(I wish I lived in Mr. Bird's district! - promoted by countrycat)
As many of this blog readership may already know, I am Benjamin J. Bird, the Democratic candidate for the Madison County Board of Education, District 5.
I have been initiating research as to the rationale for the intensive lack of funding afforded to our public schools in Madison County.
As part of my campaign I am attempting to study and understand the current dynamic associated with the barriers to adequate funding for education in North Alabama. I understand the lack of revenue streams due to the repudiation of local tax modifications that would generate moderate income by the public at large; however, I am having trouble placing a direct correlation to individual political motives of those charged with the responsibility of stewardship in regard to our public schools.
Should it not be the case that our civic leaders need to educate and inform their constituents about the opportunity we are facing in the shadow of an impending population explosion?
Madison County is no longer a purely agrarian culture, with the tax burden shared by only a few thousand people. The current increase in residents multiplied by only a modest ½ cent tax implementation would leverage enormous financial power, including allowances for the effective matching of monies to take advantage of several state and federally sponsored funding streams. However, “tax” is a dirty three letter word, most often resulting in political death [especially to a newcomer], so that I will not mention “tax” in reference to my platform.
In lieu of the word “tax” I will focus on education and conversation.
Anyone offended by the welfare state label needs to be voting for higher state taxes. About $8.66 billion a year in higher state taxes. That's what it will take to replace the federal dollars in Alabama's budget this year.
“If you don’t want federal interference, you’d better be prepared to pay for it with higher state taxes,” said Bill Stewart, The University of Alabama professor emeritus and constitutional expert.
Stewart may not understand the situation -- folks here want the money and they want to gripe about federal interference.
I like this paragraph and think it's a fairly good description of how Alabama's budget process works, what with all the earmarks and restrictions on how money can (or can't) be spent:
Under neo-feudalism, budgetary powers are constrained by an elaborate framework of structural and procedural restrictions that effectively insulate decisions from broad democratic accountability, empowering entrenched special interests against the common good. Instead of everything being on the table at once, so that big-picture choices can be made that truly reflect the broad consensus of public priorities, different procedures help ensure that different logics apply to different areas of public expenditure. That's why elites are currently trying to create a special commission to gut Medicare and Social Security, for example. The story of higher education in California is the story of that process in action over a period of nearly two decades now.
The Legislature effectively has its hands tied but also is relieved of a good deal of the responsibility for budgetary decisions because so much of the state's revenue can only be spent on certain items -- like the gasoline tax which can't be spend on public transportation, for instance. This makes accountability hard to come by.
Next, I looked at overall state expenditures for this fiscal year…just over $27 billion. This may be a shock to some people who are used to the much smaller figures that are thrown around each year in the state budgets…Education Trust Fund and General Fund. It was a shock to me too a few months ago when I first started looking into expenditures. This is what it really means when people talk about the amount of “earmarking” that goes on in Alabama. There are many funding streams that are never touched by the legislature during their annual re-shuffling of the figures.
We'd have better government if more of us followed the money and asked intelligent questions.
The creator of our Public Funds emailed me to ask why Alabama's per capita spending is so high -- it seems we're 4th in the nation.
The other big spenders are Alaska (lots of oil money), Hawaii (expensive because of its location), West Virginia, Alabama,and Wyoming. Im really curious why these other three are high... and where does the money come from?
I don't know, but hope some of you have more insight into how public funds are spent and why we rank so high -- I don't think it's reflected in public services or standard of living. Please share your thoughts in the comments. Here's the information that pops up for Alabama:
State Government Spending Per Person: State of Alabama
Spending Category
State Spending
Average of All States
National Rank
Medicaid
$928
$1,061
32
K-12 Education
$1,248
$1,071
13
Higher Education
$876
$526
11
Public Assistance
$10
$81
45
Corrections
$128
$173
36
Transportation
$292
$414
45
Capital Improvements
$276
$335
31
All Other Spending
$5,832
$1,800
3
Total Expenditures
$9,314
$5,126
4
From the FAQ page:
The category 'All Other Spending' includes items such as: State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), institutional and community care for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled, public health programs, employer contributions to pensions and health benefits, economic development, environmental projects, state police, parks and recreation, housing, and general aid to local governments.
I don’t know if you’ve been thinking about it, but the costs of long-term care have been on the mind of some friends of mine lately.
For reasons that we won’t go into here, they are in the process of pricing long-term care at care facilities…and yesterday afternoon, we had a chance to have a look at the “menu” of services (the facility's term) that can be purchased at this particular location.
If you are facing this issue in your own family, if you are a taxpayer thinking about how we plan to fund long-term care in the future…or if, one day, you expect to be old yourself…this conversation will surely matter.
Reduce dependence on dangerous foreign oil and finally put us on a path to a clean, renewable energy future
Renew our nation’s commitment to a complete and competitive education for every American child.
Makes a serious investment in health care reform – reform that will bring down costs, ensure quality, and guarantee people their choice of doctors and hospitals
Cut the budget deficit in half by the end of his first term
End the bubble-bust cycle and jumpstart our economy in the short term while laying the groundwork for America’s long-term prosperity.
The Alabama Legislature convenes tomorrow in what could be an interesting, tumultous session. Here's a brief overview of what's on tap.....
1. Alabama's budget shortfall: The Legislative Fiscal Office estimated the two state budgets would shrink by $700 million in the coming fiscal year, 2010.
2. Senate Leadership Battles: The number of Democrats in the Alabama Senate is down by 3, giving Republican senators a stronger position.
3. Ethics Reform Bills: Republicans Mike Ball and Arthur Orr have again introduced their package of ethics bills. Might this be the year for meaningful reform? (I'll have a longer, more detailed post about this issue in a day or so).
Of course, as we head into the 2009 session, the 2010 elections won't be far from anyone's mind. It remains to be seen whether we have a few months of political posturing or a real effort on the part of Legislators to do the work we elected them to do.
When last we met, Gentle Reader, we were talking about more or less $150,000 in clothing and beauty services that had been purchased mostly for Sarah Palin’s use by the Republican National Committee.
Since then, we have learned that John McCain himself once tried to outlaw the very type of contribution that led to this situation, we’ve heard McCain’s campaign offer a very non-maverick-y denial...and we’ve learned that the highest paid member of the McCain campaign staff—the person who presumably has the magic touch needed to turn this thing around—will be working her magic with a makeup brush.
As we discussed yesterday, I think I could have dressed Palin for 1/3 of what the RNC paid. Yesterday we “purchased” five of the outfits I think she needs...and with half the shopping done, we’re $670 over budget.
Can she be dressed for a mere $43,000? Let’s see if we can pull it off...
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville had an annual budget of about $2.6 billion last time I checked, making it a really big chunk of the economy in North Alabama. From the Orlando Sentinel, here's what Barack Obama (more photos and video at that link) said about America's space program on a recent visit to the Space Coast:
"I know it's still being reported that we were talking about delaying some aspects of the Constellation program to pay for our early-education program," he said. "I told my staff we're going to find an entirely different offset, because we've got to make sure that the money going into NASA for basic research and development continues to go there. That has been a top priority for us."
...
In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel late Friday, Obama called President Bush's moon-Mars program "bold" but said Bush didn't follow through.
"I mean, the funding has never even come close to approaching what was promised, and so NASA's ended up cannibalizing other programs," Obama said. "We haven't, I think, thought through all the steps that we need to get there and what the funding sources are."
Dale Ketcham, director of the University of Central Florida's Space Research and Technology Institute who has been working with members of Congress to get the candidates to talk about space, called Obama's switch "an important move" to making space an electoral issue.
"It was a good day for Obama and a good day for the Space Coast," Ketcham said.
Obama also promised to work to add one more Space Shuttle flight after 2010, when the program is currently scheduled to end. Here's the transcript of Obama's speech in Titusville.
NASA funding is a tiny bit of the nation's budget - 0.58% in FY2007. Heaven knows they don't always make the best use of their money -- who does? -- but I'm pleased that Obama realizes that it's important to spend on research and development. Money invested in R&D comes back to you several fold in new technologies, new products and new markets. Innovation is never a bad investment. I don't believe any president since Johnson has supported NASA funding at a level that would realistically get the job done. Like Bush (Sr. and Jr.) they to trot out grand pronouncements of missions to Mars or a return to the moon, but the funding is more commensurate with a world cruise than a tour of the solar system.
It’s time, Gentle Reader, that we address some of the disconnected thinking coming from the Republican side of the Presidential campaign...particularly the idea that we’re facing the “transcendent challenge of our time” from “radical Islamic extremism”.
To defeat this enemy, the presumptive Republican nominee tells us, he will do whatever it takes...even maintaining an expensive military presence in at least two distant counties for many years to come—“why not a hundred?”, he has asked.
Yet at the same time, he speaks of the $35 billion in earmarks he would eliminate from a $2 trillion budget hugely in deficit—and at the moment that appears to be the only spending cuts to which he will commit.
Is it possible this whole obsession with earmarks is really what he thinks is the problem...and why won’t he address the largest earmark of all—the multi-trillion dollar cost of this war, the eventual “re-upping” of the worn out equipment, and the costs of the ensuing “eternal” occupation he supports?
Oh, and did I mention the cost of the eventual wars with North Korea, Pakistan, Iran...and presumably China and Russia?
(You may have already noticed the little Iraq War cost calculator in the left margin. We could have bought lots of wonderful stuff with this money. Instead we got death, misery and destruction. - promoted by mooncat)
There will be a great debate as November approaches over who is a “fiscal conservative” and who is a “tax and spend liberal”.
It is highly likely someone will throw the words “transcendent challenge” into the conversation, and that got me to thinking…what if there were other “transcendent challenges” besides “islamo-facism-scary-monster-gonna-get-us”?
Then my thoughts went further (always a dangerous step), and I found myself asking: if we hadn’t of spent that $2.4 trillion on one transcendent challenge, what else could we have done with the money?
Some of today’s answers are serious, some are maddening, some are silly…and all of it is our tax dollars in action. (Well, to be fair, it’s not all ours. Our kids and grandkids will be chipping in, too.)
Those of you who are regular readers will know that I like to bring you stories that are not part of the conversation you might generally see at this site (or anywhere else, for that matter); and I have a good one for you today.
We will discuss a military “spy satellite” program that has great potential for use by other customers-including law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
A program, frankly, that has a huge “Big Brother” potential.
A program that may end up costing $150 billion of today’s dollars-or more-over the next 25 years.
And with that introduction complete, let’s talk about “Space Radar”.
Those of you who are regular readers will know that I like to bring you stories that are not part of the conversation you might generally see at this site (or anywhere else, for that matter); and I have a good one for you today.
We will discuss a military “spy satellite” program that has great potential for use by other customers-including law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
A program, frankly, that has a huge “Big Brother” potential.
A program that may end up costing $150 billion of today’s dollars-or more-over the next 25 years.
And with that introduction complete, let’s talk about “Space Radar”.
Lt. Governor Jim Folsom may have salvaged this session of the legislature after all, saving the taxpayers the cost of a special session later on. In a raucous session this morning, Folsom forced votes to kill two bills that had been used as a logjam by the minority coalition and opened the way for the General Fund and Education Trust Fund budgets (already passed by the House) to be brought up in the Senate. From the link above:
In recent weeks, the minority's stalling tactics had involved keeping the Senate from voting on two routine bills to extend the life of two state regulatory boards: the Alabama Board of Examiners of Landscape Architects and the State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors.
When the Senate convened Tuesday, the Senate's 18-member Democratic majority voted 18-17 to kill both bills that had been used for stalling.
The votes came as several Republicans shouted for points of order. Folsom ignored their shouts in taking votes to kill the two bills.
Then working with the Senate's Democratic leadership, Folsom took the procedural steps necessary for the Senate to receive the state General Fund budget and education budget that were previously passed by the House. The Senate also received House-passed legislation to provide a 7 percent raise to education employees and 3.5 percent raise to state workers beginning Oct. 1.
There are just 4 days left in this session and the Senate has accomplished almost nothing. Sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet. It has become obvious in recent days that the Governor is not committed to ending the stalemate in the Senate. Jim Folsom stepped up and got the Senate working again, maybe in time to finish its constitutionally mandated business. It wasn't pretty, but it got the job done.
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