Education is not that much different than industry. There are widget makers, that would be the people who instruct, and management, that would be the people who don’t. If your product is widgets, and you need to produce more to stay competitive then you don’t cut the widget makers. So Kimmel has it right when he says:
Board member Bruce Kimmel said he would favor combining central office positions and not the assistant principals, because they are in the schools.
“My view is the schools are touched last,” Kimmel said.
Now that the BOE has cut the revenue generating news stand, they are eyeing other cuts to the budget. The Advocate reports:
Parents, teachers and administrators from West Rocks Middle School crowded into last night’s school board meeting to decry staff reductions included in cuts to the district’s proposed budget.
The school board is trimming $1.4 million from its budget request to meet the $148.2 million the Board of Estimate and Taxation approved last month for 2008-2009. The school board was expected to vote on the budget reconciliation after deadline.
Whilst the Common Council was busy hearing about the afflicted quality of life living next to industrial neighborhoods, I was traveling north to Boston. In the old days, along the Eisenhower Interstate, big signs would welcome you to the next state, often the only discernible way to figure you crossed state lines. Yesterday I didn’t need the sign, the road noise, rattle and jolts of driving through Connecticut immediately stopped, and smooth pothole and rut free lanes of highway beckoned. Connecticut is such a backwater of transportation infrastructure. The high tech companies that line I-495 all have easy access to the commuter rail that carries people from and to Boston. All that talk about “taxachusetts”, and it turns out the we in Connecticut pay more and get less.
What is it with dog poop and Norwalk? Today, as I was investigating the latest developments in the garbage proposal, conversation turned to one of my more favorite issues, flooding and the progress of the storm water drainage projects. For those of you who think DEP approvals fall from trees, the status of the Lockwood/Buckingham pipe replacement project should give you pause. You see, before issuing a permit to replace the storm water draingage pipe, the DEP measures for thigns like e-coli. And it turns out that the existing pipe has high levesl of e-coli, so no permit.
Over at Washington Monthly, a great blog btw, for the national poltics/ LA / California somewhat lefty-centrist slant, a post about people making sh*t up. Ah, yes, perhaps the blogsphere is on the same page as I am today. Here’s what prompted the post:
Michael Bloomberg did a remarkable thing last Friday; he went to Florida and told Jewish voters that people frequently make sh*t up. His statement was blindingly obvious, yet truly remarkable; given the history of the past twenty years, it’s amazing how rarely voters are given similar warnings. People will lie to you, Bloomberg said.
Presumably people who are interested in public policy should know how our local government works. But sadly George Carlin is right when he said it takes about 8 seconds to determine if someone is stupid. Today’s Hour:
According to Lauricella, the trash-hauling issue has spawned a group called Neighbors For Open Government. A petition is circulating asking the “Common Council to table the two City Carting items on their Tuesday, June 24, agenda and hold a second public hearing next week in order to continue the fact-finding process,” Lauricella said.
Hartford legislators cut the funding for the Early Reading Success program, based on the lack of success in the program everywhere else but Norwalk. Yet the BOE has funded it. From The Hour:
The Early Reading Success program will continue for Norwalk students next school year through
some carry-over funding from different sources, said School Superintendent Salvatore J. Corda.
Legislators decided not to make a budget adjustment for the money when they met on May 7, citing the lack of growth for students in the program and the struggling economy as reasons to stop the funding. Norwalk lost $1 million in funding. However, the Central Office has restored much of the funding for the salaries of all 12 literary specialists and restoring six school positions.
Ever wonder where you federal tax dollars are really spent? Updated for 2009.
The 2009 version is worlds apart from the 2006 version which may still linger in your neurons. There is so much more in the six square feet of paper this time. Over 500 line items of federal budget awesomeness. Increased accuracy and aesthetics as well. I am really trying to educate the populace on their investment in the government. Especially since the actual numbers differ so much from the rhetoric. Renewable energy spending cut 27% next year! This is important information, and responsible citizens need to know it. It’s my experiment in DIY government over-site.
