Kansas City Harbinger For FWCS
The Kansas City School Board voted to close 29 of it’s 61 schools because after years of dropping enrollment several of them are only half full. Many people are outraged of course but the truth is there is no money to keep them operating - these closings should’ve been done years ago as enrollment began to shrink.
Facing potential bankruptcy, the board that governs the once flush-with-cash Kansas City school district is taking the unusual and contentious step of shuttering almost half its schools.
Administrators say the closures are necessary to keep the district from plowing through what little is left of the $2 billion it received as part of a groundbreaking desegregation case.
The Kansas City school board narrowly approved the plan to close 29 out of 61 schools Wednesday night at a meeting packed with angry parents. The schools will close before the fall.
The article briefly mentions the $2 billion worth of funding for desegregation but what it fails to mention is what a dismal failure that was. Taxpayers were forced to pony up unprecedented amounts of money and years later they had absolutely nothing to show for it - dismal test scores remained and the acheivement gap between white and black students remained.
This is the same sort thinking that the FWCS administration uses to justify its racial balance fund and the failed building plan. None of it works but it won’t stop them from pretending that schools (and more specifically teachers) should be able to solve all of society’s problems and inequities. Here’s the executive summary from a report on the failed Kansas City desegregation experiment:
For decades critics of the public schools have been saying, “You can’t solve educational problems by throwing money at them.” The education establishment and its supporters have replied, “No one’s ever tried.” In Kansas City they did try. To improve the education of black students and encourage desegregation, a federal judge invited the Kansas City, Missouri, School District to come up with a cost-is-no-object educational plan and ordered local and state taxpayers to find the money to pay for it.
Kansas City spent as much as $11,700 per pupil–more money per pupil, on a cost of living adjusted basis, than any other of the 280 largest districts in the country. The money bought higher teachers’ salaries, 15 new schools, and such amenities as an Olympic-sized swimming pool with an underwater viewing room, television and animation studios, a robotics lab, a 25-acre wildlife sanctuary, a zoo, a model United Nations with simultaneous translation capability, and field trips to Mexico and Senegal. The student-teacher ratio was 12 or 13 to 1, the lowest of any major school district in the country.
The results were dismal. Test scores did not rise; the black-white gap did not diminish; and there was less, not greater, integration.
The Kansas City experiment suggests that, indeed, educational problems can’t be solved by throwing money at them, that the structural problems of our current educational system are far more important than a lack of material resources, and that the focus on desegregation diverted attention from the real problem, low achievement.
H/T: Mish
National Healthcare “Reform”
This topic was discussed a lot on this blog last year.
Last year I predicted on this blog that a major reform policy would NOT pass by 12/31/09.
Kevin Knuth and Jeff Pruitt both disagreed with me. Both felt that major health care reform legislation would be law by 12/31/09.
Well, I am going to have to say “I told you so.”
I did not think the Demcorats would be able to pass this legisialtion even with their large majorities for a wide variety of reasons.
Kevin and Jeff why do you think the Democrats failed to implement their signature legislation last year?
Mike
Teacher salary comparison
The local school districts have to cut costs; due to this the pay and benefits of local teachers has underwent a lot of scrutiny.
I have decided to compare my wife and her earnings to that of the average local teacher. I think this comparison will surprise many of you!
An Open Letter to FWEA & its Membership
To FWEA & Members,
The entire community is struggling right now and your membership is certainly no different. Unfortunately your struggles are being compounded by the lack of leadership from the FWCS administration and poor oversight from the board. Bad financial and academic decisions from years past are coming back to haunt the district, but what you are starting to see is that the administration has no real plan to turn things around. They flailed away blaming teachers in hopes of scraping out some of the “Race to the Top” funds but that pipe dream is now squashed.
The administration’s inability to turn around this struggling district has bred a level of mistrust and apathy into the heart of taxpaying residents. Now they are attempting to drag you down with them and somebody is going down for the lack of academic progress so who do you think they want that to be? Think they will point the finger at themselves? Have you seen any such thing lately? Of course you brought much of this on yourself through your blind support of the administration and their hand-picked members on the school board.
The financial crisis this district faces is not a some sort of classic corporate union squeeze where concessions are being asked for in order to support bonuses and other forms of looting for upper management. Nor are these concessions being asked for in order to appease Wall Street in the hopes for a 50 cent increase in the stock price. No, what we are all facing in this community is a new baseline of economic conditions.
Federal Wages and benefits need to be cut
USA today has a must read article that discusses Federal pay as compared to private sector pay.
Our Federal Government is spending an unsustainable amount of money each and every year. This is evidenced by the fact that the Congressional Budget Office is currently projecting the the Federal Government will spend 9.7 trillion dollars more than it brings in over the next ten years. In other words the National Debt will increase by 9.7 trillion dollars over the next decade!
Clearly this is unsustainable and members of both political parties have been clamoring about fiscal responsibility for as long as I can remember. That being said; when each Party is in the majority they rapidly forget their campaign promises and start spending money to ensure their re-election.
The USA Today article referenced above is an excellent article and highlights the problem.
USA today analyzed a wide array of Federal jobs and those jobs with an equivalent in the private sector were analyzed.
When the comparable jobs are analyzed Federal workers make 12.7% more than their private sector counterparts. Worse yet is when benefits are analyzed.
Over the entire private sector the average benefits paid per worker in 2008 was $9882. The average Federal worker’s benefits were $40,785. In 2008 the average Federal worker’s benefits were worth 4.13 times the average private sector worker’s benefits.
This unfairness needs to be addressed and it needs to be addressed in a hurry. That being said; it will not be addressed because the Democrats are beholden to the Federal workers unions.
The statisticyou must take from this analysis is that in 2008 the average Federal worker’s compensation and benefits cost the taxpayers of this country almost $110,000 each. This does not include bonuses, per diem, etc.
This is clearly unsustainable.
Unfortunately the public sector unions have control of the National Democratic Party andthey will fight against the needed reforms.
I think Federal workers should make the same amount of compensation in total salary and benefits as those people in the private sector.
Mike Sylvester
Former County IT Manager Speaks Out Against Commissioners’ Political Meddling
Another ex-county employee lashed out against the commissioners as former County IT Project Manager Phil Pease penned a letter describing (sort of) the issues surrounding his resignation. As usual you can expect the typical establishment-biased coverage of this in the traditional media. If anything they will interview Commissioner Nelson Peters or Bill Brown for a passing sound bite. Here at FWP we try (probably futilely) to tilt the playing field back towards the individual citizen and taxpayer by bringing you a different perspective - one that is anti-establishment most of the time. You can download Pease’s the full letter here (PDF).
During more than 4 years serving as a Project Manager for Allen County the most prominent impediment was not a lack of processes or poorly articulated needs from requestors nor was it inadequate funding. In point of fact the largest impediment was a pervasive undercurrent of various forms of punishment should questions or actions not remain in alignment with the power structure.
[...]
It widely known that the top leadership in local government (elected officials) are largely driven by political motivations, so what do you think happens when some foolhardy employee seeking to introduce efficiencies winds up shedding light on areas not necessarily in alignment with said political motivations?
Revisionist History Regarding the City’s “Fiscal Responsibility”
I’ve been looking at public pension obligations lately (another post on this coming soon) and it has reminded me how lucky the city was to have the state assume it’s pre-1977 pension obligations. These pensions were massively underfunded with the total liabilities over $90 Million. The city had saved up $20+ million in its general fund to pay down these debts but clearly they were in a precarious situation moving forward.
The state assumed these obligations as part of the property tax reform legislation that city officials continually bitch and moan about. Yes the state reduced the city’s levy by the same amount, BUT the city got to keep it’s $20 million! So that is where the highly touted “fiscally responsible” city got its bankroll from.
It wasn’t because they were particularly wise - quite the opposite. It’s because they were so far in the red regarding their unfunded pension obligations that they had to start saving cash. And then they got a lucky break because the state was stupid enough to come along and assume those obligations without taking any of the banked cash with them. Also, keep in mind that the actuarial assumption for rate of return on these pensions was 6% - think they’ve seen that over the last 3 years? Fat chance. The city would likely be dead broke right now had the state not foolishly saved their bacon…
The next few years
The last few years have been grim. Wages in the US have stagnated, the stock market has dropped, unemployment has increased (likely permanently in my opinion), and the amount of debt accumulated by our Government has skyrocketed.
I also think the next few years will be grim. I have to admit that the more I have studied the current economic conditions the more grim my outlook for the future has become.
I think that the following is likely to happen over the next few years:
1. The United States Government will continue to accumulate a staggering amount of debt. This debt will eventually cause the dollar to drop to levels not seen in many decades.
2. Many states and local Government entities (likely most) will continue to accumulate staggering amounts of debt. This will cause these Government entities to have to raise taxes and/or drastically cut spending.
3. The residential real estate market has been pummelled. I hope that the worst is over; however, there are millions of homes that will go into foreclosure in the next couple of years and this will ensure that the real estate market cannot recover for years.
4. The Commercial real estate market has also been pummelled. Unlike residential loans Commercial loans come up for renewal every five years. Every five years the banks re-evaluate the loans and can either call the loans or continue them. The interest rates on these loans generally “float” every five years. Quite a few of these loans are going to be called and this is going to ensure that the commercial real estate market cannot recover in the next few years. The vacancy rates and rents from commercial properties has plummeted and this will cause many commercial property owners to default on their loans.
5. I believe that the unemployment rate will be between 8% and 12% over the next couple of years. I think it is likely to hover between 9% and 11%. Many of the lost jobs are in the banking, real estate, and construction fields. I do not beleive these fields will return to pre recession employment levels.
6. Public sector pension funds are woefully underfunded. Public sector pension funds are likely underfunded by well over two trillion dollars. This is going to cause a lot of painful decisions to be made in the next few years.
I believe that there are several things that prudent citizens can do to “weather the storm:”
- Create a family budget. Ensure the the budget is written and that you accurately track your expenses and income.
- Build up a cash reserve that is 3-6 months worth of family expenses.
- Pay off your debt aggressively and do not incur additional debt. I truly feel that interest rates must rise and that wise consumers will pay off their debt.
- Maintain and if possible increase your job skills and your marketability. This is critical and most Americans completely ignore this.
- Start saving for retirement. Make this part of your budget.
- Work as much as you can and make as much money as you can. People often focus entirely on what expenses they can cut; however, the income side of the equation is equally important.
- Cut expenses. There are few Americans who cannot cut expenses. It is incredible how many Americans think that multiple cell phones, big screen TV’s, cable TV subscriptions, and eating out are “necessities.” It is amazing and pathetic.
Believe me I hope that I am wrong and the we enter a long period of stable economic growth; however, I truly do not think that this will happen.
Mike
Be Careful About Reading Too Much Into the State of the City Address
Yea, yea, I’m late to the party with this - what can I say? I’ve been busy.
I thought this was an excellent piece of speech writing. The delivery was off, but let’s face it, the mayor isn’t the best public speaker (he’s getting better). I thought last year’s speech was well written as well, but this year’s was by far the best of the three. Although to be fair, there was a little bit more to talk about this year than last which always makes the writer’s job easier.
In general, the speech did a great job touting his accomplishments but I think there’s one particular point that hasn’t been appropriately dealt with anywhere else in the media. There had been some talk about forcing non-profits to pay fees/taxes for their services as way to increase revenue for cities and towns. Henry backed off that position during his speech with this statement:
That does not mean I am not concerned about property tax caps and how they will affect our future budgets, but Fort Wayne is well positioned financially. Other Indiana cities are discussing new revenue streams, but this is not needed in Fort Wayne. Let me reassure you, I will not put any additional burdens on our nonprofit organizations, who are creating jobs and delivering important services.
I would be very cautious about reading too much into this statement. It seems to me that it was crafted explicitly to make it sound like he’s against tax increases without actually saying that. What Mayor Henry says is that new revenue streams are not needed but he didn’t quite go as far as saying that additional revenue won’t be needed. Until he says otherwise there is no reason to believe the mayor isn’t fully committed to raising the income tax if that’s what he has to do to balance the budget…
Senator Bayh
Senator Evan Bayh, in a news conference just before the filing deadline to run in the primary, announced his retirment from the US Senate.
Reaction from Indiana Democrats has been interesting to say the least. Senator Bayh’s announcement appears to be a shock to the entire Democratic establishment. Senator Bayh kept his retirement secret and shocked even his own campaign manager.
Nadia Bashir called me today and I did a short interview with her in my office; part of which will be aired on WFFT-TV tonight on their 10 PM news on channel 55.
I have several observations about this retirement:
1. His last minute retirement is a slap in the face to The Indiana Democratic Party and to Indiana voters. Now the Democrats will have to appoint a candidate and there will not be a Demcoratic primary. That is shameful.
2. I think it is very likely that Evan Bayh would have won re-election. I personally think the only Indiana Republican that could have beat Senator Bayh was Mike Pence. Unfortunately Mike Pence decided not to challenge Bayh.
3. I now think the Republicans will win a second Indiana Senate seat in November 2010.
4. I think Bayh’s “retirement” will serve to energize the Indiana Republican Party and will tend to hurt the morale of the Indiana Democratic Party. I think whoever wins the Republican Primary for US Senate will win in November fairly easily.
Mike Sylvester
