I am running unopposed

I dropped off my nomination papers for re-election to the Select Board this morning at the Town Clerk's office. Last Friday was the deadline for taking out nomination papers. The Clerk informed me that only Robert Gauvin had taken out papers for the race. Mr. Gauvin had called me last week and said he would not be returning his papers if I was going to run. I assured him that I was. So it seems that I will not have an opponent on the ballot. Of course, there could be a write in campaign.
I intend to campaign for the office despite the lack of a declared opponent at this time. I will be putting out signs and attending any candidate functions to which I am invited.
Not having an opponent is a change in the recent history of Select Board races. Only Mr. Michaud has been returned to office among our recent Select Board incumbents and he ran in a tightly contested race.

I want to thank those rvoters who signed my nomination papers and the residents of the town for supporting me. I'll be blogging about issues and projects I would like to get accomplished during the next few years. Stay tuned.
Click here to read on!

I guess this is an example of the markets at work

I find these two posts,
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/10/chamberleaks-target-families/
and
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/10/lobbyists-chamberleaks/
startling and very disturbing.

This is an example of how corporate interests in this country are operating.
I think it should give everyone pause and I hope that our Congress will find a way to regulate or eliminate the influence that corporations have gained in elections following the Citizens United decision from our Supreme Court. The ruling in that case was ...

... that corporations have the same right of free speech as individual citizens, therefore, campaign finance laws limiting their participation were not constitutional.
I think it was a bad decision, wrongly decided. Whether our largely corporately funded representatives will do anything about it remains to be seen. Click here to read on!

Egyptian people triumph

I have been watching the events unfold in Egypt with some interest. I just read that their President, Mr. Mubarak, has resigned. WOW! I have been inspired by the courage and tenacity of the people of Egypt in rising up against over a half century of dictatorial rule.
This uprising has taken tremendous courage and shown remarkable restraint. Good luck to the people of Egypt, you have certainly earned a chance for greater democracy and freedom. I hope the future holds both for them. Click here to read on!

Health care funding in the FY2012 state budget

The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center(Mass Budget) published this paper on the health care spending portion of the Governor's budget. Essentially, the governor is level funding the health care programs which provide services for about 1.5 million of our fellow residents. I don't see how this funding level can possibly be adequate. The average increase in health care costs over the past few years is between 7 and 8% annually. Something doesn't add up. Of course, the state can try ...

... to reduce or freeze the payments to providers but the truth of the matter is the Commonwealth is not a big enough player in the market to extract those sort of concessions. Providers would chose not to accept the patients, rather than accept the new reimbursements. This is an illustration of the fecklessness of trying to control health insurance costs via a mish-mash of government subsidized programs. A single payer system for every resident of the Commonwealth would solve the problem, allowing cost control via a negotiated agreements with providers.

What do you think?
Click here to read on!

Preliminary school funding numbers

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has issued preliminary school funding numbers. A summary chart showing foundation enrollment, foundation budget, Chapter 70 aid, and required local contributions for each school district including our own can be found here.
District DARTMOUTH
Enrollment 3,964
FY12 Foundation Budget $34,643,309
FY12 Required local contribution $27,284,947
FY12 Chapter 70 aid $8,983,576
Net School Spending 36,268,523
The complete calculation spreadsheet can be downloaded as an Microsoft Excel spreadsheet from this link
Last fiscal year these figures were ...

FY11 required local contribution $26,783,708
FY11 Chapter 70 aid $8,935,606
FY11 Net School Spending $35,719,314

The end result is about a $500K increase in school spending.
Not a large increase at all, which is good and bad. Good because the town won't have a large increase to fund. Bad because the school department won't get much to work with.
What do you think?
Click here to read on!

The Governor's budget in depth

The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (Mass Budget) had previously released a quick look at the Governor's 2012 budget. They have followed up with a more in depth look that can be found at this link.
Mass Budget does a great job of tracking the budget as it moves through the appropriations process. The Governor's budget proposal has gone to the state House ...

... where it is designated, House 1. As the various budget items are considered and revised by the House, it becomes the House Ways and Means budget and then is forwarded to the state Senate for similar consideration. The Senate considers and revises the budget and then a joint budget is passed by both bodies. Finally the Governor, who has line item veto power, can markup th final and then the legislature may override his vetoes or not.
The whole process takes several months. municipalities would like the budget sooner rather than later as they must make decisions on their own budgets and state figures impact their decisions Click here to read on!

Town and school should integrate functions for savings

The Town of Barnstable has more closely integrated town and school functions in order to increase transparency, improve service and save money. This report from the Pioneer Institute gives some of the details.
I am intrigued by the concept and would like to see the Town explore the possibilities. The report lists several steps which should be taken when embarking upon a plan such as this. The steps are
1. Gauge the Political Will
2. Know the Goal and Assess the Capacity
for Change
3. Draft a Clear Plan on which All
Parties Agree
4. Implementation
5. Constant Evaluation and External Input
The Town and School Department currently duplicate some functions when it comes to managing budgets. By consolidating these functions within the Town Budget and Finance department duplication might be avoided and efficiencies might be increased.
The school department has the most employees of all the town departments by a wide margin. The school department generally does a good job with their personnel administration with one or two exceptions. In contrast, ...

...the other town department personnel functions are a mishmash. Some departments handle their own personnel functions, others rely on the Office of Budget and Finance, and some do little at all. Since the School Department does the bulk of the work now and does a better job than some Town departments, it makes sense to me that they could take over those functions for most or all other departments. Once again, there may be reduction in duplication and efficiencies that arise from such a consolidation.
This evening the Select Board, Finance Committee and School Committee willl meet jointly to discuss the upcoming budget process. I plan to raise the issue of consolidating functions in order to investigate the first step needed in this process, Gauge the political will.
What are your thoughts about such a plan? Tell us in comments. Click here to read on!

Congressman Frank will run in 2012

The recent US Census results in a loss of one of the Commonwealth's ten Congressional seats. There has been rampant speculation about how this will affect our current delegation. Congressman Frank's declaration for 2012 puts the other members on notice that he intends to run for one of the remaining nine seats.
David at Blue Mass Group has a post with Mr. Frank's statement at this link.
One thought is that one of our currently serving Congressmen will run against Scott Brown for Senate. Mr. Brown yesterday voted for repeal of the national health care reform law. That law is modeled on one here in the Commonwealth...

... that he voted to institute while state senator. Go figure. He was for it before he was against it.
In other news, Senator Brown has a substantial sack of funds left over from his last race. According to the Boston Globe, much of it from the banking industry. That sort of cash may give pause to those considering a run against him.
What do you think? Who will run against him? Can they unseat our newest Senator? Click here to read on!

Governor Patrick proposes 2012 budget

Governor Patrick has issued his 2012 budget proposal. It has been submitted to the House and will be referenced as the House 1 budget. The House will review and modify the budget and send it to the Senate for review and modifications. The two bills will be reconciled,...

... passed by both houses and then sent to the Governor. Massachusetts governors have line item veto power, so the Governor can veto some items and return the bill to the House. The House and Senate can vote to override the veto. At that point, the budget is finished.
The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center has a preliminary review of the House 1 budget at this link. Click here to read on!

School spending and achievement

Matt Yglesias has an interesting chart in this post. The chart shows that student achievement does not closely correlate with spending per student.
Obviously, there are other factors which are important. Spending is a part of the solution but is not the solution in itself.
For instance, this article in the Boston Globe caught my eye.

The sprawling Wake County School District has long been a rarity. Some of its best, most diverse schools are in the poorest sections of this capital city. And its suburban schools, rather than being exclusive enclaves, include children whose parents cannot afford a house in the neighborhood.

Not in the article but from other sources, ...

... polls show over 96% of parents in the Wake County system were happy with the education their child was receiving.
Go figure what is going on here. Click here to read on!