Vouchers Are Not Real Educational Reform

The following head line appeared in today’s Baton Rouge Advocate :  Jindal addresses group that praised his school plans.

Let's not be confused about this headline, Jindal was praised for giving parents a choice to educate their children in one of the worst school systems in America.  One in which he and his predecessors have done very little to systemically change.

Specifically, the Brown Center on Educational Policy at the Brookings Institution praise Jindal for:

1)      Offering lots of choice through charter schools and voucher programs.

2)      Providing good information to help parents compare schools.

3)      Providing an easy centralized application process for enrollment in the various schools.

4)      Ensuring taxpayer funds follow the students into the schools and courses of their choosing.

It's kind of a ridiculous recognition!  Instead of providing a long range, adequately fund funded school improvement paradigm for ALL students, Louisiana continues to limp along with in-state developed testing programs which deceive the public into believing substantial educational gains are occurring. 

If one examines the historical trends of Louisiana students' academic performance on national assessments, these substantial gains immediately evaporate and one clearly sees that little has changed previous to and during Jindal's educational leadership.  Below is a quote from the Times/Picayune discussing the most recent 2011 national assessment results:

The average marks in both reading and math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress for Louisiana's fourth- and eighth-graders improved slightly, and in two of the four categories gained a little on national averages.

But the change from two years ago, when the test was last administered, was not big enough to qualify as statistically significant. Overall, scores in Louisiana still rank near the bottom among other states.

Jindal touts his voucher system as an example of real educational reform taking place in Louisiana. 

He claims that it provides "an opportunity for individuals that have limited resources to enroll their child in a NON-PUBLIC school that is performing well, as opposed to the poor performing PUBLIC school in their neighborhood." 

However, in reality vouchers are just PR and are an avoidance mechanism that fails to address real educational reform for the masses and do little to elevate the educational achievement of the entire state.

Additionally, Jindal needs to learn that he was elected to improve the lives of ALL school age children in the entire state of Louisiana and to stop pitting one socioeconomic class against the other, something he often accuses the president of doing.

.

A Sadness I Cannot Fix

Many articles have been written about the heartless and devastating medical care cuts our current governor has forced upon the citizens of this state due his fiscal mismanagement and his attempts to prove nationally that he represents an exemplary model of the ideals espoused by his political party chiefs.  His present plan includes the closing of hospitals, the curtailing of medical services at others, and the laying off of nurses and health care workers.

However, nothing written by media editors can express the emotional pain that those facing these atrocities must endure. 

I found this letter in the Hammond Star which I think clearly delineates how the consumers of these services truly feel:

Dear Editor:

I will have no way of knowing for sure if this letter is printed because I am ashamed to say that sometimes I cannot always find change in my old pockets to buy the newspaper, but I still think a poor old crippled man may still have a voice in this great parish of Tangipahoa, and in America.

I have always been very proud of our parish and of the many good citizens in it. My whole family worked and farmed, and we lived all through hard times in Tangipahoa easily over 150 years.

My grandma died in my mother’s arms. My mother died in my arms. My mother’s younger sister died because of a ruptured appendix. She was like our only child that has never walked.

If there is one thing I learned in this life it is to fight for what is good, and what is right, and for whatever you love and cherish, and my family has always cherished Lallie Kemp Hospital.

Lallie Kemp is a fantastic hospital. It is a wonderful life-saving hospital. A lot of people in our parish are decent, sweet, kind people, and a lot of people cannot afford long trips to other hospitals to acquire hospital care. Convenience plays a large role in keeping thousands upon thousands of Tangipahoa Parish residents in health care because money does not grow on trees, and neither does gasoline.

People are on tight budgets. A lot of people are unfortunately depending on food stamps. Jobs and high-paying jobs are hard to find.

We need our hospital as badly as we need bread. North Oaks is a fantastic hospital, but we have to have Lallie Kenp hospital too. We need our charity hospital very much to continue to keep saving lives.

Our little charity hospital is beautiful, and the doctors, nurses, and staff, and everyone works hard in it. Everyone is polite, kind, and respectful to patients in it.

I am a very crippled man. I’ve got a piece of junk for a car. It just takes too much to keep everything repaired. I am not ashamed to say that I am poor as the driven hell, but I am still a man, and I would stand up or even crawl if I knew I could always do some good for our great hospital. I have two walking canes, one leg, and one foot that keeps me in agonizing pain, but I will tell you the truth like I said: I would crawl on my hands or knees for everything I love, and so I cherish our parish, and everything that is good in it.

May God bless everyone in Tangipahoa Parish, and God bless our hospitals for saving lives. Nothing is more important than saving lives and serving your country.

Cherish all that is dear to your heart. What else would God expect of us?

Always fight for Lallie Kemp. Fight for everything that is sacred in our parish that has brought comfort and love to our lives.

— Leon Joseph Lupo, Tickfaw

God bless you, Leon Joseph Lupo !

How Many Executive Councils Does Bobby Jindal Need?

 

I’m confused!

I just read in today’s paper that Bobby Jindal has hired Gary Graphia, a former top executive for The Shaw Group,  as his new executive council at a six figure salary.

But two months ago he hired Tim Barfield, an ‘old buddy’, to head up the Department of Revenue and circumvented the legislators’ approval in paying him $250,000 a year, more than double what the previous head made,  by adding  the job responsibilities of executive council to the position.  Jindal stated that Mr.  Barfield would serve in BOTH capacities.

In the last three months Jindal has added four six-figure positions to staff totaling over $600,000.00 in annual salaries during a period in which he decreed that he was implementing a  job freeze and no new positions.  These included Mr. Barfield, Mr. Graphia, and a public relations director for the department of education, and  approved another public relations director position to serve the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE).    I suspect there are probably more that didn’t make media coverage.

Please remember that Jindal represents the ultimate Republican ideals which include the downsizing of government, coupled with sound fiscal conservatism.

Yet, as he continues to decimate the health care and educational resources in this state in the name of fiscal conservatism, he continues to supply monies for high paying positions to his ‘buddies’ and sadly with NO push back from the legislators elected and paid to care for the well- being of their constituents.

All hail King Bobby!

Our Population Suffers as 'Favored Entities' Profit

Two articles appeared in  today's newspaper that were very disturbing.  The first, that the Jindal administration has not completely closed the more than $800 million Medicaid funding shortfall and is contemplating, beginning October 1^st, cutting more medical services from hospitals in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Houma, Independence, Bogalusa, New Orleans, Pineville, Lake Charles, Monroe and  Shreveport.

The other, that the sacred cow,  the N. O. Jazz and Heritage Foundation receives a state sales tax exemption on all ticket sales.  This practice, which was granted by the legislature in 2011, is presently under review by the State Revenue Study Commission .  This commission was set up this past legislative session to assess the impact  of  these tax exemptions in terms of loss revenues for the state's operating budget.  To my surprise, apparently Madi Gras throws are also exempt.

In arguing to keep the exemption,  Jazz and Heritage Foundation officials responded  “Our concern has always been that we maintain a ticket price that is reasonable.”  They pointed out that removing the exemption would lead to increased ticket prices.   However, if the sales tax exemption were removed, no one is suggesting that they pass this tax charge on to the customer;  ticket prices could remain the same.  Just take a little less profit so hospitals might remain open.

Maybe instead of trying to rip the state off,  the N.O. Jazz and Heritage Foundation ought to try and do something about those damn surcharges they add to every ticket.  The lowest surcharge added is $4 per ticket if you pay cash at the arena, using a credit card at the arena adds per ticket $5.50.  Buy them on-line ahead of time via Ticketmaster adds $8.55 per ticket.  Maybe they ought to stop dealing with Ticketmaster altogether.  Many rock groups have severed their relationship with Ticketmaster in order to provide their audiences with reasonable ticket prices.

In 2012, 450,000 people attended the festival.  Ticket prices averaged around $60.00.  The state sales tax is 4%. 

You do the math.  What a tremendous loss of revenue for the state’s operating budget.

Is Closing Mental Health Facility Immediately Necessary?

St. Tammany Parish residents, and the parish president , in particular, must feel like they’ve been played like fools when learning that the Jindal administration just circumvented legislative procedures to hire the new state revenue secretary, Tim Barfield, at more than double the salary of the previous person in that position.

Apparently Jindal's emergency proclamation of a job freeze by not filling vacancies to balance the budget doesn’t apply to his staff.   He would instead rather close hospitals.

Southeast Louisiana Hospital, in Mandeville, needs $555,000 to remain open until the end of the year, and team Jindal just came up with $250,000 to hire a new revenue secretary for the Revenue Department, which is running just fine with its present interim director.  To circumvent legislative approval of the higher salary, Jindal's boys added the title of executive council to the original job and floated it as a new position.  Again in violation of the administration's own departmental job freeze policy, no new positions.  At least that's what they released as policy through the media to the public.

To make matters worse, Rainwater, Commissioner of Administration, and the  governor’s chief budget advisor,  responding to questions about where the funds would come from to pay the salary said the state EASILY (my caps) can find the EXTRA (my caps) dollars to pay Barfield. He further brushed off the criticism of the inflated salary by stating, “That’s one tenth of one percent of the (revenue) department’s budget.”

Gee, if he would just add another one tenth of one percent of that budget, the folks in St Tammany could have their hospital remain open until the year's end which would give them more time for a possible alternative solution and allow for a smoother transition for the current patients.  Jindal plans to close it October 1st.

Apparently Jindal’s folks will resort to legislative trickery to find the money for themselves and not one dime for the mentally ill in the state.

Does everyone see something wrong with this picture?

One Mo Time

Trust me, I don't want to turn this blog into a full time Jindal bashing.  I'm really trying to concentrate on other issues, but Jindal just keeps astounding me with his off the cuff remarks. So forgive me one more time; I promise I'll try to do better!

Perhaps, our governor needs to check himself into one of the mental health facilities before it closes.  The state is facing a $860 million dollar shortfall in health care funding for the uninsured, over the past four years has reduced financing to colleges and universities by more than 26% of their state funded budgets, has had to use one time monies to balance the state budget this fiscal year, and most legislators, even Jindal's political puppets, claim they don’t know how they will produce a balanced budget next year.

Yet Bobby, in introducing his new revenue leader, Tim Barfield,  stated the following:  “Our top priority next legislative session is to reform Louisiana’s tax system so that we can make our tax code fairer, flatter, and LOWER (my caps) for Louisiana families and business”

At first I thought our governor was completely delusional, lower taxes when the state is near bankruptcy?  But then I realized that all Governor Jindal does is pull out one of his ‘pat’ statements that he always makes without even listening to what he is saying and not even realizing that it isn’t even applicable to the present situation.

He wants everyone in the rest of the country to know he is the ‘no tax guy’ and will use every opportunity to foster his own imagine at the expense of everyone involved in the realities of the situation.

He’s like one of those doll’s my daughter had when she was a child.  You know, the one with the string out the back and you pulled it and the doll said about five or six different things over and over and over again.  

I cannot believe how selfish and self-centered Jindal is when it comes to shepherding the people of this state. 

He simply does not care about the suffering he has caused and will continue to cause for all he was elected to serve. 

Bobby As V.P., In Your Dreams !

The wait is over and Mitt has named his V.P. candidate and much, to only Louisianans’ surprise, Bobby Jindal wasn’t chosen.  The sad part is no one outside of Louisiana ever thought he would be.

In fact, most respected nationally syndicated media outlets repeatedly wrote articles about why he wouldn’t be chosen.  But true to form, Louisiana's media refused to acknowledge the facts and continued to perpetuate the in-state myth.  The truth of the matter being,  HE WAS ONLY CONSIDERED IN A FLEETING MOMENT, BUT NEVER IN A SERIOUS ONE!

However, the delusions about old “Bobby” seem to die hard in Louisiana.

A perfect example of this persistent delirious condition is a recent statement  by former Louisiana’s 4th District U.S. Representative Jim McCrey  when responding to a question about Jindal not being  chosen as V.P. after campaigning hard for Romney.  McCrey responded,   “Now Bobby’s political prospects will be judged solely by his resume of public service, especially his job as Governor of Louisiana.  He has a very bright future in public service if he continues to desire that path in his professional life.”

Let’s see that resume includes:  Cutting colleges' and universities' allocations over $420 million so far during his governorship, gutting financing to public education in grades K-12 by initiating a non-accountable school voucher system, repeated failures to obtain educational grants from  the Feds (losing over $80 million in PreK grants alone), the closing of hospitals, emergency room services, and operating rooms to offset $860 million dollars in cuts to health care for the more than 750,000 uninsured in LA while at the same time refusing additional Medicaid funds being offered to states by the Federal government beginning in 2014, the dismantling of the Office of Group Benefits self-administered PPO Health Insurance Plan for  state teacher retirees which was one of the most successfully run in the nation,  the plan to hire a third party management company for prescription drug allocations for Medicaid patients that will lead to the demise  of small independent pharmacies and the exclusion of certain previously paid for prescription drugs for the sick and elderly, the refusal of Federal funds that would have provided a high speed rail system between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, the squandering of $80 million dollars in broadband funds for northern Louisiana, the continuation of business tax credits which are contributing to tremendous deficits within the state budget, and the refusal to conduct a transparent executive branch of government.  The list goes on and on!

In fact, as of 2010, just two years into Bobby's first term as governor, it  was estimated that Governor Jindal had already refused or lost more than $600 million dollars in federal funds for the citizens of Louisiana, and that figure continues to rise even further during his continuing years of reign.

Obviously, I don't get it.  How can anyone from either political party talk about the 'good' Bobby Jindal has done for the people of our state?  In fact, I worry that if he keeps going he will jeopardize all of our present  state retirement systems by forcing the state into bankruptcy.

But,  McCrey and other Louisiana  political experts  are probably correct about one aspect of Bobby’s political future.  If Mitt Romney is elected  he certainly  will  give Bobby a cabinet position.  Most likely it will be a newly created one tailored solely to Jindal’s legacy, the  head of the National Department of Sanitation, whose main focus will be directed towards cleaning up the massive pile of fiscal garbage the Jindal administration has left in Louisiana.