Steve Beshear about changes they would make the Kentucky’s school testing system. Beshear says he’ll “conduct a comprehensive education review of programs and technologies that need to be changed or eliminated.” Groundbreaking! On the other hand, Fletcher says he’ll create a “online system where we can track student progress longitudinally, and make results available in real-time so parents and teachers will know how their child is doing.” Earthshattering!
Perhaps Fletcher and Beshear should consider introducing school choice in order to raise test scores.
From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel comes the news that Miller Breweries and Coors are to merge into one massive brewery, the better to compete with market share leader Anheuser-Busch.
Consumers will likely retain the same choices of bland, indistinguishable lagers but the new company — MillerCoors — will surely gain some economies of scale and realize some substantial cost savings.
The question I have regards the union. Miller is a union company in the heart of the union-friendly rust belt. Coors is headquartered in Colorado, a right-to-work state.
It is inevitable that jobs will be lost in making the two companies into one more efficient and effective company. To my mind there is no question where the cuts will likely be made.
David Adams suggests that Rep. Brad Montell has a pretty crazy idea regarding Medicaid:
What the bill does is qualify long-term care policyholders for Medicaid benefits more quickly by allowing them to exclude financial assets from Medicaid eligibility requirements to the extent their long-term care insurance policy pays actual benefits. For example, if a person goes into a nursing home under the provisions of HB 52 and his insurance policy pays $100,000, the insured person — who would otherwise have to exhaust all his or her savings before qualifying for Medicaid — would be able to keep $100,000 in assets and still qualify for Medicaid.
From the perspective of the state of Kentucky, this isn’t necessarily a bad idea. From the perspective of taxpayers outside of Kentucky, it’s a travesty.
Medicaid is a program that gives state governments federal incentives to spend more on Medicaid. The more a state spends, the more federal Medicaid money the state gets.
But there’s a flip side. When a state cuts Medicaid spending, it actually loses federal funds, too. In other words, the state loses more than they cut.
It’s easy, therefore, to see how a state might want to increase Medicaid spending or make eligibility easier. It allows the state to soak the Feds for a few more health care dollars.
The former chief overseer of New York’s state pension fund is under investigation … again:
This time it’s for possible improper dealings with a longtime political consultant. It involves the state’s public retirement fund.
Current Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Albany County District Attorney David Soares are investigating the matter. The Albany Times Union is reporting that Hank Morris, a political consultant, was given millions of dollars in placement fees from private companies that wanted access to [Alan] Hevesi’s office in order to invest in the pension fund. The state pension fund is overseen by the comptroller’s office.
Unfortunately for those participating in the retirement funds managed by Kentucky Retirement Systems, the several derelictions of duty to operate the program properly have been almost entirely legal. New York has the benefit of knowing sooner that its program’s (now former) managers are, at the very least, suspect.
Students at Hardin County high schools who want a little extra help with their schoolwork will be able to find it, but if they want help at another school, they’re out of luck.
Hardin County Schools will be offering supplemental services, such as tutoring, to high school students as part of the consequences for not meeting its goals in the recent No Child Left Behind reports.
However, students won’t be offered another choice for high school — another possible consequence of No Child Left Behind. LaRue County High School, the high school which HCS administrators asked to take any students who wished to transfer, is at capacity.
Schools that haven’t met NCLB goals for two years and receive Title I federal dollars based on the number of low-income students are required to offer students the choice of attending another school that met its goals.
If a school hasn’t met its goals for three years, administrators must offer students that choice as well as provide supplemental services.
HCS students won’t be offered the school choice because there were very few nearby high schools or districts that met goals, said Robert King, associate superintendent for instructional services. The closest high school and district that had reached its goals is LaRue County, King said.
If districts run out of options of where to send students, the school choice option is not viable, said Lisa Gross, spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Education. The state can’t force a district to set up a contract with another school system, she said. [Emphasis added.]
It can’t? Don’t local governing bodies largely exist at the pleasure of the state legislature? Can’t the state simply will school districts out of existence? And if that’s the case, why on earth can’t the state force school districts to work together?
