Action Update -August 19, 2007
Expanding SCHIP Will Challenge State Finances:
A State-by-State Analysis
by Greg D’Angelo, Michelle C. Bucci, and Marcus Newland
With these enormous hits to their budgets, states would need to reduce funding for programs, such as education or transportation, or even eliminate some programs altogether.
The House and Senate recently passed bills to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) that will soon be reconciled in conference. Both bills rely on increasing the federal tobacco tax—by 45 cents in the House bill and 61 cents in the Senate bill—to fund SCHIP expansions. An increase in the federal tobacco tax would cause states to lose tobacco tax revenue and would also result in the majority of states losing out under the redistribution of SCHIP expansion funds. Furthermore, the tax hike would not provide enough revenue to fund proposed SCHIP expansions; making up the difference would require millions of new smokers. As the legislation moves to conference under the threat of veto by the President, Members of Congress should consider the negative consequences that SCHIP expansion would have on their states. <continued>
By Jamie Story, Texas Public Policy Foundation
| |
 What’s in a name? Apparently, to a government school monopoly, it’s everything.
Last month, Pittsburgh Public Schools announced the district would be dropping the word “Public” from its name in order to avoid the negative connotation often associated with public schools. A paid marketing consultant helped develop the plan, which will also result in renaming the individual schools themselves.
While a “public” outcry has caused the district to reconsider the policy, the scheme serves as a powerful reminder of the upside-down priorities of public schools—and of government monopolies in general.
It’s no wonder why Pittsburgh’s schools suffer in public perception. While the district spends more than $12,000 per student on operating expenditures alone, only 40 percent of its high school students are proficient in mathematics. District students also perform below the national average on the SAT, ACT, and Advanced Placement tests. So one would think the best way for Pittsburgh schools to improve public perception would be to increase student’s learning, not to hire expensive consultants to rebrand the schools.
The district’s policy is reminiscent of a decision made by the United States Postal Service in 2006. Faced with customer complaints about lengthy wait times, it came up with a novel “solution”—removing the clocks from post office walls. Rather than streamlining its processes to increase efficiency, the postal service merely tried to shield customers from the knowledge that they were receiving subpar service.
Government monopolies don’t have to do the hard work of competing, and they don’t have to make any substantive changes when they’re failing. Public schools and the U.S. Postal Service are perfect examples of this mindset. <continued> |
|
|
