Skip to main content

More budget goodness: computers for state testing, but screw employees and kids

Today Governor Markell made it official:  once again he is not seeking a raise for state employees (to go along with not seeking to do anything meaningful about child poverty, either).
“I very much appreciate our state employees since it is their extra effort that has continued state government services the last few years while we have cut costs and reduced by attrition the number of state employees,” he said. “Unfortunately, given demands in education, health care, courthouse security and infrastructure improvements as well as the fact that we are facing a large gap in the FY15 budget between projected revenues and expenses, an employee raise isn’t responsible at this time.”
He appreciates you, all right.  So much so that he rates computers for state testing above the necessity for a pay raise or even money to keep paraprofessionals at work in Delaware classrooms.

Meanwhile, instead of funding better access to health care for 535 poor Delaware children, the Governor and Joint Finance Committee have apparently decided that charter schools need $2 million more than kids who cannot see a doctor.

It doesn't have to be health care, you know.  I'm using that figure about kids and health care to point out what the Governor and General Assembly don't want you to focus on:  they don't have actual strategic priorities for State spending.

(By the way, for kavips--who asked--here is the link to the premium cost of Medicaid for kids)

Comments

Nancy Willing said…
The 2 mill is privately being called the Charter Network slush fund....
Anonymous said…
Delaware Charter School Network - Delaware's Educational Fisker
Delaware Watch said…
If Governor Markell has national ambitions, his shortchange government employees style should serve him well.

Popular posts from this blog

The Obligatory Libertarian Tax Day Post

The most disturbing factoid that I learned on Tax Day was that the average American must now spend a full twenty-four hours filling out tax forms. That's three work days. Or, think of it this way: if you had to put in two hours per night after dinner to finish your taxes, that's two weeks (with Sundays off). I saw a talking head economics professor on some Philly TV channel pontificating about how Americans procrastinate. He was laughing. The IRS guy they interviewed actually said, "Tick, tick, tick." You have to wonder if Governor Ruth Ann Minner and her cohorts put in twenty-four hours pondering whether or not to give Kraft Foods $708,000 of our State taxes while demanding that school districts return $8-10 million each?

New Warfare: I started my posts with a discussion.....

.....on Unrestricted warfare . The US Air force Institute for National Security Studies have developed a reasonable systems approach to deter non-state violent actors who they label as NSVA's. It is an exceptionally important report if we want to deter violent extremism and other potential violent actors that could threaten this nation and its security. It is THE report our political officials should be listening to to shape policy so that we do not become excessive in using force against those who do not agree with policy and dispute it with reason and normal non-violent civil disobedience. This report, should be carefully read by everyone really concerned with protecting civil liberties while deterring violent terrorism and I recommend if you are a professional you send your recommendations via e-mail at the link above so that either 1.) additional safeguards to civil liberties are included, or 2.) additional viable strategies can be used. Finally, one can only hope that politici...

More of This, Please

Or perhaps I should say, "Less of this one, please." Or how about just, "None of them. Ever again. Please....For the Love of God." Sunshine State Poll: Grayson In Trouble The latest Sunshine State/VSS poll shows controversial Democratic incumbent Alan Grayson trailing former state Senator Dan Webster by seven points, 43 percent to 36 percent. A majority of respondents -- 51 percent -- disapprove of the job that Grayson is doing. Independents have an unfavorable view of him as well, by a 36/47 margin. Grayson has ignored the conventional wisdom that a freshman should be a quiet member who carefully tends to the home fires. The latest controversy involves his " Taliban Dan " advertisement, where he explicitly compares his opponent to the Taliban, and shows a clip of Webster paraphrasing Ephesians 5:22 -- "wives, submit to your husbands." An unedited version of the clip shows that Webster was actually suggesting that husba...