EPA Moratorium and Ads

I just heard a radio ad that was attacking Erik Paulsen for siding with the lobbyists to in essence "pollute our air and harm our children".  I found this hard to believe since he has kids also...

See the first link for some thoughts regarding why we should slow down the EPA's good works.  And the second to listen to the ads.
WSJ An EPA Moratorium
Environmental Defense Action Fund 2011 Ads

I find it interesting since the EPA has been overwhelming our industry for 10+ yrs by requiring cleaner burning diesel engines.  And it is going to continue for another ~5 yrs.  By the time we are done we will need very clean fuel, lots of expensive hardware on each machine, and the air coming out of the stack will sometimes be cleaner than that going into the air cleaner. EPA Tier Timeline

The upside is that it has given Engineers some great job security.  The downside is that the equipment keeps getting more expensive, which is passed on to all of us citizens via higher construction costs and taxes.

So when is good, good enough?  How much are you willing to pay for excellent?

RAS STEAM and Transportation

First off...  Sorry for being an irresponsible and inconsistent blogger lately.  Hopefully in ~3 wks my life will return to somewhat normal. This Summer has been CRAZY... (ie built paver patio, boat damaged/repaired, family member with ruptured disk/surgery, and finally a kitchen remodel, and work as crazy as ever....)  Lord I hope it slows down soon.  The upside is that I am learning a lot of information and developing some new skills. (ie paver prep/installation, fiberglass repair, recessed lighting install, the mechanics of the spine, sanding and staining of Maple, etc, etc, etc)

The topic of today is STEAM...  And NO I did not say STEM...  Apparently the Magnets committee has decided that STEAM is the best alternative. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics)  It kind of reminds me of the sales tax increase we passed awhile back.  "If you can not get enough votes, throw someone else's concerns into the mix" (ie sales tax = environment and arts)  Worked well for the Sales Tax, not sure it makes a good school strategy.  Thoughts?

The second topic is the potential outsourcing of RAS Transportation. It is definitely a decision that needs to be considered, but researched carefully.  There could be some very interesting consequences for the better and worse.  The definite upside is that it would pave the way to selling off the current ESC/Bus Garage site. Then the District personnel could be placed in or distributed across other less expensive already owned sites.  Thoughts?

8Aug11 Worksession packet
15Aug11 Board mtg packet
Sun RAS could save $1 million
Sun RAS STEAM

Please Let Me Lower Stds

Well, if not raising funding each year is considered a cut...  Is not raising standards each year considered cutting standards?

If so, then our Commissioner of Education is asking permission to do just that.  Standards were supposed to increase until 2014 when "No Child Was to Be Left Behind".  Of course this was difficult at best and impossible at worst given the lack of control we have over Parenting or the lack thereof, and the Households these kids come from.

However it was an admirable goal.  Too bad the Educational establishment spent more time and energy vilifying it instead of trying to attain it.  (been there, discussed that)

So what do you think of the waiver request?  Is it a good move or permission to leave kids behind?  (Oh, those poor "Unlucky" kids, we forget them again???)

KARE11 MN Seeks Waiver for NCLB
Star Trib MN Wants Waiver from NCLB
MPR MN Seeks Wauiver from NCLB
MinnPost Educators Cheer Waivers
Ed Week Waivers Offered
Dept of Ed Flexibility and Waivers

The Emeperor's New Clothes

When I heard the news the weekend, I thought it is about time...  There have to be some consequences to this "spend more than we raise" or "raise less than we spend" mentality.  There would be in our personal finances, and there should be for our Society as a whole. (aka USA)

CNN S&P Downgrades U.S. Credit Rating

And of course the Administration is looking to manage the spin.

CNN Obama Official: Move "Way Off"

And the nervous investors are off and running....  Since I am a couch potato investor that stays pretty much invested all the time, I am sure this will do terrible things to my on paper net worth...  (note to self: don't look for a year or so...)  Good thing I am 15+ yrs from retirement...

CNN Sell First, Ask Questions Later

So what do you think?

• Are you dumping your equities as fast as you can? Or staying put?
• Is this the beginning of the end?  Or just another bump?
• Was S&P correct in taking the action they did?
• Were they naive like the child, or very brave to say what they did?
• Will there be retribution against them?  What?
• Who is to blame? The spenders?  The no tax hikers?

Debt Mgmt and Women's Health

I found these comments by Daniel Mitchell very interesting in a cynical sort of way.

CNN  Debt Deal: Politicians Win, Middle Class Loses

And of course the posturing and spinning is continuing...
Fox News  Tax Hikes Impossible? Think again...

So what do you think?  Who is winning and who is losing in this deal?  Will it work?
_____________________________________________
On another topic:
Fox news: Women's Health
HP Free Birth Control

Doesn't this just make sense?  Or promoting moral decay?

I think it makes a great deal of sense...  If unlucky kids are severely taxing our Social Systems and Public Schools, then let's help those Unlucky Moms not have as many kids...  Seems pretty simple and logical...

Please Help Me !!! I'm Powerless !!!

I'll make this one short.  I thought it was odd that the President of America asked for TV airtime to plead his case to raise taxes and somewhat villify the GOP folks...  What did you think of the plea to the public? And the comments made by Obama and Boehner?

Another thing I thought was odd that Obama tried to imply that raising the debt ceiling has historically been no big deal.  And that the GOP blocking it is somehow inappropriate...

My thought is that maybe if others had blocked it more often, we wouldn't be in this mess.

Parents United Liberal Editorial

I know I should not have expected any different, yet I had hope.  However as is often the case, PU is taking shots at the GOP.

Parents United 22Jul11: The Liberal Editorial...
Parents United Home

From our Finland discussions, I find it interesting that the USA has one of the most expensive educational systems and yet lack luster results.  Yet the Liberal folk that praise the Fins, would say that the USA's poor academic performance is because we are providing inadequate funding...

MAKE UP YOUR MINDS !!!!   If our funding is high and our results are not, then the Educational System is broken !!!  Not our funding of it !!!

With this in mind, if Finland spends less and gets more...  What is our Educational System doing wrong and how are they going to change to fix it?  Other than asking for MORE MONEY? (ie apparently we are already number ONE in spending...)

Who is paid too much?  Who is not productive or effective?  Do we have too many ineffective personnel?  Too good of benefits?  Are we teaching too many subjects?  Is are curriculum totally ineffective? Too many or too nice of buildings?  Too many buses?

If we are spending more the the Fins and getting less, where is it going?

Star Trib: Big Changes

Finland and Education

Annie posted this link and comment recently:

Salon: How Finland became an Educational Leader

"A new documentary is being released on how Finland has achieved educational success in the past 30 years or so. I'm looking forward to the film; here's an interview with the director about the high level of accountability required of the teachers, and the virtual absence of tests.

Basically, they put a vast responsibility on the teachers' shoulders, but they then afford them respect, prestige, compensation, and autonomy.

No, you can't compare Finland to the US. But you CAN compare it to Minnesota. And you CAN find important reforms that will work here."

I read the article and I was curious:

• How they made the transition to only 1 out of 10 applicants were deemed qualified to be hired as a Teacher?
• What did they do with all the "existing Teachers" that did not meet the new criteria?
• How do they attract these very qualified to this "high prestige", yet not necessarily "high compensation" career? 

Because if we were to adopt this model in Minnesota, these are some of the Change Resistance issues we would need to address.
 
Thoughts?
 
Other Links:
BBC Finland's School Results
History of Finland's Reform
Ecoles: Limitations of Finnish Ed
Wiki Finland Demographics
Note: looks like Finland just started to allow immigration in last ~10 yrs.  Not sure what that means.
Wiki Minnesota Demographics
 
 

Kitchen Table Economics and Natl Debt

This sounded kind of familiar...  Any thoughts where this potential train wreck is headed?

MSNBC Kitchen Table

I always enjoy leading teams when they run into significant hurdles, people are fixed in their view of reality, and the end of the train track comes into view.  It is at these times when the team members usually pull their heads out their lower extremities and some "Creative Conflict" takes place...

Remember that it is hard for teams to truly "Perform" until they have successfully passed through "Form", "Storm", and "Norm".   Wiki Team Dev 

Compromise Reached in Minnesota

Well, it looks like compromise was finally achieved in Minnesota.  I may get to see those MCA II and AYP results sooner than later...

Now based on the 15Jul11 ParentsUnited update, it looks like the Liberals will be viewing this as a loss for their side.  In fact the quote by Sen Tom Bakk is priceless...

"But let’s be very clear about what this budget deal means for Minnesota: rather than asking the richest 0.3% of Minnesotans to pay their fair share, Republicans instead chose to solve the state’s budget crisis with a borrow-and-spend proposal that does nothing to solve the long-term financial challenges."

As we have discussed before, it seems to me the "rich" are paying their share and that of about another 40+% of the MN population...  As we know of course, someone has to be paying the fair share of those that pay little or no taxes. (since those individuals certainly are not)

I of course see it as a true compromise, in maybe the worst way...  The LEFT and RIGHT are again agreeing to SPEND MONEY THEY DO NOT HAVE !!!  And since they can not take out an operating loan or create a true "State Operating Debt", they make the school districts and others do it for them.  They force the schools to do this by increasing the payment shift to a WHOPPING 60% upfront and 40% at the end, vs the historical 90/10 split !!!.

Well let's just pray that the MN economy booms in a good way soon so that the State revenues start increasing sooner than later.  This reliance on debt by our Federal and State governments is REALLY BAD and CONCERNING...

Thoughts regarding this "compromising" agreement to take out loans and keep spending like drunken sailors?

Parents United Wants to Revise NCLB ?

What Timing...  I post regarding the Gold Std yesterday (ie MCA, AYP, NCLB, etc) and some folks from Parents United drop me an email asking me to lobby for significant changes to NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND today.  Of course being a huge advocate of NCLB and PDCA I will be deleting this, or lobbying folks to reauthorize NCLB with few or no changes.

Or maybe we should go back to the 1990's where we just trusted the Educational Establishment to take care of the kids...  Oh yeah, I forgot that that led to a very large group of students being passed through the system that were not capable of Reading, Writing or doing Math !!!!  While Educational Spending just continued to increase and Productivity was stagnant at BEST !!!  The Lucky students got more and the Unlucky students were forgotten ...

REMEMBER:
If you are not measuring something and taking aggressive action based on that result, you will probably NOT attain the GOAL.  PDCA is not OPTIONAL, it is REQUIRED to drive System Improvements.  NCLB and AYP are NECESSARY to hold the Educational Establishment ACCOUNTABLE and to force them to PRIORITIZE around the NATION's needs !!! (ie responsible young adults that can read, write, do math, know science, communicate, solve problems, etc)

Schools can not do this without good Parenting and Community Support, but the Schools must meet their obligations and focus appropriately.  Below are the letter and some related links...  What are your thoughts regarding NCLB and its reauthorization?


"Dear friends of public schools,


Congress is discussing reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation. We have been in contact with members of the Minnesota delegation encouraging them to replace the current law with policies and resources that will better serve our children and their schools.

Minnesota’s leaders are positioned to play a significant role in writing the legislation.

Congressman John Kline (R-MN 2nd District) chairs the Education Committee and Senator Al Franken is a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

We invite you to contact Congressman Kline and Senator Franken as well as your own Congressional representative.

To assist you, we have crafted a letter you may tailor, sign and send. Please help us encourage others to take action by sending a copy to Parents United for Public Schools at parentsunitedmn@gmail.com or 1667 Snelling Avenue North, St. Paul MN 55108.

Thank you."

Parents United NCLB Lobby Letter
Parents United: NCLB in MN Pg

Dept of Ed: Strengthening NCLB
G2A AYP, NCLB & PDCA
G2A No More NCLB ?
G2A NCLB and Teaching to the Test?
G2A Sir, The Class is Too HARD
G2A Why High Educational Stds are NOT OPTIONAL !!!

A Reason to End the Shutdown...

RAS MAP Results: Promising

Now I am anxious for the end of the shutdown...  I mean MAP testing is beneficial in some ways...  But the gold standard in MN are the MCA's, and usually they are published by the MN Dept of Educ about this time.  I assume we will just have to wait patiently to see how the local Districts performed this year !!!

While we wait, here are the links to some of last years posts on the topic.

Poor Kids: Stupid or Unlucky?
Just One More
A Comparison
One More Try
Data Manipulation
MCA Reporting OOPs

Minnesota Critical Services ?

Like the Energizer Bunny, the gridlock keeps going.  I find the discussions regarding "Critical Services" and "Self Funded Entities" most interesting.  Some questions that come to mind....

• Why shut down State Parks on the one week/weekend when User Fees probably exceed actual cost?
• Why the delay in keeping the Zoo open?  You are continuing to feed the animals anyway...
• Do more things become Critical the longer the State is shutdown?
• Why are Politicians given the choice regarding turning down their salary?  Shouldn't that have been one of the first things cut? 

Thoughts?

Star Tribune Same gulf divides
Star Tribune What's Open/Closed?
Star Tribune MN Zoo Open
Star Tribune More Things Critical
MinnPost Impact on Non-Profits
Forbes MN Gov't Shutdown
MinnPost Soving Shutdown
CBS News MN Shutdown Commentary

Email Etiquette

Well, I am cursed with the responsibility of creating and distributing minutes/updates and action item lists for each of my ~9 active projects.  The teams are ~7 people, the subject matter experts consist of another ~6 and the stakeholders add another ~15.  And of course there is only limited overlap, so the total number of unique names across these lists is ~177.

Of course there was always some Manager somewhere that thought their question was important enough to "Reply All".  Then of course this led to a geometric growth rate of Replies in all directions.  So I finally got smart and put a note in the email that said, "All Subject Matter Experts and Stakeholders are BCC only in order to reduce excess email responses." Not amazingly, the recipients and other Team Leads thought this was a great idea and were thankful not to hear from the one questioning Mgr...

So this article made me smile....  What do you think of politicians sending out to the State Mailing lists?  What humorous email stories do you have to share?  The cartoon at the bottom of the 2nd link is FUNNY...

Star Tribune Koch and Zeller's email

White Email Etiquette and Funny Cartoon

RAS FAC Maintains Independence?

I looked through the Financial Advisory Council's year end presentation and found it a bit anemic.  Now I have not sat in on a mtg for over a year, so I really can not speak with authority on what they have been doing.  However I do know enough to question one of their suggested next steps:

• Maintain Independence

I mean the Board seems to only pick members that are unlikely to rock their boat...  By this, I mean that I know some qualified boat rockers who are repeatedly turned down.  And I really don't see any communication from the FAC to to the Citizens, so they don't seem to be helping us understand how or what the District spends on. This is probably important considering the school closures, school renovations, potential sales, potential Magnets, Funding challenges, etc.  And almost half the attendees are Board Members and Administrators, so how can they be in anyway "independent"?

I guess I'd just say that they are a group of hand picked individuals that report directly to the Board with their thoughts regarding what is presented to them.  I am not sure if this qualifies as "independent", especially when you are in a room with School personnel.  It seems hard to believe that group think is not the rule. (G2A Group Think)  I still greatly appreciate the efforts of the citizens that do get involved, I just "independent" is a bit too strong of word.

A quick story: someone asked me to get more involved with a local Organization that has some pretty strong opinions regarding our schools.  I replied that it would be better if I stay on the fence on this one.  (ie independent)  They jokingly responded that "as long as it wasn't a picket fence..."

Speed once wrote about an Ombudsman being a good answer, but I just can't see how they would be independent if they report into the Public or the Org they are investigating... (ie FAC) Thus I will stay on my picket fence...  Anyone got a pillow?

By the way, there are also links to some interesting MAP and Enrollment presentations.

FAC Year End Report 20Jun11
Grade 3-5 MAP Analysis 20Jun11
End of Year Enrollment 20Jun11
Board Agenda 20Jun11
Board Summary 20Jun11
RAS Financial Web Page