Carney Says Fuck the Poor Kids
Carney says “there’s no money this year to better fund high-poverty schools,” according to Delaware Public Radio. Hey, you fucking fuck, here’s an idea, raise taxes!
One of the cornerstones of the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission’s plan was for the state to divert more money to schools serving kids from low-income families.
But with a projected $350 million budget shortfall for next year, Carney said during a tele-town hall meeting Wednesday night that it isn’t happening.
“We’re obviously not going to have the kind of revenue to provide additional resources to children…from disadvantaged backgrounds, something I think we ought to look at in the long term,” Carney said.
He also mentioned creating a group to analyze what else needs to be done to better educate children from low-income families.
Oh great, another task force. Carney has never seen a task force he doesn’t love.
Here is a link to a movement afoot to attempt to wake Carney up.
WDEL quotes Carney riffing on his “growth only” revenue plan, from his telephone town hall:
But there is one part of Delaware’s economy that is growing dramatically – the incomes of the top 1%.
What a piece of shit. The more he pushes this bogus line that “growth” is the only answer, the more despicable he becomes.
And as much as I hate the policy… he is just so politically clumsy and ham-handed. What a fucking jerk. Ken Simpler is going to wreck this walking clusterfuck.
Such a pathetic state
The word ‘obviously’ sticks in my craw. Obviously, if you take revenue generation off the table, then the statement is true. But this just points out the sham of his ‘listening tour’. I think the Chamber’s PR person convinced him to do this. Why not just make it official, and turn the reins of state government over to Rich Heffron?
Yo, General Assembly, it’s up to you now.
Growth = allowing another generation of Delawareans to become so educationally disadvantaged, their options are limited and they will likely need government assistance. I cant wait for this guy to get primaried.
Has anyone gone to his budget reset meetings yet? Do you get the chance to talk and push for more revenues? Or is there no point in even bothering…
Meanwhile, Matt Meyer has to clean up the heroin mess that Markell created and Carney appears to continue because he won’t fund education appropriately.
Is there a 12-step program for jellyfish?
“My name is John, and I’m a jellyfish.”
*cough* legalizing MJ and using revenue to fund disadvantaged schools is a proven success. Not only are you creating a more educated generation, but you arent creating more prisoners. *cough*
“Or is there no point in even bothering…”
Not with this Drumpite governor. The only answer is a primary.
No Democrat is going to take on Carney. And Carney thinks he can stave off Simpler as long as he doesn’t raise taxes.
If we start now, a viable primary challenger can be discovered. Two things keep viable challengers from stepping up. 1) Fear of losing status within the party. We don’t want someone like that anyway. 2) The lack of a fundraising apparatus.
We can address that by getting a measly 500 people pledge just $25 each. If we do that, AND WE CAN DO THAT, a legitimate primary challenger will start off with $12,500 and a list of 500 potential volunteers.
I finally anted up my $25 for Crowdpac. This guy is beyond hope.
8 down, 492 to go.
I attended the meeting at Crossroads yesterday. There was a large group of pro marijuana folks, a large group of realtors, and one advocate for funding education. There was a lone liberal there who asked about taxing the rich. Carney moved past him with record speed. Carney did not show any vision or energy about making people’s lives better. It was incredibly disappointing. I think Education is going to be hit big time.
We need to get the pro-marijuana folks behind this holding Carney accountable concept.
Marijuana legalization is a no-brainer, but based on the Colorado model would only bring in about $26-35 million/year in taxes to DE. Nothing to sneeze at, but only about 10% of the budget gap. Add into that getting non-violent drug offenders out of jail and you’d save about another $30 million.
Let’s not forget that we got this particular shortfall through passing corporate tax cuts last year as part of Secretary Cook’s ludicrous plan to make revenues more “predictable” without enacting any of the increases to balance them out. Not that I wanted to raise taxes on seniors and Delaware businesses or eliminate middle-class withholding, but if you are doing a supposedly “revenue neutral” plan, you have to do both parts.
The upshot being we are in this mess NOT because revenues haven’t grown to meet expenses, but because Markell and the GA cut corporate taxes last year.
You know, this budget gap facing Carney is far less onerous than the one that Minner and Carney left for Markell. Even Markell allowed for higher taxes for the well-off in his package. Granted, of course, that they were sunset a couple of years later. This deficit should not be as onerous as Carney makes it out to be.
Ask yourselves this: Will Carney and JFC somehow find $$’s for more correctional officers? Of COURSE they will. They know they screwed up royally, and they need to nip this in the bud lest they, God forbid, suffer any political fallout.
But money to educate poor kids and give them a fighting chance to avoid conditions that might send them to jail? Hey, we’d love to, but we just don’t have the money. You don’t have the money simply b/c you’ve put the fat cats of the individual and corporate variety off limits.
Carney could even play both sides of the coin here. Legalize and tax MJ, then profit off of all the federal SS arrests that happen to legal users.
Let’s also remember the caveat regarding those revenue projections. Based on population we assume $26-35 million in tax revenue. But Delaware could be the only state in the highly populated northeast corridor to legalize. So I suspect that the revenue could far exceed those numbers, at least until like MD or NY legalize.
RE I tried to allow for that–original projections were only for about $18-22 million.
Gotcha. I saw a few that considered drive time radius overtop of population and also considered tourism increases to beach points and those were closer to $45-50 million. Also, it’s easier to get to Wilmington from Boston to DC than to get to Boulder or Denver from anywhere else. But it’s a fair enough point. It not a panacea. But the argument for not doing it make no sense.
Vanella, How will state legalization will hold up against federal re-criminalization? I doubt it will hold up very well.
I read the remarks of one Jefferson Beauregard Sessions yesterday, yeah. The answer is I haven’t the slightest idea. I just follow a general rule of not cowering or backing down because some retrograde bigot has his feathers up. The more hypocritical fights these bastards pick with us the better. It exposes their duplicity and opens up the chance to take pot shots right back at them. I’ve found it’s always better received to knock a guy out after he swings at you than the sucker punch him. It’s situational of course, but if they want to have a go I’m game.
Six months ago there was a “bipartisan consensus” (ha) on criminal justice reform, prison reform, etc. I see no reason to skirt this fight (or any fight for that matter).
Carney and the legislators want to figure out how to tax out of staters to fill the gap and legalization is the way to do it. High end pot shops at the beach with big taxes would bring in big money then you get to take your pot home to DC. Legalization could be the thing that finally gets millennials to move to Wilmington. This is a no brainer and would be a finger in the eye of the Trump Administration.
Everything you wrote is accurate. That’s why I’m pessimistic. Makes too much sense.
Racinos have contributed $2 billion to Delaware’s General Fund, Lottery $ 3 billion, up till 2009. I thought gambling revenue was be administered to schools and elderly.
Property tax rates are absurdly low. Aren’t they sole source of school revenue sourced locally? Have no idea what ‘primaried’ entails, but sounds like a plan. Dela Dems need to get rid of Carney.
How many of our elected officials and state agencies are members of the various Branches of the Chamber of Commerce?
DART just made a big splash yesterday joining the Central Delaware Branch. It also surprised me how many elected officials including Carney are members
We could achieve greater efficiency in state education spending by cutting back on public school choice. We run a number of essentially parallel public schools in the same communities–they offer very similar services to students in the same geographic area, often with notable differences in the demographics of the students enrolled in each school (differences in race & wealth). We’re paying significantly more in transportation, admin. and special services, and building overhead than we would if we consolidated some of these schools. This would free up some funding to meet the needs of less-affluent kids, but the vocal middle class likes the “elite” public choices. (Consider Avon Grove district in Landenberg, PA, which is a popular school district: aside from one smallish charter, they put ALL students in each grade in the same large school, for greatest efficiency, and run four schools–one each for k-2, 3-5, 6-8, & 9-12 grades.) Another option would be to acknowledge that schools serving disproportionately wealthy students have sources of financial support, from students’ families and (in the case of selective, high-performing charters) the Longwood Foundation and other corporate philanthropies opposed to teachers’ unions. So we could justify reducing their funds to ensure a basic level of essential services & academic options to less-wealthy student populations.
Politically, we won’t pursue either of these options–but both would help to address the shortfall in funds for low-income, ELL and young spec ed students without adding expense overall.
Kate: Pa. earmarks certain funds for specific programs, like the lottery benefits seniors. In Delaware, the money has generally not been earmarked and goes into the General Fund.
Except, of course, the civil forfeiture rip-offs, which all go to law enforcement.
“often with notable differences in the demographics of the students enrolled in each school (differences in race & wealth). ”
Unfortunately that is considered a feature, not a bug.
Puck–yep.
“…rarely been clearer to me how segregation & integration, at their core, are about power & who gets access to it”
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/magazine/choosing-a-school-for-my-daughter-in-a-segregated-city.html