Something quite remarkable has happened over the past six months. So much so that I doubt that those most responsible for it even recognize what they’ve accomplished.
There is an emerging recognition that the state’s education policy is an unmitigated disaster that will, I believe, almost inevitably have to be reversed or, at least, deep-sixed.
An education policy that began with Jack Markell deciding to go all-in and do whatever it took to get that Race To the Top money.
Students, teachers, and parents have become victims of the Common Corporate Curriculum, and the only beneficiaries have been corporations peddling snake oil in the form of tests and texts, and the oversized education bureaucracy that Race To the Top funded. If the bureaucracy was a burger joint, it’d be called ‘240 Fat Guys’. The governor’s legacy on this issue is already sunk, but he can’t/won’t admit the inevitable. It is, after all, his legacy. Which is why legislators and emerging policy leaders are taking up the slack. First step is to make sure that the governor does no more harm before he exits. Now, if only Mike Matthews and Pandora would run for the General Assembly…
Before we refocus our attention from the Governor to the General Assembly, can someone explain to me why…four years after Markell signed the legislation, we still don’t have a single medical marijuana dispensary up and running in Delaware? This quote from Jonathan Starkey’s News-Journal article says it best:
“Why did he (Markell) sign the bill if he had no intentions of enacting it?”
Why, indeed. Incompetence or ideology? You decide.
BTW, today’s Al Show will be a Very Special Primal Scream Therapy Edition. So much bad stuff, so little time (10-12 noon). Now on 101.7 FM, as well as the traditional 1150 AM. Or, you can just tune in here.
Ho-kay…time for the subject at hand. The General Assembly is back in session for something like four consecutive weeks. Here’s what we pretty much know. State employees will not get a raise this year. State employees/retirees will almost certainly have to pay more for health insurance. The state will continue to spend millions bribing and/or paying extortion to companies for new jobs and/or to keep existing jobs here. Here’s an example. I love that term ‘taxpayer grants’. Regardless of what they mean by it, it means that money will not flow into the state coffers. A $1.36 mill gift to Wells Fargo. ‘Cause they reallyreally need it. And the jobs are supposedly ‘guaranteed’ to stay here for a whole five years. At which point, you guessed it, the state will dust off the ol’ checkbook once again. It’s time for the General Assembly to do something about this. No more giveaways w/o transparency, and empirical evidence that these giveaways are worth it.
Today’s House Agenda features Version 3.0 (at least) of Rep. Baumbach’s Midwifery Licensure bill. While I take no position on the bill, I will point out that bills licensing and regulating certain professions are supposed to protect the public. The traditional Sunset Committee standard has been: “The least amount of regulation necessary to ensure the safety and well-being of the public.” All too often, however, the bills serve the professionals and provide dubious value to the public. Sometimes, legislation is designed to simply keep people out of the profession. Or to provide an imprimatur of legitimacy to the profession. (The U of D College of Dietetics and Nutrition Science was behind the push to license dietitians and ‘nutrition scientists’, for example.) This bill is clearly a compromise in that it sets up two tiers of licensure. I will leave it to proponents and opponents of this bill to argue as to how this bill helps to protect the public.
A good ‘open records’ bill highlights today’s Senate Agenda. SB 26(Peterson), ‘provides for recording and maintaining a record of all deliberations made by public bodies during public hearings, including any discussion made “off the record.” ‘Off the record’ has been used to, um, keep facts from the public. Over and over. Time to put an end to it.
Highlights from Wednesday’s scheduled House committee meetings:
The House Education Committee considers HB 50(Kowalko), which permits parents or guardians of a child to ‘opt out’ of the annual assessment test, aka the “Smarter Balanced Assessment System”. Sure hope it makes it out of committee. Why shouldn’t parents be allowed to remove their kids from the ‘lab rats’ educational testing that Markell and his corporate enablers would subject them to? HB 100 (Schwartzkopf), which addresses the Sussex County Vo-Tech District, seeks to have it both ways. One one hand, the bill would enable the district to raise its tax ceiling w/o going to referendum. The bill, however, also returns the rate to its previous level in year three, and also places lower limits on vo-tech enrollment for the next three years: From 1445 students in school year 2015-16 to 1250 by school year 2017-18. Looks like classic Sussex County politics at work here. I invite those who speak Sussex County to explain what’s going on here. Finally, one of those ‘feel-good’ bills that may not actually accomplish anything. HB 90(Longhurst) “requires all public school employees to receive 90 minutes of training each year on suicide prevention. The bill also requires all public schools to establish a suicide prevention committee. Furthermore, the bill requires local education agencies to create a suicide prevention policy.” Would it be cynical of me to wonder who might get the contract to provide that 90 minutes of training?
Hmmm, this bill, while possibly well-intended, appears to lack any meat to it. You mean that Child Protective Services doesn’t have the means to address this already? Is there really a gap in our laws that permits rampant cases of child neglect like this? Somehow, I doubt it. In the House Health & Human Development Committee.
I sure hope that SB 47(Townsend) makes it out of the House Judiciary Committee. Seeing as only Colin “Governor” Bonini voted against improving services to indigent defendants while streamlining the process, I think the bill will make it to the Governor’s desk soon. In the House Judiciary Committee meeting.
Highlights from this week’s Senate committee meetings:
As with the House, a lot of this week’s action takes place in the Senate Education Committee. HB 56 (Potter) places a moratorium on the granting of new charters for schools. Yes, it’s like locking the barn door after the horses have escaped, but it’s essential to pass this. OTOH, I hope that the Senate views HB 58(Jaques) more skeptically than did the House. The bill raises the tax ceiling for the NCC Vo-Tech District and permits the district to incrementally increase its rates w/o requiring any sort of referendum. Uh, why?
Paging Mitch Crane. I don’t understand this bill. Is it ‘good’ or ‘bad’? From whence did it come? BTW, how about this for a committee: the Senate Insurance & Telecommunications Committee. Because…insurance is just like telecommunications, or something. Hey, both industries have deep-pocketed lobbyists, so this is a plum committee post as long as you have no scruples.
I like to think I have scruples, but I’m out of time. Catch my increasingly wild-eyed rantings on WDEL today starting at 10 am.