Delaware
![Wednesday Daily Delawhere [3.18.15]](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3893/15337077652_c97848cbd5_c.jpg "Wednesday Daily Delawhere [3.18.15]")
Tuesday Open Thread [3.17.15]
![Tuesday Open Thread [3.17.15]](http://delawareliberal.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/DL.Open_.Thread.Gray_-240x180.png "Tuesday Open Thread [3.17.15]")
Now that the General Aseembly is back in full swing, so is our political calendar. Come inside to learn about some important upcoming events.
First Read: “It’s unclear the exact impact that Netanyahu losing on Tuesday could have on U.S. domestic politics, especially when it comes to the Iran nuclear debate. But it wouldn’t be good news for hawks. Think about it: Netanyahu comes to the U.S. Congress to make his final argument — on Iran, against President Obama’s foreign policy — and his party loses what had seemed to be a winnable election? Right or wrong, Netanyahu getting involved in domestic U.S. politics would be blamed for the surprising loss. So [today] is going to be a big story.”
Meanwhile, Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly documents the numerous incidents of Republican failure to govern, noting that the Republican Party is in total disarray. And Fred Kaplan says “It is a useful thing when a political party reveals itself as utterly unsuited for national leadership.”
The Top 10 Paid Public Employees in Delaware
Here are the 10 highest-paid state / public employees from the calendar year of 2014. To be honest, with the exception of Orlando George, none of these seem out of step with their job duties and/or the employee’s degrees and status (i.e. a Doctor is going to make over 200k, sorry, but that’s the breaks). Even a superintendent making over 200k is not outrageous to me. That Markell is at the bottom of this list at #85 is amusing to me.
People always scream and cry about cutting the jobs and salaries of educational professionals in the school districts whenever education funding comes up. But looking at this list, it would seem to be that the real vacuum cleaner of state money are the State Police and Homeland Security jobs. I guess that comes with being a Police State.
Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tues. March 17, 2015
The key question facing the Delaware General Assembly as it returns from its six-week hiatus for Joint Finance Committee hearings is: On what issues, and to what extent, will the General Assembly push back on Gov. Markell’s policies?
We already know that the House Democratic Caucus has raised the alarm over Markell’s efforts to impose more hardships on state employees and retirees when it comes to health care.
We already know that many legislators are pushing for a pay increase for state employees, something that Markell has refused to do during his time in office, (Memo to Jack: I heard your interview on the Al Mascitti Show on Friday. Cutting wages during a crisis, then restoring them, does not count as an increase.) I highly recommend you listen to the interview. Note the number of times that Markell dodges Al’s questions and goes off on a different tangent. One notable example. Al asks Markell about not proposing any raises for state employees. Just listen to his response. Something along the lines of, “Well, I’d really like to, but what parts of my sacrosanct budget would you have me cut?” In other words, he hasn’t spent one minute of his time in office seeking ways to pay state employees a living wage. He’s glib, and he’s got his lines down pat. But he only answered the questions he wanted to ask and answer, not the ones that Al posed.
We know that the Joint Sunset Committee, with Sen. Bryan Townsend taking the lead, is trying to determine just what the state has gotten for its $200 million-plus that they’ve given to business in one form or other over the past few years. (Memo to Jack: Asking whether we’d rather have the oil refinery or not, as you did during your response, is not answering the question. Fact is, your administration and the Delaware Economic Development Office have provided next to no empirical evidence to show that the preponderance of this money is paying off at all.) In fact, allow me to once again link to this New York Times survey which demonstrates that there is next to no verification nationwide, including in Delaware, that these dollars are doing anything more than acquiescing to extortion.
We know that we’re starting to reach a critical blowback on the Markell/Murphy team’s attempt to destroy public education in Delaware as we know it. Will the General Assembly intervene?
We know that the General Assembly has already stopped listening to Markell when it comes to funding infrastructure repairs and projects. Are both sides really gonna play ‘chicken’ again this year?
Tuesday Daily Delawhere [3.17.15]
![Tuesday Daily Delawhere [3.17.15]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8649/16790625446_ed4433a701_z.jpg "Tuesday Daily Delawhere [3.17.15]")
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! An indoor view of my, and Delaware’s favorite beer, Dogfish Head. From Mike Mahaffie on Flickr.
The Vote Tracker: Review the New Bills Introduced Last Week
Representative John Kowalko pre-filed a couple of bills last week that are worthy of mention. First, House Bill 42 calls for the University of Delaware and Delaware State University to be fully subject to the state Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). House Bill 43 adds appointed members of the Cash Management Policy Board to the definition of “public officers.” This designation would subject the appointed members of the Board to annual financial disclosure requirements. Think of this as former Treasurer Chip Flowers’ legacy.
House Bill 44 seeks to phase out the use of three controversial flame retardants in children’s products or furniture sold in Delaware.
But the granddaddy of them all, the bill that will bring down an Administration’s education agenda, House Bill 50. This bill would give parents or guardians the right to opt their children out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment System.
Clean Water Petition
The Clean Water Campaign is a statewide effort to educate people about Delaware’s water quality and to secure support for dedicated funding. Clean water is critical to our economy, environment, wildlife, food source, and public health. So please consider signing a petition to the General Assembly to provide funding for Clean Water for Delaware. Come inside to learn more.
![Monday Daily Delawhere [3.16.15]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7025/6717250829_7ca228fa83_z.jpg "Monday Daily Delawhere [3.16.15]")
Begun, the Education Wars Have.
Today’s News Journal Dialogue Delaware section dovetails nicely with the post I wrote on Friday. I’ve been told by multiple people, in and out of the education field, that it has the best headline ever. Sometimes cutting through the bullshit calling bullshit bullshit is the best way to garner attention to an important truth: all standardized testing is bullshit. At least in relation to the stated goal of helping students learn and gauging their learning progress.
Representative Sean Matthews, himself a teacher, has penned a wonderful op-ed in the above Dialogue Delaware section, and he uses more polite language to make the same point.
There are many ways to talk about the role standardized testing plays in our public schools, but there’s one question that we have to answer before we can debate the issue: Do these tests make our students smarter, more capable and more prepared to lead successful lives?
After decades of testing at all levels, with different standards, methods, benchmarks and outcomes, the answer to that question is not what we thought it would be. Overwhelming numbers of scholars, parents, statisticians and legislators are starting to realize, with evidence, that standardized testing and the policies that flow from testing are doing more harm than good.
Over the next three months, students in Delaware’s charter and traditional community schools will be asked to take a standardized test called the Smarter Balanced Assessment. The stated goal of this test is to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in our educational system.
But that’s not the whole story.
Most standardized tests are designed by for-profit companies that market their materials to states, which are required by federal law to test public school students in return for federal funding. Under this business relationship, the best interests of the testing firm are not aligned with the best interests of students, teachers and schools. Instead, there is great incentive to make students and their educators look like they’re “failing” so that these same firms can offer their own branded “reforms” and “solutions” to states and districts, for a worthy fee.
Moral Monday Prayer-In Tomorrow
Tomorrow (March 16, 2015), the first Delaware Moral Monday will take the form of a Prayer-In on East Steps of Legislative Hall in Dover. From the press release:
The issues facing our state are both deeply spiritual and social. In response to the hyper-criminalization of people of color and the evident disparities present within the state’s criminal justice system, participants will gather to pray that the God of justice would intervene on behalf of the marginalized during this legislative session. Both specific and general criminal justice concerns will be at the forefront. The repeal of the death penalty, one such matter that will be introduced in the Senate on March 18, will be advocated.
Sunday Daily Delawhere [3.15.15]
![Sunday Daily Delawhere [3.15.15]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7620/16745866612_86786e62ae_c.jpg "Sunday Daily Delawhere [3.15.15]")
The Wilmington skyline, from Videre Drive in Pike Creek. Photo by xzmattzx.
The Weekly Addresses
President Obama lays out his vision for quality, affordable higher education for all Americans.
Governor Markell speaks on his effort to reduce school testing.
Saturday Daily Delawhere [3.14.15]
![Saturday Daily Delawhere [3.14.15]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8578/16124623394_1459599fa6_c.jpg "Saturday Daily Delawhere [3.14.15]")
The Charles Springer Tavern, also known as the Oak Hill Inn or Four Mile Inn, on Lancaster Pike in suburban Wilmington. The stone section was built in 1780, with the frame section to the right built between 1750 and 1780. The old tavern became a residence in the early 20th century, and was attached to […]
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