Best and Worst Parts of Nixon’s Speech

Posted on by Sarah Brodsky

When I saw this, I immediately thought of Dave Stokes’ classic post about people who don’t seek government assistance. Here’s the Post-Dispatch’s summary of what Nixon said about uninsured children in MIssouri:

Most are eligible for coverage under the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program but haven’t signed up.

“That’s unacceptable,” Nixon said. He promised to start identifying eligible families, who can make up to three times the federal poverty limit, or $63,600 for a family of four.

Now’s a good time to review what Dave said:

Some types, generally of the left-leaning persuasion, just can not understand that people eligible for government aid might still prefer to make it by on their own.

And for the good news, here are Nixon’s words on reducing the number of Missouri state employees:

In total, my FY10 budget proposes the elimination of more than 1,300 positions. We will cut nearly $200 million from overhead by eliminating these positions and cutting bureaucracy.

I’m glad he isn’t using the economic situation as an excuse to add government jobs.

Schools and Technology

Posted on by Sarah Brodsky

There’s more good stuff at Education Next. Here’s a forum on the subject of technology in K–12 education. John E. Chubb and Terry M. Moe think that technology will radically transform the sector, while Larry Cuban is more cautious and maintains that reformers are too quick to buy the latest gadget for every classroom.

I think that technology has the potential to change the market and the way educational services are delivered to students. Virtual schools bring competition to areas where there was none before, and help break the connection between where a student lives and his learning environment. They bring enrichment opportunities to students who once had only the foreign languages and electives offered by their local schools to choose from.

However, curriculum and learning processes will evolve more slowly. “Virtual” students take tests and complete assignments online, but they still read books and practice handwriting. Although they have more subjects to choose from than their counterparts in brick-and-mortar schools, they don’t study them in radically different ways. A student learning Chinese online will memorize vocabulary and learn to write just as a student studying French in a classroom would.

Smoking Bans

Posted on by Sarah Brodsky

Some municipalities in Missouri have smoking bans on the books; some don’t. Some private businesses forbid smoking on their premises; some allow it. That’s the kind of spontaneous order that legislators just can’t resist overriding with a statewide policy.

I recommend reading John LaPlante’s excellent post today about smoking bans, and why the decision should be left to individual businesses.

“Can You Smell It In The Air, Opus?” “Dirty Socks?” “No, Reassessment.”

Posted on by David Stokes

One thing that my brother, Mike (the second-oldest of four, with moi being the eldest), and I have in common is a devotion to the “Bloom County” comic strip. I own all the books, have read them all at least six times, quote them a lot, etc., which is also true for Mike. For whatever reason, many of my interests/hobbies are ones I share with my friends (“The Simpsons,” politics, Axis and Allies, darts, trivia nights, everything sports), but “Bloom County” — like skiing and Coen Brothers movies — is one I mostly share with my family. There are certainly crossovers between these sets of interests, especially so for politics and sports, but for whatever reason my friends never really gotten into “Bloom County.” Dunno, maybe they’re cooler than I am. …

I know what you are thinking: Is there a point to all of this? Not really, but because I am the only staffer to make it through the snow to come in today (thanks to my new 4WD SUV, and the fact that I live only a mile away), I may be particularly inclined to poignancy. Which gets me to reassessment, that special period every two years in Missouri during which our property gets revalued — a process that determines our tax rates.

This morning’s Wall Street Journal has bad news for anyone expecting the upcoming reassessments to lead to tax cuts, at least in the St. Louis area. You can’t read the full article without a subscription, but I’d like to point you to the map that’s on page one today, if you are interested. This map lists the decline in the price of homes in about thirty major cities during the past year. St. Louis has one of the smallest declines, at 3.7 percent. Many other cities have seen declines well into double digits, and only a few cities have slightly smaller declines.

This is all pertinent because, as the Post-Dispatch has reported recently, many homeowners are gearing up for a fight in St. Louis County, which has been ground zero for assessment and property tax issues during the past decade. From what I’ve heard, many people were astounded when, in an article that ran a few weeks ago, the St. Louis County assessor claimed property values really hadn’t gone down that much. Well, at least according to Zillow.com and the WSJ, he may be right. Frankly, the difference may be even less than negative 3.7 percent in St. Louis County, because that number applies to the entire metro area, and the new home construction prices in extended suburbs like St. Charles have probably fallen more than areas like St. Louis city and county.

I am not saying that this is a good thing. Of course, I would like to see lower property taxes and less government involvement in our lives. Fewer government employees and (self-assumed) government responsibilities are the best things that can come from a recession. But, to repeat what I said here a few weeks ago, the best thing that most of us can probably hope to arise from this reassessment in Missouri is that our property taxes will remain level for the next two years. Considering how much they have increased during past cycles, perhaps a leveling-off would not be so bad.

Charter Schools Flourish; In Other News, Earth Continues to Revolve Around Sun

Posted on by Sarah Brodsky

To some opponents of charter schools, a proliferation of charters in your city is almost as bad as a natural disaster. So what happens when charter school growth follows a disaster in quick succession? Chaos, right? Not according to this editorial in the Times-Picayune (thanks to Edspresso for the link):

Just as encouraging is the finding that scores jumped from 2007 to 2008 within all school types, including campuses run by the Recovery School District, the Orleans Parish School Board and dozens of independently run charter schools.

[…] the quality of education New Orleans’ children are getting is improving. And for the first time, parents have numerous educational choices.

This diminishes the credibility of those who predict imminent doom and gloom with the opening of each new charter. As the editorial points out, it’s not possible to prove that charters directly caused the rising test scores and other positive developments in the New Orleans education market. But it conclusively shows that progress is possible even with a bunch of new charters in town — and charters don’t have to mean the end of life as we know it.

Can Missouri Catch Up to France?

Posted on by Sarah Brodsky

Combest links to this article in the Fulton Sun about a proposed nuclear reactor. The General Assembly is considering AmerenUE’s plan to add on to the Callaway Nuclear Plant. What I liked best about the article was that in addition to summarizing the usual arguments for and against, it points out that nuclear energy is a success in countries that don’t impose so many political barriers to its use:

France has more than 60 nuclear power plants that generate more than 80 percent of its electrical power. France also is the world’s largest exporter of electrical power, sending 18 percent of its production to other nations.

We’ve followed in France’s footsteps by establishing an official language; it would be a good idea to emulate their openness to energy innovation, too.

SMI In the Springfield Business Journal

Posted on by David Stokes

The Springfield Business-Journal ran a nice article about my occupational licensing study and some reactions to it. I think it’s a great article, and I thank Jeremy for his interest in the subject.

Like any good journalist, the reporter got quotes from all sides of the debate. And, man, did he ever get some good quotes from the supporters of licensing (all emphasis below is added):

“The licensing process is a must,” said Detwiler, who along with fellow state-certified massage therapist Stephanie Lansdown run The Neuromuscular Clinic, which opened Nov. 15 in Springfield. “If you don’t know what you’re doing and say that you do, you could really do some harm to somebody.”

Clearly, this person has never tried to pick someone up at a bar.

“If we did the same work in San Diego, it would be a lot more expensive,” Detwiler said.

“I think it’s more about where you are. I don’t think the licensing would really have an effect on price.“

Believe it or not, we actually considered the issues of cost-of-living. The therapist is right that it matters, but wrong when he or she says that it explains the difference between Wichita and Springfield. The two cities have a very comparable cost-of-living, and Wichita’s is actually slightly higher. The main reason a massage session is $10 more in Springfield than Wichita is licensing, not costs of living.

I’ll finish with one quote that shows progress being made:

He added that the National Council of Architecture Review Boards has in recent years made it easier for architects licensed in one state to get licensed in others.

That is one way for the harmful effects of licensing to be reduced, and I applaud the architects for making it happen.

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