Thurber's Thoughts is back!

photo via Wikia.com

First, please accept my apologies for being gone from regular blog posts for so long.

While writing for Ohio Watchdog, I channeled much of my "thoughts" into those articles. When that assignment concluded at the end of 2015, I decided to take a break. However, I accepted work on another project that had absolutely nothing to do with politics.

That commitment prevented me from devoting time to my blog, but that is also concluded so...

I'm back.

And boy is there a lot to say.

We can start with everyone's favorite complaint:  potholes and the state of Toledo's roads.

For over a decade, I've been warning anyone who would listen that transferring money out of the Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) fund and into the General Fund to pay for every day expenses was a bad idea.

Eventually, I explained, we'd run out of money in the CIP and wouldn't have anything left for capital items - like roads and other expenses with a life of five years or more.

Wouldn't you know it, I was right and that mess erupted in the first part of the year when Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson and Toledo City Council decided to ask voters to approve an increase in the payroll income tax.

Fortunately, that measure went down to defeat - resoundingly.

But it hasn't solved the problem that the city doesn't have enough money for capital items because they've raided more than $110 million out of the CIP fund.

And it's not just this mayor. Every "strong" mayor had a hand in creating the problem: spending more than what they took in and spending money on non-essential items.

Want to know just how ridiculous things got?

In February 2012, Toledo City Council *discovered* they had about $1 million more in revenue than they budgeted. But they were planning to transfer nearly $12 million out of the CIP to balance the budget. So instead of reducing the amount of the transfer to $11 million, they decided to spend that $1 million extra instead.

And what did they spend it on? A new filing system for city council and a temporary employee; additional funds for demolition of houses; additional inspectors in code enforcement, even though the department said it didn't need any; an executive director to run the previously discontinued Toledo Youth Commission; and a consultant to create an Historic Preservation Plan.

The irresponsible spending continues while former Council finance committee chairman and current City Treasurer George Sarantou, Toledo City Council and the mayor try to find a way to come up with more income rather than find a way to cut spending.

You see, there's no where else they can cut.

(At least, that's the story.)

So that's how we started the year and now we're looking at a sweetheart deal for Promedica, the city and the Metroparks.

Prime waterfront property on the East Side across from The Docks has been sitting undeveloped for decades.  Various developers have come and gone and finally, Dashing Pacific Group bought it.

Their plan was to develop it with shops and housing and take advantage of the wonderful waterfront and the new road and light posts the city installed to help with development.  But they haven't done anything on it yet and the city had a clause in the sale that said it could buy back the property after five years.

And it should tell you something about Toledo when all the developers who've had a chance at this have failed to actually *develop* prime waterfront property.

We must be the only city in the entire country that can't make a go of prime waterfront property.

But back to the sweetheart deal...

The city really doesn't have the cash to buy back the property, so Promedica has agreed to purchase the property from Dashing Pacific.  They will hold it for a bit and then sell it (for the purchase price) to the Metroparks.

The Metroparks will then make this prime waterfront property a park.

Never mind that the Metroparks has two levies that property owners pay.  In fact, the most recent one in 2012 was a 10-year levy that was supposed to generate funds for developing new parks, maintaining existing ones and preventing budget cuts. How much do you want to bet that they'll need another increase when they purchase about 100 more acres and then want to make this prime waterfront property into a park area?

Something about this isn't quite right. Why does Promedica want to purchase the land only to sell it to the Metroparks?

Can't Dashing Pacific sell it to the Metroparks without a go-between?

If the city has the ability to buy back the land, why don't they do so, especially if they've got a willing buyer in the Metroparks?

Are there some restrictions with the funding sources used to clean up the property and install roads and street lamps that prevents it from going directly to another governmental entity like the Metroparks?

Inquiring minds....

And then there is the Southwyck property.  The mall sat unused for - well, no one really remembers how long because it was such a long time.  The city finally got the property from the owner, tore down the buildings and decided to market it as an open area for development.

Oh - and they borrowed money to do the demolition.

Now there is a buyer but the city is looking at a loss on the project. As one city councilman said - they didn't buy the land in order to make a profit...

But here's the thing.  They still have a loan and, according to various media reports, they (or rather you and I) are paying about $70,000 in interest every year on that loan.

So the city is going to pay off the loan with the income from the sale, right?

No - this is Toledo, so wrong!

The city isn't planning on paying off the loan but putting the money into the CIP fund. So you and I and every other taxpayer is going to continue to pay about $70,000 in interest so the city can spend that income elsewhere.

If you're wondering what they're thinking at city hall, see above story about the 2012 budget.

Sadly, this is par for the course.

So that's the start. Coming up I'll take a look at the absolutely insane Toledo ordinance that forces any company doing business with the city to have a union contract - even if they're a non-union company. Talk about forced unionization!  Here I thought it was the union's job to organize but Toledo's Project Labor Agreement ordinance actually puts the city at the bargaining table with project bidders and forces them to adopt a union contract.

That'll be a long post so I'll save it for Monday.

ICYMI - links from around the web

There's been so much going on this week that I thought an ICYMI (in case you missed it) column was in order ... so here we go:

* Did you know that school officials have an "obligation" to ensure that property taxes that fund schools are "fair"??? Nope, I didn't realize that was in their job description either. But that's exactly what a representative of school administrators and boards told an Ohio senate committee this week.

The premise is that they *must* challenge the values of properties in order to ensure that fairness, but is that really the case? As Lucas County Auditor Anita Lopez says, if that were true, wouldn't they also challenge property values that are too high? Turns out, they don't.

Read the whole thing at Ohio Watchdog

* If you were asked to describe a political action committee, would you include a group of people who get together to talk about politics? How about if one of the people in the group was a blogger? Probably not your idea of a PAC - but that's exactly what Ohio thinks is a PAC and they want a Cleveland-area blogger to register and follow all the rules associated with being a PAC - and pay the fines/fees for not already doing so.

This could have ramifications for any group in the state that discusses politics, regardless of political perspective. So the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review what it calls the "nation's strictest PAC regulations."

Read more at Ohio Watchdog

* The Farm Bill - though since it's really 80% food stamps so the name is quite misleading - is pending before Congress. Here's some really interesting information you need to know, especially since the bogus 'food stamp challenge' is back. Funny that this ridiculous challenge seems to be a regular event every time the bill is up for vote...but I digress.

Take a look at this chart. Do you really think we should borrow even more money to fund a 56% increase in spending for the Farm Bill?

* If you think George Orwell got it right in his book 1984, you should read this article about Herbert Spencer who wrote The Man Versus The State - in 1884.

There are some really terrific quotes from him and his book like:

Regulations have been made in yearly growing numbers, restraining the citizen in directions where his actions were previously unchecked, and compelling actions which previously he might perform or not as he liked; and at the same time heavier public burdens … have further restricted his freedom, by lessening that portion of his earnings which he can spend as he pleases, and augmenting the portion taken from him to be spent as public agents please.

The more numerous public instrumentalities become, the more is there generated in citizens the notion that everything is to be done for them, and nothing by them. Every generation is made less familiar with the attainment of desired ends by individual actions or private agencies; until, eventually, governmental agencies come to be thought of as the only available agencies.

and in a nod to the 'you didn't build that' meme:

It is not to the State that we owe the multitudinous useful inventions from the spade to the telephone; it is not the State which made possible extended navigation by a developed astronomy; it was not the State which made the discoveries in physics, chemistry, and the rest, which guide modern manufacturers; it was not the State which devised the machinery for producing fabrics of every kind, for transferring men and things from place to place, and for ministering in a thousand ways to our comforts. The worldwide transactions conducted in merchants' offices, the rush of traffic filling our streets, the retail distributing system which brings everything within easy reach and delivers the necessaries of life daily at our doors, are not of governmental origin. All these are results of the spontaneous activities of citizens, separate or grouped.

You might not have time to read the whole book, but this article about it will give you a good overview - and might surprise you at how predictable the move to tyranny is.

Ohio considers property tax credit for home schooling

This post went up at Ohio Watchdog yesterday:

The Christian Home Educators
of Ohio support the idea of a property
tax credit but have some concerns
about the pending legislation.

Since the beginning of the home-schooling trend, parents have noted that they pay double to educate their children — once for the education they’re providing at home and again in the property and other taxes they pay to the local school district for public education.

That double payment will stop if S.B. 127 is approved by the Ohio General Assembly.

“Home-school students are taught with no financial assistance from government,” said Sen. Kris Jordan, R-Ostrander, the bill’s sponsor. “I think that (it) is only right to allow these families to keep more of their hard-earned dollars to make up for the cost of educating their children.”

The Christian Home Educators of Ohio support the idea of a property tax credit but have some concerns about the pending legislation.

Under the terms of the legislation, a home-school parent would make application to the county auditor for a reduction equal to the school district property taxes that are levied on the parent’s home. Reductions would begin in the 2014 tax year for taxes paid in 2015.

The applications would require information necessary to establish eligibility for the reduction, but must include a certified copy of the papers filed by school district superintendent showing the qualifications of the person conducting the home schooling.

If an application is denied, the reasons must be provided and the parent may appeal the denial to the county’s board of revision.

Jay Smith, a lobbyist with the Ohio School Board Association, said the OSBA does not support the bill.

“We see public education as a benefit for society and this just siphons away money that would be used for public education,” he said. “We will definitely participate if there is opponent testimony for the bill. We usually do when there is an issue that generates money for public education.”

Smith also said there were concerns about how such a provision would actually function.

“If there was lost revenue due to a tax credit — or any bill — we’d want to see that replaced,” he said.

Melanie Elsey, the legislative liaison for the nonprofit Christian Home Educators of Ohio, said her group supports the idea of a property tax reduction, but has some concerns about how the language is constructed.

“We’re working with Sen. Jordan and the Home School Legal Defense Association to address those concerns and expect that there will be some willingness to make changes to ensure there are no unintended consequences,” she said.

The bill is pending in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Mark Stevenson left the following comment on the article:

Ohioans for Educational Freedom supports this bill. OEF is a statewide Political Action Committee for home schoolers and advocates for home school freedom in Ohio. the web site can be found at http://www.ohioansforfreedom.com

TPS decides no levy for the May ballot

I attended the Toledo Public School Board meeting last night because they were slated to vote on putting a levy on the May ballot. They chose not to do so and referred the matter back to the finance committee.

The Finance Committee held a special meeting to hear a proposal from the administration on renewing an existing 6.5 mill levy. The levy expires at the end of the year and the board will likely have it on the ballot at some point this year.

According to the discussion at the meeting last night, the committee had numerous questions about the various scenarios presented by the administration ranging from how much it would cost for the renewal to be on a special election (roughly $200,000), where the money would come from, how would they mount a campaign and who would lead it, etc...

Dr. Cecelia Adams, chair of the Finance Committee, said answers to these questions were critical in order to determine when the issue would be on the ballot.

The committee voted to recommend placing the renewal on the May ballot, but last night, Dr. Adams changed her support of that approach and did not make a motion to go forward on the May election.

Bob Vasquez, the other member of the Finance Committee made the motion to place the renewal on the May ballot. It died for a lack of a second. The matter was then referred back to the Finance Committee.

Lisa Sobecki expressed concern and dissatisfaction that the matter was brought to the board "at the 11th hour." The deadline for placing issues on the May ballot is Feb. 8.

She questioned the lack of a plan for getting the levy passed, especially in light of early voting which would begin in April, leaving the board only the months of February and March to plan a strategy, raise the money and convince voters of the need for the renewal.

Vasquez was not happy over the lack of a second to his motion and told the board as much. He then spoke at length in favor of putting the measure on the ballot, including questioning Treasurer Matt Cleland on the amount of "sacrifices" employees had made in prior contract negotiations and addressing TPS union representatives directly.

Board member Larry Sykes raised a point of order and said Vasquez had gone too far, but it was unclear if he was referring to the discussion without a pending motion on the floor or to Vasquez directly addressing the union reps about the upcoming contract negotiations.

Several board members mentioned that this renewal levy is included in the district's five-year budget plan so they definitely need the money to be approved. Their options now are to place the measure on the special election in August or wait until the general election in November.

If it's on the August ballot, it will still cost $200,000, but only $50,000 for the board's share of the November election. However, if the measure is on November's ballot and is defeated, there is no other chance to bring it before the voters. That was one of Vasquez's points for May - having both August and November for additional chances at passage.

Based upon the discussion, I would expect the administration to put together a plan for funding the renewal levy and for it to be on the August ballot - and then again on the November ballot if it doesn't pass at the special election.

Help TPS make the right choice on a performance audit

The Toledo Public School board is making a lot of noise about doing a performance audit... finally!

In May I suggested they do a performance audit PRIOR to putting a new or increased tax levy on the ballot.

My thinking was, as usual, very logical: do a performance audit and, based upon the recommendations, see whether or not TPS even *needs* more money. Many school systems in the state saw significant yearly savings, in addition to millions in one-time savings, when they implemented the recommendations from an Auditor of State performance audit review.

Had TPS started in May to pursue this approach, they would be near the completion of the audit and would have a better understanding of any financial needs going forward. They also would have had valid justification for any requested increase in taxes and they could have put that request on the ballot in 2013.

It is critical to note that they also had an $11.22 million carryover so they weren't facing any emergency in terms of funding nor did they need to make cuts in spending in this school year.

Of course, their last financial audit was proof enough that they don't handle public monies well (see here, here and here - yes, it took three very long posts to share the miserable report), so a performance audit and a commitment to implement the recommendations would have gone a long way to regaining public trust.

But they didn't do that. They pushed forward with a 4.9 mill levy because they wanted "a cushion" so they wouldn't have to "start cutting."

But their levy lost.

So, like they did in 2010 after the failure of levy requests at both the primary and general election, they're again talking about doing a performance audit. But they're going to need your help to get it right.

You see, they're not looking at a State Auditor performance audit - they're pursuing a contract with the Council of Great City Schools, an organization of public schools devoted to promoting urban education.

Not only are they turning to a group that they pay dues to, they're going to compare their performance with other large public school districts. Of course, there's nothing to say that the other public school systems are being run effectively, efficiently or at the least cost to taxpayers, so what is the point of comparing TPS practices to them?!?

The basic difference between using CGCS and the state auditor is that one promotes the interests of public schools and the other promotes the interests of the taxpayers.

Who do you really think will do a better job of evaluating every aspect of TPS operations?

Several other points to remember:

* the cost for either organization is basically the same, but the State Auditor offers payment options and financial assistance; the CGSC does not.

* CGCS has no experience doing comprehensive audits - they focus primarily on educational aspects and outcomes, not on such things as alternative options for costs.

* CGCS is not an 'independent' organization - they are a biased group to which TPS belongs.

So who and what is the Council of Great City Schools? Let's take a look.

"The philosophy of the classroom today will be the philosophy of government tomorrow." ~ Abraham Lincoln

This is their mission:

It is the special mission of America’s urban public schools to educate the nation’s most diverse student body to the highest academic standards and prepare them to contribute to our democracy and the global community.

That should stop TPS right there.

We are a REPUBLIC! We are not a democracy. The fact that this organization - devoted to educating our youth - doesn't understand that basic concept should disqualify them right out of the gate!

COMMON CORE

They support and promote the Common Core State Standards.

I've not completed my research on Common Core, but everything I'm reading so far makes me want to run away from it - screaming.

Basically, Common Core is a national set of educational standards mandated by the federal government and pushed to the local level. It removes local control over multiple aspects of education and dictates what students will learn and how.

It also appears to be very costly in terms of implementation and on-going costs - about $16 billion or so. (Just the thing we need for TPS: more costs to be paid by increased property tax levies.)

You've probably not heard much about Common Core, so a good place to start is American Principles in Action and their five part video on the subject.

Heritage Foundation has a short video that explains how these standards will trump local control and what parents and teachers believe is in the best interest of the children.



Additionally, here are some bullet points about Common Core - from Truth in American Education:

* requires transferring, to the federal government, decisions about educational content and standards and removing such decisions from parents, local districts and even states. Education is supposed to be a state issue, not a federal one.

* local districts must provide the funds for implementation, including for technology, equipment, network capacity, new books and materials and related personnel. The implementation costs are exorbitant - and there is no discussion about the ability of local districts to pay for these additional costs.

* adopting the non-public domain, privately owned copyrighted Common Core State Standards means that everyone must comply 100%. Basically, it's all or nothing though states can add their own standards, so long as those standards are 15% or less of the requirements. Talk about conforming to the lowest common denominator.

* assessment testing will "include annual multiple administration of standardized tests to students that, as the Department of Education notes, “could replace already existing tests, such as interim assessments that are in common use in many classrooms today.”

* will "increase the frequency of standardized tests, diminish the importance of traditional classroom tests, and further marginalize the role of parents and teachers."

Who is writing these standards and curriculum? "Linda Darling-Hammond, a radical left-wing educator and close colleague of William “Bill” Ayers, the former leader of the communist terrorist Weather Underground who became a professor of education and friend of Obama’s."

As Mary Grabar summarizes:

Common Core is part of an effort to implement regionalism, the replacement of local governments by regional boards of federally appointed bureaucrats, who in turn are beholden to international bodies. Regionalism will eliminate the freedom parents now have in choosing neighborhoods with good schools because tax funds will be distributed equally. There will be no escape in home schooling or private schools either, because the curriculum will follow national tests. Students will be tracked through mandatory state records that will then be accessible to Washington bureaucrats. Ultimately, all students will be subject to education mandates implemented by Obama’s radical cronies.

Grabar also wrote:

Although its proponents claim that Common Core increases academic rigor, education professor Sandra Stotsky — a major force behind Massachusetts’ previously high standards — refused to sign off on Common Core, referring to its “empty skill sets.” Others have noted the emphasis on the lowering of standards that is necessary for the goal of “closing the achievement gap.”

In my recent report, I added to the discussion by looking at some of the Common Core lessons now being peddled by school districts and freelance Common Core entrepreneurs. Among these materials was a horrendous “Common Core-compliant” book titled Master of Deceit: J. Edgar Hoover and America in the Age of Lies by professor Marc Aronson. Extremely manipulative, historically inaccurate, and age-inappropriate for middle school students, Aronson’s book is a continuation of the Soviet disinformation campaign of diverting attention about the communist threat to J. Edgar Hoover’s alleged homosexuality. Sadly, it is these kinds of materials – tracts that meet the new focus on “informational text” — that school districts are now forced to buy. Teachers, professors, and freelance writers who had previously resisted standards now see a bonanza, as schools replace traditional literary works with books about such subjects as diamonds, snakes, New York City gangs, public artists, and yes, Justin Bieber.

Common Core sounds good on the surface: every school teaches the exact same thing to every child. As I was beginning my research on the issue, I reached out to several blogger friends who have experience in the area. Recognizing just how bad Common Core is, Michelle Malkin responded, "This is my number one policy issue for the next year."

You'll hear more about this, I'm sure, especially since Ohio has signed on to the program. There is still time to stop it. But back to CGCS and TPS:

Do you really think that a group dedicated to promoting Common Core Standards is going to ignore them in doing a performance audit and making recommendations about what TPS should do?

I don't. In fact, since that is one of CGCS's core missions, I expect it will be the primary focus of any audit they may do.

PERFORMANCE AUDIT MEASUREMENTS

CGCS has several research publications that look at various performance measurements. It's called the Performance Measurement and Benchmarking Project.

This year's report includes data from 61 of the Council's 67-member districts (91 percent) and provides a fully tested set of Power Indicators that superintendents and school boards can use to assess the overall performance of their district's business operations. It also provides a set of what we call Essential Few Measures that, along with the Power Indicators, can be used by chief executives to assess the performance of individual departments and operations.

Note the wording: "indicators that superintendents and school boards can use to assess ... their business operations."

If they already provide these measurement for free (report is downloadable to anyone), why would we pay them anything at all?

Why doesn't the board just direct the staff to apply the indicators to current practices and get their own assessment?

And if these reports and indicators have been available from CGCS since 2009, why hasn't TPS already used them to evaluate their operations???

Of course, as I mentioned earlier, this is just comparing TPS to other large districts. It will only tell us how TPS stands in relation to such districts as Atlanta, Washington DC, New York, New Orleans and Detroit. Are these schools districts indicative of the performance we want from TPS?

Additionally, any so-called audit by CGCS won't tell us how to use existing and limited dollars to best educate our kids.

Do you think they will even touch on union contract terms?

BOTTOM LINE

TPS needs to contract with the Auditor of State for their performance audit. You need to contact all the school board members and demand this of them. They are your employees - they work for you. You get to direct them and their actions, not the other way around.

Here is the contact page. Go there now and send all board members an email and tell then you want an unbiased, objective, taxpayer focused performance audit done by the Auditor of State.

Let me repeat that:

Here is the contact page. Go there now and send all board members an email and tell then you want an unbiased, objective, taxpayer focused performance audit done by the Auditor of State.

Keep contacting them, either by email or phone calls (419-671-8200) until you get the answer you want.

The only way to get them to do a meaningful performance audit is to bring enough public pressure to bear so that they will make the right decision. They've already lost one levy and they have another up for renewal next year. They threaten us with loss of educational opportunities for our kids when they want more money - threaten them with active opposition to their existing funding if they don't comply.

Then, after they agree that a state performance audit is the right way to go, hold their feet to the fire to implement the recommendations.

As Lisa Sobecki asked:

“Once it's done and we made that investment, is the board going to have the will to actually enact what was put forward in the performance audit?”

They will if we make them.

2012 Election Reflections Part 2: what went right

Yesterday I covered Part 1, What Went Wrong, of my three-part speech to the Fallen Timbers Republican Club. Today is Part 2: what went right. Tomorrow is Part 3: Where do we go from here?


On a national level, Michelle Malkin had a great list of things that went right for Republicans and conservatives on election. There's no need to re-invent the wheel, so here are a few of the items she listed:

1) Republicans retained control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
2) Voters in Alabama, Montana, and Wyoming all passed measures limiting Obamacare.
3) Tea Party candidate Ted Cruz, one of the conservative movement’s brightest rising stars, overcame establishment GOP opposition to clinch a U.S. Senate victory in Texas.
4) Despite entrenched teachers’ union opposition, a charter school initiative in Washington state triumphed.
5) Despite entrenched Big Labor support, a radical collective bargaining power grab in Michigan failed.
6) North Carolina Republicans claimed the governor’s office, congressional gains, and control of the state’s general assembly.
7) Paul Ryan will return to Congress after winning re-election and continue to carry the torch for entitlement reform and budget discipline.
8) Across the country, Republicans reached a post-2000 record number of gubernatorial victories. In fact, we now hold 60% of state governorships.

Another important things to note is that Obama got fewer votes than he did in 2008 (as of the time of the speech). We should also be aware that the ‘obstructionist’ House of Representatives is still in Republican control, even after opposing Obamacare, tax hikes and additional spending. This is a major win and it carries a message that even if Americans want Obama to remain president, they still want Republicans to oppose many of the terrible ideas Obama has put forth.

And, as Malkin wrote, "Conservatives who were devastated by the national election results demonstrated how to lose with dignity and grace."

In Ohio, State Issue 2 was defeated and we maintained control of state government.

LOCALLY:

1) TPS new levy failed – though they have another levy due for renewal next year and they may do what many did this year which is make it a renewal and an additional tax at the same time. But it only lost by 4,241 votes - not as much as it should have.

2) Toledo Parks and Recreation levy failed – not so much due to any organized opposition or understanding of the financial implications but primarily because Mike Bell gave pay raises to his administrators. The margin was 8,500 votes.

3) Imagination Station – after being voted down 3 times, they finally succeeded in getting a levy passed. This was a straight renewal and it lost by 2,075 votes – though they hope that provisional and late absentee ballots will make up the difference.

4) The Northwest Ohio Conservative Coalition took a strong stand and opposed the seven levies on the Toledo ballot. They also had significant wins in terms of equal access, setting the stage for the future. You can read the details here and here.

5) Individuals were the big winners – they took the initiative and didn’t rely upon the party to lead. They've moved from protesters to activists and that bodes well for our future and represents the truest demonstration of our conservative ideals.

Next: Part 3: Where do we go from here?

2012 Election Reflections Part 1: what went wrong

The title of my speech last night to the Fallen Timbers Republican Club was "What went wrong, what went right and where do we go from here." It was a look at national and local elections, as well as a to-do list for the future.

I was asked to post it here, but it's very long, so I'm splitting it into three individual posts.

Here is the first: What went wrong.

Nationally:

The candidate:

Mitt Romney is a very good man and I believe he would have made a good president - certainly better than our current one. I voted for him, but, like many others, he was not my first choice. As a result, I wasn't as enthusiastic in my support and that lack of enthusiasm FOR the candidate was clearly evident throughout our area. Most people were voting AGAINST Pres. Obama. But that's not enough to win.

John Ransom wrote: “When running an election campaign it is often valuable to select a nominee who represents the rank and file of the Party. This is how other Parties do it. Perhaps you might get on board.”

Look at our candidates: George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, George W. Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney. As much as we might have *liked* these men, they do not reflect the conservative principles of our party. Need I say more?

Polls continue to show that roughly 60% of Americans oppose Obamacare. We nominated a person who had no standing to oppose that issue. Certainly, I understand the difference between a governor and state legislature creating such a mandate and program and I believe that Romney was sincere in saying that the federal government had no such authority. But that's a complicated issue (at least to some people) and is not easy to explain to an electorate who doesn't understand the difference in authority between the states and the federal government. Therefore, it was a losing position - and a major issue that might have brought people into the R column was sacrificed for a candidate too many insiders claimed was the 'most electable.'

In fact, for just about every bad Obama policy, there was a similar Romney policy out of Massachusetts. That's a huge obstacle to try to overcome.

Do you remember how much Romney was preferred by the press? Some thought that if the press liked him in the primary competition, they would be kinder to him in the general. WRONG! In fact, this is so wrong I'd like to shake whoever even remotely thinks this might possibly apply.

Romney - just like other Republicans was excoriated by same press that supposedly thought he was the best in the Republican field. They ALWAYS do this and we should ignore their praise and expect their contempt for whomever we choose. Additionally, since we know that whomever we nominate will be crucified by the press, we should nominate the candidate who best reflects our values, rather than try to cater to their professed preferences.

Romney was demonized as an evil person long before winning the primary and then didn’t hit back hard enough after the primary. He was behind when he was nominated and never caught up in this regard.

The complicity of the press:

Rich Noyes wrote a great column that gives the details about how the press basically elected Obama. Here are some excerpts with my comments intermixed:

1) Media hammered Romney with their Gaffe Patrol - but ignored similar gaffes by Obama and, must we even mention, Biden:

The media unfairly jumped on inconsequential mistakes — or even invented controversies — from Romney and hyped them in to multi-day media “earthquakes.”

“…when the left-wing Mother Jones magazine in September put out a secretly-recorded video of Romney talking to donors about the 47% of Americans who don’t pay income taxes, the networks hyped it like a sensational sex scandal. Over three days, the broadcast network morning and evening shows churned out 42 stories on the tape, nearly 90 minutes of coverage. The tone was hyperbolic; ABC’s "Good Morning America" called it a “bombshell rocking the Mitt Romney campaign,” while ABC "World News" anchor Diane Sawyer declared it a “political earthquake.”

None of Obama’s gaffes garnered that level of coverage. After the president in a June 8 press conference declared that “the private sector is doing fine,” the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts gave it just one night’s coverage, then basically dropped the story — nothing further on ABC’s "World News" or the "CBS Evening News" in the weeks that followed, and just two passing references on the "NBC Nightly News."

And, when Obama infamously declared, “You didn’t build that,” ABC, CBS, NBC didn’t report the politically damaging remark for four days — and then only after Romney made it the centerpiece of a campaign speech.

2) Partisan Fact Checking: There’s nothing wrong with holding politicians accountable for the honesty of their TV ads and stump speeches, but this year the self-appointed media fact-checkers attacked Republicans as liars for statements that were accurate. Check out Ohio Watchdog’s Politifact or Fiction series and MediaTrackers work on exposing Politifact – and note that most newspapers in Ohio use them as the truth meter when reporting.

3) The Benghazi Blackout:

Right after the September 11 attack in Libya, the networks proclaimed that the events would bolster President Obama — “reminding voters of his power as commander-in-chief,” as NBC’s Peter Alexander stated on the September 14 edition of "Today." But as a cascade of leaked information erased the portrait of Obama as a heroic commander, the broadcast networks shunted the Benghazi story to the sidelines.

Instead of an “October Surprise,” the networks engineered an “October Suppression” — keeping a lid on the boiling Benghazi story until Election Day. Who knows how voters might have reacted if the media had covered this story as tenaciously as they did Romney’s “47% gaffe”?

4) Burying the Bad Economy:

Pundits agreed that Obama’s weakness was the failure of the US economy to revive after his expensive stimulus and four years of $1 trillion deficits. But the major networks failed to offer the sustained, aggressive coverage of the economy that incumbent Republican President George H.W. Bush faced in 1992, or even that George W. Bush faced in 2004 — both years when the national economy was in better shape than it is now.

According to a study conducted that year by the Center for Media and Public Affairs, from January through September of 1992, the networks ran a whopping 1,289 stories on the economy, 88% of which painted it in a dismal, negative light. That fall, the unemployment rate was 7.6%, lower than today’s 7.9%, and economic growth in the third quarter was 2.7%, better than today’s 2.0%. Yet the media coverage hammered the idea of a terrible economy, and Bush lost re-election.

In 2004, the economy under George W. Bush was far better than it is today — higher growth, lower unemployment, smaller deficits and cheaper gasoline — yet network coverage that year was twice as hostile to Bush than it was towards Obama this year, according to a study by the Media Research Center’s Business and Media Institute.

When Republican presidents have faced reelection, network reporters made sure to spotlight economic “victims” — the homeless man, the woman without health insurance, the unemployed worker, the senior citizen who had to choose between medicine and food. But this year, with an economy as bad as any since the Great Depression, those sympathetic anecdotes have vanished from the airwaves — a huge favor to Obama and the Democrats.

Given Obama’s record, the Romney campaign could have overcome much of this media favoritism and still prevailed — indeed, they almost did. But taken together, these five trends took the media’s historical bias to new levels this year, and saved Obama’s presidency in the process.

The Ground Game:

Obama had a terrific ground game, not as good as in 2008, but still better than what we had. I gathered these numbers Wednesday morning…here is Obama’s margin in key states:

107,339 votes in Virginia
100,763 votes in Ohio
47,493 votes in Florida
111,094 votes in Colorado
66,379 votes in Nevada

Total: 433,068

So for less than 500,000 votes where it counted, Romney could have had 281 electoral votes Wednesday morning.

In Ohio, if Republicans had turned out like they did in 2008, Romney would have ended up with 2,786,327. Obama earned 2,725,165 votes this year. That would have resulted in 50.55% for Romney vs. 49.45% for Obama.

Many are claiming that it's our positions that resulted in our loss. I reject that completely. John Ransom also wrote:

The Democrats aren’t beating Republicans by virtue of ideology so much as by mechanics and logistics. Simply put, the models that the GOP relies upon, including those relied upon by myself, have failed to adequately account for this. Again, it makes no difference in a wave election, but we pay dearly for it in close contests.

The grassroots on the other side has spent ten years in community organizing, going door-to-door, creating coalitions of issues-driven, ideologically-funded third party groups that can do a lot of heavily lifting for GOTV. The GOP on the other hand has eschewed groups like the tea parties, seeing the grass roots as a hindrance to our chances at being the cool kids at school.

You saw it in the results on Tuesday.

The progressive activists worked for it, while GOP worked their top-down magic and expected to ride the wave.

Obama had a machine. Like Democrats have practiced and the GOP has failed to learn: this is a never-ending war and an election is only one battle. This it applies to everyone, including minorities.

John Fund wrote:

The fact is that the Machine played for keeps, while Mitt Romney — the quintessential corporate Manager — didn't.

The turnout operation it ran in the swing states and elsewhere spilled over into Senate races. Republicans won only eight of the 33 Senate races up for grabs on Tuesday, the fewest number of Senate races won by a major party since the Lyndon Johnson landslide over Barry Goldwater in 1964. If had not been for skillful redistricting, Republicans could have come close to losing the House.

The battle for Hispanic voters saw Romney and Republicans routed. John McCain won only 31 percent of Hispanics in 2008 — down from George W. Bush’s high-water mark of 43 percent in 2004. Mitt Romney won only 27 percent this election, and Hispanics were a tenth of the electorate.

Romney did just as badly with Asian voters, who were 3 percent of all voters. As recently as 1996, Bob Dole won a majority of Asian voters, John McCain still won 35 percent in 2008. But this year, Mitt Romney picked up only 26 percent of Asian-Americans.

Class warfare works:

Kevin Williamson had a great comment that I loved: "It may not be possible to be too thin, but it is, apparently, possible to be too rich, at least for an electorate that can be swayed by envy." 


Rush Limbaugh said on his show that 'you can’t run against Santa Claus.' He was right - it's hard to run against someone who will promise you everything on your wish list, especially when your message is ‘you just have to work for it.’

But even that shouldn't be a winning message because as much as people may believe in the spirit of Santa Claus, we all know that they're isn't an army of elves at the North Pole magically creating all the items on our wish list.

Women:

This election was a huge loss for women and it revealed the hypocrisy of the Democrats. For all the talk coming from the left about empowering women and the feminist movement, in this election the Democrats and the media reduced women to nothing more than sex objects. Sadly, too many women believed that they are nothing but their ‘lady parts’ choosing ‘free’ contraception and abortion over the true women’s issues of jobs, high gas prices, high food prices and their children’s futures.

There have been numerous instances of so-called feminists ignoring true issues of discrimination and degradation in favor of a political position (think Bill Clinton as the most recognizable). I believe history will look back on this election and note that this was when the feminist movement died.

This wasn't just a loss for our party in that we couldn't expose this mockery for what it was. This was a huge setback for women today and our daughters tomorrow because the left embraced it - and we allowed it.

What went wrong on a local level:

* We had no local spokesman for the Romney campaign – or for any other state-wide candidate or issue. As a result, there was no one in Lucas County offering a rebuttal to charges made against our candidates or speaking in favor of their positions and strengths. They say that all politics is local and this was a detriment to our community and made it appear to supporters that our area had been 'written off.'

The problem is that, in close elections, no area can be ignored, because a thousand more votes each of the 'ignored' areas could have made a difference overall.

* Jon Stainbrook – absent from everything except comments to The Blade. Did the Lucas County Republican Party even take a position on the seven tax levies on the ballot? If they did, I didn't hear about it and I'm a news junkie.

(Interestingly, when I asked this question of the members of a REPUBLICAN CLUB, even THEY didn't know.)

* Our candidates - most were just place holders who didn't bother to put together positions or plans for the offices they were seeking - or even campaign for votes.

The few candidates with potential didn’t get the help they needed in funds, support, advice, strategy or publicity.

One of our candidates was in a race he shouldn’t have been in and, because of his previous votes and positions, failed to get the support of conservatives. Other voters thought he was just looking for another public position due to being term limited. Even with his name recognition and likability, he suffered from a lack of support that a robust county political party would have provided.

* Lack of experience – there were no individuals with a proven record of winning elections who were helping or guiding the strategy on a local level. Stainbrook has pushed away - and even banned - former elected officials who have valuable insight and perspectives that would have helped our candidates.

This is a failure of our party chairman who should be able to put aside his personal dislikes of individuals in order to advance the election of our candidates.

* Lack of information – too few realized what the levies would do to their pocketbooks or the economy in the county. Opposition, valiant though it was, was too late to be effective. If we had a strong party advancing the conservative principles of limited government and lower taxation, the information about the fiscal impact of more than $45 million in new taxes might have received more publicity.

Because of these things that went wrong, taxes in Lucas County are going up:

1) MetroParks levy – a 300% increase over what they had before passed by just under 19,000 votes.

2) Children Services board levy – an 85% increase over their previous levy passed by just over 18,000 votes – despite having 2 levies for funding and over $13 million in their reserve.

3) Mental Health & Recovery Services levy – a new, 10-year levy giving them a 67% increase over the funding in their existing levy, passed by 3,650 votes.

4) The Library levy – a 45% increase in funding passed by just under 60,000 votes. Primarily due to deceptive advertising: by making it a renewal and an additional tax at the same time, they could claim 50% of their funding was at stake. Most people didn’t realize it was an increase on top of their existing levy. Voters were given a lose-lose choice: give the library more or nothing at all - and people love their library.

While there are other items you might be able to point to as things that went wrong, these are a good start in evaluating the 2012 election.

But as important as it is to evaluate the mistakes, it is equally important to note the successes. My next post will be 'what went right.' Post 3 will be 'where do we go from here?'

The sweet deals that fund the Library and TPS levy campaigns

This is the first post taking a look at the sources of campaign funding for various property tax levy requests that are on the Nov. 6th ballot.


I previously documented donations to the 2010 Toledo Public Schools levies (here and here) and found that, unlike my expectations, businesses, not unions, were the major contributors.

Businesses, most of which are vendors of the school system (direct recipients of the tax dollars they seek to raise) and many which will never pay the tax themselves because of where they are located, want you to pay more so they can have access to the additional funds TPS will have to spend.

This year is no different.

Of the $53,196.95 raised and reported on the Committee for Schools pre-general campaign finance report, 60 percent comes from vendors of the school district.

When you think about it, it makes sense. If the school district has more money, it can pay these companies for more things. Unions have donated $12,000 through Oct. 17, the last day of the reporting period.

The largest contributor is the district’s law firm, Marshall & Melhorn, who gave the campaign $10,000. Four attorneys with the firm, including three who have represented TPS, each gave $500. That’s not bad considering that TPS has paid them $243,823.47 through September this year, according to documents on the TPS website.

Other large contributors included ProMedica, Buckeye Telesystems, Rice Securities and Squire Sanders, along with construction firms handling the school building program.

What is missing, so far, is a donation from the Toledo Federation of Teachers, the union representing teachers in the district.

Another interesting fact about the Committee for Schools report is the amount of donations coming from outside the city of Toledo. Nearly 52 percent comes from people who do not have a Toledo address on the campaign finance report.

They’re not going to pay the proposed tax, but they’re helping to pass a levy so others will.

What a deal!

But what about the library?

The Toledo-Lucas County Public Library has a sweet little system set up.

Their pre-general campaign finance report shows they've raised over $200,000 for this levy campaign. Added to the funds they carried over from their last levy, they have over a quarter of a million dollars to spend trying to convince you to give them a 45% raise in their income.

What's the sweet set-up used to raise that money?

They have a non-profit Library Legacy Foundation which lists such donors as the City of Toledo, the City of Maumee and Lucas County, along with individuals and businesses. This non-profit Foundation made a $40,000 donation to the levy committee.

Vendors also contributed, as did a few individuals, but the largest donations came from the individual branch Friends of the Library organizations.

Friends of the Library is a nonprofit organization that encourages, promotes and supports the ongoing development and use of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library. Friends of the Library offer support for:

* Brown Bag Concerts
* Authors! Authors!
* Summer Reading Club Programs
* Local branch activities
* Levy Campaigns

Each branch has their own group and they raise money for the organizations through memberships and book sales.

Since they're non-profits, their financials are not public records available for inspection, but they must be doing well for them to contribute $104,000 to the levy campaign.

Sanger Branch FOL donated a whopping $30,000. Kent Branch made two donations of $600 each, but the second $600 check had to be returned due to insufficient funds.

This means that the Kent Branch FOL zeroed out their account to help raise your taxes, instead of saving that money for local branch activities and their summer reading club.

Many people belong to the Friends of the Library chapters because they believe it's a way to help supplement the individual branch activities and provide funds - above and beyond the public funding the library gets - for library purposes. Do you think every FOL member realizes that their contributions are used to help raise their property tax bill?

I would love to compare the amount of money spent on the levy versus the amount of money spent on actual services or items for the branches, but since these are non-profits, their books are not public records.

That's not all. Online purchases also go to support raising your taxes. The library transferred $50,000 from an "Internet Sales Account" to the levy campaign.

All together, 93% of the money raised for this levy came from the non-profit organizations established by the library.

I can't help but wonder: Why don't they use that money and their fundraising techniques for the library instead of for a levy campaign? If they did, maybe they wouldn't need a 45% increase in income.



Tomorrow: Imagination Station and Toledo Parks and Recreation levies

Aquatic facilities - just what Toledo needs (NOT!)

First we're told that the City of Toledo just doesn't have enough money to cover the costs of the parks and recreation, so we must have a brand new, 10-year 1 mill levy, despite the fact that the city budgets $900,000 a year for parks and they promised that revenue from additional red-light cameras would go to parks.

Then, we're told that the city is going to have a $900,000 carry-over so there is plenty of money for Mayor Mike Bell to give raises totaling $295,000 (not counting benefits and taxes) to 55 of his administrators.

Now we learn that the city wants to build a water park - if their levy, Issue 5, passes.

So much for not having enough money to handle current expenses.

Here is the press notice for today:

Mayor, Council members announce plan for aquatic facilities

Funding for proposal would be contingent on passage of Issue 5

Toledo Mayor Mike Bell and members of Toledo City Council will announce a proposal for city aquatic facilities at a press conference at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 30. The proposal would include a centralized water park featuring waterfalls and slides as well as a secondary facility for senior aquatic activities, to be located at on of the city’s existing senior centers. Funding for the proposal in the capital budget would be contingent on the passage of Issue 5 on the November ballot.

We already have plenty of aquatic facilities in the YMCAs and the Boys and Girls Club. And what about the Master Plan the city is spending $25,000 in a no-bid contract to develop? How can they announce a water park without first having the master plan?

Clearly this is meant to convince seniors they need to raise their taxes by saying yes to the levy, otherwise, why announce a possibility?

Toledo has decimated the Capital Improvements Plan Fund (CIP) to the tune of $50 million, depriving residents of needed funds to handle road improvements and other infrastructure needs. The 2012 budget called for stealing another $12 million from the CIP. This is all to cover yearly costs that are considerably more than income.

Rather than cut out unnecessary spending (it's ALL necessary, don't you know), they decided to ask for even more money - raising taxes on the poor and middle class.

And this parks and rec levy isn't the end. Since the levy is for ADDITIONAL items, not just to sustain existing ones (hello water park), there will be additional costs in the future to maintain all the new things they want to do - just like with the MetroParks. Can you say "stuck on stupid"?

But pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...these are not the droids you're looking for...let us bribe you into passing a brand new tax to 'improve your quality of life.'

As I've said before, my quality of life would be much better if they'd stop taking money from me to improve my quality of life.

Don't be fooled by this. Say NO to Issue 5 - and the other six levies that are on the ballot.

Maybe Mayor Bell doesn't want the new parks and recreation levy to pass

Perhaps Toledo Mayor Mike Bell doesn't want the new, 10-year parks and recreation levy to pass after all. If he did, why would he jeopardize the plea for a new property tax by proving the city doesn't really need the money after all?

How did he prove it?

He just gave raises to 55 of his administrators - and they total $295,000 a year!

If the city has the money to give raises of nearly a third of a million dollars, surely they don't need any more tax money from us to pay for parks and recreation - right?

And this is after Toledo City Council refused to increase the pay ranges of many of these same employee, claiming there was no need to increase the range when the individuals holding the jobs were not at the top of the existing range. At that time, Bell told council he wasn't going to be giving wholesale pay increases.

Apparently, he changed his mind. The Blade reports:

The raises include all three deputy mayors — Steve Herwat and Shirley Green, whose salaries increase from $90,002 to $92,500, and Paul Syring, whose salary increases from $85,001 to $92,500.

Not surprisingly, he blames Council for not following his lead to "comprehensively update Executive Exempt pay ranges."

The worst part is Democrat Joe McNamara's response, as reported by the paper:

Council President Joe McNamara said the mayor should concentrate on raising the “economic positions” of Toledo’s residents. The increases will cost the city $62,000 through Dec. 31.

“I think the tone of the mayor’s letter is out of touch with the lives of most Toledoans who would be thrilled to be making $92,500,” he said. “He has the authority to do it. The fact that he did it shows one of the reasons why council was so concerned about giving the latitude to do 20 percent [pay-range increases], because he pretty much maxed out everybody.”

Really? If McNamara was so worried about "raising the 'economic positions' of Toledo's residents," why did he vote to put a brand new, 10-year property tax levy on the ballot?!?

That's not going to do anything but bring DOWN the economic position of Toledo's residents.

Hypocrisy thy name is Joe McNamara!

Then there is Republican George Sarantou, chairman of the council finance committee:

Councilman George Sarantou said the Bell administration has a plan to pay for the increases this year.

“They said this has already been budgeted by virtue of the fact that it was announced [Tuesday] that they are expecting a $900,000 surplus that they will carry over to 2013,” Mr. Sarantou.

Now the city has a budget surplus? I thought they had no money to pay for parks and recreation?!?

And how did we get this surplus? Did we NOT raid the CIP fund as they planned? Did they repay the advance they took on the CIP when the casino didn't open in time?

Have they thought that maybe reimbursing the $50 million or so they previously raided from the CIP might be a bigger priority to citizens than "valuing" administrators that have better pensions, vacation time, holidays and pay than they do?

This definitely earns a "stuck-on-stupid" designation!

This is insanity and just proves that no matter how much money you give to politicians, they will spend it and continue to ask for more.

Vote NO on Toledo Issue 5!

Township officials urge 'NO' on all county levies

Here is a copy of the letter that 14 elected officials in eight of Lucas County's 11 townships have signed. I think the letter says it all, especially this point:

We believe one questions must be asked by the Commissioners prior to putting any levy on the ballot, and each individual voter prior to casting their vote on a property tax levy: “Is this levy so important that someone should lose their home if they cannot afford to pay it?”

I think this also applies to city and school levies, too. Did Toledo City Council ask themselves this question before they decided they just had to have a brand new tax levy for recreation in the city?

You might not have your home, but you can have 'recreation' ... what a bargain!

Did Toledo Public School board members ask themselves this question before they decided they just had to have a brand new tax levy - on top of their multiple other levies - for a school system that has a budget carryover and health care savings that total a couple of million dollars MORE than the levy will give them in the next year?!?

As if more money will reverse their five-year trend of spending more than take in or help Pickett Elementary which has been in academic emergency for 12 years!


Here is the letter:

We, the undersigned Elected Officials in Lucas County do hereby state:

1) We believe our County Representatives are not acting like responsible leaders in placing numerous levies on the ballot.

2) We believe that the residents in our jurisdictions are becoming overburdened by the numerous “quality of life” levies that are already included in their property tax bills.

3) We believe that by placing these numerous “quality of life” levies on the ballot, the Lucas County Commissioners are jeopardizing our chances of getting any future levies passed for essential services such as Roads, Police, Fire and Schools.

4) We do not want to see our residents become financially burdened by their property taxes and potentially face losing their homes if they become unable to pay.

5) We believe that all of the levy requests that will be on the November Ballot are not “needs” for our community, but “wants” by these organizations.

6) We believe that it is irresponsible for our County Officials to allow the “wants” of these various organizations to become such a burden to the property owners of Lucas County that they can no longer afford to pay for the “needs”.

7) We believe one questions must be asked by the Commissioners prior to putting any levy on the ballot, and each individual voter prior to casting their vote on a property tax levy: “Is this levy so important that someone should lose their home if they cannot afford to pay it?”

As such, we are asking the voters not just in our jurisdictions, but in all of Lucas County to vote “NO” on every county wide levy request that is on the your ballot in November. We must take a stand to get the attention of our County Commissioners. We must make them realize that we want the process to get a property tax levy on the ballot in Lucas County to be extremely difficult, not just a rubber stamp.

And that new levy review committee which I fought when I was a commissioner has 'recommended' all these levies and others in the past. Do the commissioner have nothing to fear from constituents because they hide behind individuals unaccountable to the public to decide if a levy is 'worth it'? I think so.

We'll talk about this today when I fill in for Brian Wilson on 1370 WSPD from 3-6 p.m. Eastern.

TPS's Pickett Elementary: I'm outraged and you should be too

For years, I've been angry about Pickett Elementary being in academic emergency. Now I'm OUTRAGED and I want to know - why aren't YOU!?!

First, let's get some facts out of the way. I'm a proud graduate of Woodward High School, Point Place Junior High (no longer in existence) and Edgewater Elementary.

I had terrific teachers, caring and competent administrators and I believe I received a good education. It wasn't the best in the world, as I found when I started college and realized that many of my classmates were ahead in their learning, but it was good and it taught me not just facts and figures, but "how" to learn. And that has served me well throughout my life so far.

So this is not a criticism of public schools, but of a public school system that so completely and totally fails in its mission to educate kids.

Back to Pickett...

Here is a link to their 2010-2011 school report card, the most recent available at the Ohio Department of Education website.

It shows some very scary statistics, especially when you consider we're talking about children.

For instance, the 4th and 5th grade scores actually decreased in both reading and math compared to the 2009-10 school year.

And this is despite paying Susan Koester, principal, $87,893.00 - the 11th highest paid employee in the entire school district!

Under the No Child Left Behind Act, passed in 2001, there were supposed to be consequences when schools did not meet the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards, as Wikipedia explains:

* Schools that miss AYP for a second consecutive year are publicly labeled as being "in need of improvement" and are required to develop a two-year improvement plan for the subject that the school is not teaching well. Students are given the option to transfer to a better school within the school district, if any exists.
* Missing AYP in the third year forces the school to offer free tutoring and other supplemental education services to struggling students.
* If a school misses its AYP target for a fourth consecutive year, the school is labelled as requiring "corrective action," which might involve wholesale replacement of staff, introduction of a new curriculum, or extending the amount of time students spend in class.
* A fifth year of failure results in planning to restructure the entire school; the plan is implemented if the school fails to hit its AYP targets for the sixth year in a row. Common options include closing the school, turning the school into a charter school, hiring a private company to run the school, or asking the state office of education to run the school directly.

Koester was part of the replacement of the staff required under NCLB, rather than the other options of reopening as a charter school, contracting with someone else to run the school, or allowing the state to take over.

But note that this wholesale change should have happened after four years of failing to meet AYP.

The Toledo Public School Board waiting until eight years had passed before they made this change!

Eight years!

So Koester took over in the 2008-09 school year and while the school did meet the AYP 'participation' indicators, they did not meet their 'proficiency' indicators.

Basically, they got credit for showing up.

Here's what she had to say just before she started in her position as principal:

"I'm tired of people saying it can't be done," said Susan Koester, Pickett's new principal, who sought the job. "Wherever they are when they come here, we're going to get them where they need to be."

Apparently not.

In most of the tested categories, reading and math for third, fourth and fifth grades, only 1/3 of the students are testing proficient.

One-third!

In the 2010-11 tests, 59.6% of third graders managed to score proficient in math. That's great for the individual student, but that's still a failing grade overall. At least, it was when I was in school where a 60% was definitely an F.

The preliminary data for the 2011-12 is no better.

It shows that Picket AGAIN! failed to meet AYP and met zero of the performance indicators.

That's right: zero, zilch, nada!

This is not just unbelievable - it's a tragedy and a disgrace!

Are you outraged yet???

Somewhere along the way, the name of the school was changed to Pickett Academy and Koester is out and Martha Jude is in. The school has also been included in the new United Way Community Hub initiative.

The hub concept bring together multiple types of services - not just for kids - at the schools, including such things as

* Activities before and after school
* Tutoring and mentoring
* Medical, dental, and mental health services
* College-prep, GED, and adult education
* Free tax preparation
* Budgeting and saving classes
* Employment and housing resources

depending on the needs and desires of the community.

But is this enough to help the current students achieve success?

And what about the last 12 years of kids they've sent on to Scott High School, which only met the performance indicators in four of 10 tested areas (reading and writing in the 10th and 11th grade Ohio Graduation Test) in the 2010-11 school year.

For 2011-12, Jesup W. Scott High School met zero performance indicators and failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress.

It's no wonder when the high school is getting kids from Pickett!

To it's credit, the Toledo Federation of Teachers had offered to try a new type of education plan at Pickett. It would have been a teacher-led school, but the board had to reject it because there wouldn't have been a principal in the school structure and that would have violated the contract TPS has with the Toledo Association of Administrative Personnel, the union representing principals. (And why do the principals even need a union?!?)

I have no idea if it would have worked or not, but it seems like a pretty lame excuse to let kids continue to fail. (Tell me again how politicians and unions are all about helping the kids and not themselves?)

This is not the fault of the kids. And it's probably not entirely the fault of the teachers and parents, though I'm sure there is some blame for them to share.

This is the fault of the system, the administration, the unions, and the elected school board members, all five of whom are Democrats.

It's also the fault of people like our Toledo City Council and the editorial board at The Blade who continually push school levies, including the new 4.9 mill, 10-year levy that is on the November ballot, in spite of the gross and sickening failure of Pickett to actually provide an education to an entire generation of kids.

And yes, the community bears some blame as well for allowing this to continue.

Well, you have a chance on November 6th to make a difference. Tell TPS 'NO' on their levy request. Tell them you want to see significant improvement at Pickett and all the other schools before they get any more money.

In this case, it really is 'for the children.'

Tell me again how my quality of life is improved by taking more money out of my wallet

I am sick and tired of politicians and media (like today's Blade editorial) telling me that I need to pay more taxes to improve my quality of life.

Are they serious?!?

How is anyone's quality of life enhanced by having less money for the things they need?

So far in this election cycle, we've been told that paying more money to the city for parks and recreation, paying more money for our library, paying more money for our schools - paying more money in general - will improve our quality of life.

We'll be healthier if we pay more money to both Toledo parks and the MetroParks.

We'll be safer and kids won't turn to violence if we just pay more for city parks.

Our kids will be smarter and they'll get better jobs becoming productive members of society if only we pay more money to the school system.

Our drug addicts will stop using drugs if only we pay more money to the recently merged entity that combined the alcohol and drug addiction agency with the mental health agency (after voters repeatedly rejected funding for ADAS).

Our kids will learn to read better if we only give the library more money. (What are schools for, then?!?)

Our kids will also be inspired to learn more about math and science if we continue funding Imagination Station. (Again, what are schools for?!?)

All these deductions from my wallet will supposedly improve my individual quality of life, even though I don't have kids, don't have family members with drug problems and have my own treadmill for exercise.

We're supposed to believe that politicians, bureaucrats and newspaper editors all know what's best in terms of our quality of life. Our beliefs about what really improves our quality of life are irrelevant.

But think about it: if you have a choice between paying more money to government entities or keeping that money for your OWN priorities, which choice is really most likely to improve your personal quality of life?

Perhaps you love football and your quality of life would be most improved by being able to order all NFL games on a pay-per-view channel.

Perhaps you have kids and your family's quality of life would be better enhanced by setting aside money for their college education.

Perhaps you have an elderly parent with Alzheimer's who you are helping to care for and your quality of life would be improved by hiring a companion to come in and sit with them for a period of time to give you a break.

Perhaps, like me, you don't have any of these circumstances, but you love to cook and your quality of life (and your marriage) would be greatly improved if you had a renovated kitchen where you and your spouse both have room to work and an oven that can fit the turkey you plan to cook when the entire family comes for Thanksgiving.

The point is plain - you know best what will improve your own quality of life and it is likely to be different from what your neighbor thinks will improve their quality of life.

But politicians, bureaucrats and media all think they know better than you. They think they are the best judges of what will make your life better - and they are eager to tell you.

And it all boils down to you having less money so they have more.

Our quality of life is always enhanced when we get to keep the money we earn and spend it on our own priorities.

Anyone who tells you differently is lying and deserves to be run out of town.

Toledo City Council Meeting - Oct. 9, 2012

Notes from Sherry:

Toledo City Council Meeting
October 9, 2012

In attendance: Councilmen McNamara, Riley, Ludeman, Collins, Sarantou, Waniewski, Craig, Martinez, Copeland, Steel, Councilwoman Hicks-Hudson, Webb, Mayor Bell.

Item 495 – Resolution – Support Toledo-Lucas County Public Library operating levy, Issue 23, 2.9 mils, 5 years – adopted – Waniewski abstaining, rest yes (Steel and Webb not voting, not present for vote).

Item 496 – Appointment – Maumee-Monclova-Toledo JEDZ Board – confirmed – all voting yes.

Item 497 - Appointment – Ottawa/Jermain Park Advisory Board – confirmed – all voting yes. McNamara – Today is the last day to register to vote. The Early Voter Center on North Superior is open till 9 PM tonight.

Item 498 – Amend '82 Development Agree with Owens-Illinois & accept ownership of Promenade Harbor Beacon – passed – all voting yes.

Item 499 – Re-appropriation for testing and design of new Fire Station #3 (formerly Erie & Bush), $344, 000 CIP – to Public Safety Committee

* Collins – meeting at 6 PM (after Council Meeting) in two weeks – we want in put from the public.
* Hicks-Hudson – thank you Mr. Collins and the Chief coming up with a solution.
* Martinez – will get RFP on this.

Item 500 – Accept and dedicate as Erie St. right of way and accept utility easement for drainage to Swan Creek – passed – all voting yes.

Item 501 – Grant 30' parking easement at former Erie St. Market to River Rd. Redevelopment II LLC - passed – all voting yes.

Item 502 – Accept donation and tuition for National Development Council (NDC) training and expend funds – passed – all voting yes.

Item 503 – Issue Bonds to refund 1995 LaSalle Apartments Bonds, $5,750,000 - 1st Reading.

* Collins – pulled file on this – developer was in Madison, WI, now Kimberly Clark is the owner – questions, 1st Reading recommended – will those that live there be able to afford the apartments – bonds and response – through Dilbert and Pratt.
* Martinez – LMI phase out – 3 years – we still have some insurance (found out through the Deputy Mayor) tax credits went Ari – no problem with 1st Reading – make sure we are all on the same page.
* Sarantou – information on CAPPS rent increase.
* Collins – re-do bonds – questions answered.

Item 504 – Expenditure for 7 Vactor hose reels for Sewer & Drainage Services, $16,000 Sewer Operating Fund – passed – all voting yes.

Item 505 – Accept funds from Lucas County Reg Health Dist for lead-based paint remediation, 165 homes, 3 years, $2,232,000

* Administration – This is to let the Mayor remove lead from houses, per the Health Department. This was originally thought to have been done.
* Ludeman – will this be enough?
* Adm. - yes.
* Riley – who will do this?
* Adm. - Local Contractors.

Passed – Riley abstaining, rest yes.

Item 506 – Resolution – Vacate streets and alleys west of Upton and north of I-475 for ProMedica Parkway – adopted – all voting yes.

Item 507 – Resolution – Vacate streets and alleys east of ProMedica Pkwy and south of I-475 for ProMedica Pkwy – adopted – all voting yes.

Item 433 – Amend TMC Ch. 2101, Classified Exempt and Executive Exempt employees

* Craig – maded amendment – Managerial Staff.
* Herwat – eliminates E5 designation.
* Steel – Administration proposal – what about contract for health care?
* Herwat – everything is the same.

Vote on Administration's amendment, Yes – Waniewski, Martinez, Craig. No – Riley, Ludeman, McNamara, Sarantou, Hicks-Hudson, Steel, Collins, Copeland, Webb.

Motion failed.

* Collins – thought long and hard on this – went to Mayor to bring compromise but now I will not bring my proposal (he's mad).
* Hicks-Hudson – what was amended?
* Martinez – What just happened – Collins snubbed – no raise in 15 years – talking about pay raises
* Webb De Ja Vu all over again – people can do what they want - example, take pay cuts – now we can't find compromise – contemptible issue – go to other people (names them) for advice on issues – Table this?
* McNamara – yes, you can Table or amend.
* Martinez – hot potato – hard to deal with.
* Sarantou – move this to Committee of the Whole.
* Ludeman – Mayor has in his hand to to do raises – work that we do.
* Collins – I was blindsided on Oct. 2nd – Administration can't find compromise. Mayor can correct the Deputy Mayor position - can do this by the Charter. We wouldn't be having these discussions without my efforts. Met on 27th with the Mayor. It was my understanding that my proposal was accepted. But it wasn't. Ludeman was right – bring this to a conclusion – communicate without anyone knowing - “You will never do anything without courage” ~ Aristotle. That represents my position. Nothing will be done without our permission – take us out conservatory (intellect and respect) invites others to sit down on this.
* Hicks-Hudson – response on referrals – don't diminish responsibility.
* Martinez – withdraw motion to Table. To committee of the Whole.

Hicks-Hudson – Two members want to vote on Item 495. Steel – Webb and myself were in a meeting. (They both vote yes on 495.)

Last Call:

Waniewski – Administration to let us know about retiring Grant money – deadline is next week. We are going to be losing one member of this Council; look for someone with a business background, put an ad in the paper.

Collins – On 9/22, we suffered a tragic event at the Islamic Center, arson. Mr. Sarantou and myself went there, and this should not be tolerated in any house of Worship.

Craig – Agrees with Collins.

Waniewski – We are working with Clergy from the Mosque – ask them to come to the next meeting.

Hicks-Hudson – 1) Re-iterate 2101 worst/best case scenario – funding. 2) ICE – Art Tatum's Birthday – celebrated at the restaurant. 3) Tighten up legal challenge – ready for next City Council Meeting.

Ludeman – (Islamic Center) hopes everyone is strong and they are healing. His Church, Holy Trinity Lutheran celebrating its 110th year.

Martinez – Next Thursday at 11:30 he's getting married in chambers, people are invited.

Sarantou – Prayer service at Mosque was moving – Went to UT Friday night – great program – thanks Dr. Jacobs.

McNamara – Going to vote on N. Superior St.

Toledo-Lucas County Public Library - SOL

What do you think of when you hear: SOL?

Most people have heard the slang phrase 's*** outta luck' or SOL for those who don't like to cuss.

Urban Dictionary defines it as:

When a request or problem is described, this phrase is used to tell the person that what they need or are requesting is simply not possible/available and probably won't be in the near future. An "urban" variation of "out of luck".

Basically, it means you're screwed.

So why would the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library use SOL for their levy campaign this November?

To them, it means "Save Our Library" but there is no escaping the SOL impression, which is certainly not the message they mean to convey.

What brilliant PR firm came up with that?

And yes, this does qualify for 'stuck-on-stupid' designation.

Of course, considering how upset so many voters are about the number of levy requests and the amount of new money being asked, the library's SOL campaign phrase may end up being prophetic.

TPS facts and figures you need to know

In the 2006-07 school year, the Toledo Public School system spent $11,320 per pupil. In the 2010-11 school year, their spending had increased to $13,859 per pupil.

Interestingly, their income per pupil in 2006-07 was $12,096. Clearly enough to cover what they were spending.

However, by 2010-11, their revenue per pupil was only $12,551, a 4% increase over the 2006-07 school year but definitely more than what they were spending - $1,308 or roughly 10% more.

Now, it's true that a lot of factors influence how much a school system has to spend - and some of the spending is a result of mandates that a district has no control over.

But when a district is spending more than it's taking in, the solution is NOT to just tell the public they need more money. They first have to reduce their spending so that it's in line with their income. And, since they're a school system and their first priority is educating the children, they should start with reduction of administrative salaries and overhead.

Identifying where spending can be cut - or where savings might be found - must be done by an outside, objective entity. This is why I've pushed for a performance audit and I'm glad the TPS board is moving in that direction.

I just don't expect the administration to act contrary to their own best interests and recommend reductions in their salaries, even though that would be in the best interest of the students - and the taxpayers.

And, so far, I'm not encouraged by what I'm hearing from some school board members who think TPS deserves a cushion - more money than they actually need now - simply because they expect their spending to continually rise and they don't want to have to 'keep cutting.'

I also don't think a school system that has such a terrible report card deserves to be rewarded with additional funds. They met just five of the 26 indicators for the 2010-11 school year. When I went to Woodward High School, that was a 19% - definitely a failing grade, even on a curve.

TPS did not meet the state standard in any category in the third- through eighth-grade achievement tests. In fact, in many instances, the scores have decreased from the 2008-09 test year.

They're just barely making the state standard in reading and writing for the Ohio Graduation Test given to 11th graders. They don't reach the state standard in math, science or social studies.

When it comes to Adequate Yearly Progress, they're not meeting proficiency in reading or math, though they meet their participation requirement. Yippee! - kids are participating, but they're not gaining proficiency, so what difference does it make if they're just 'present'?

And then there is Pickett Elementary - a school that has been in academic emergency for 12 years. Let me repeat that - 12 years! They met zero - zilch - nada - of the 26 indicators.

Their fifth graders, since the 2008-09 school years, have actually decreased their scores in reading, math and science. And this is in spite of the fact that 97% of the classes are taught by properly certified teachers, nearly half of them with master's degrees.

Administrative personnel in the district earn between $50,673 and $75,490 depending on which of the 11 classes and four levels they fall in. Yes, there are 11 classes of administrative personnel and each class has four different levels of potential pay.

Teachers have 31 steps. Each step has six levels based upon degrees and time. The salaries range from $34,960 to $70,055.

According to an NPR StateImpact Ohio study, the average teacher salary at TPS in 2005 was $49,862 per year. By 2010, it was $55,780.

According to City Data, the median household income in 2000 was $32,546. By 2009, it had dropped slightly to $32,325.

Note household income - not individual income - and that also includes all of the city of Toledo, not just the TPS district.

The Census Bureau reports that the median household income from 2006 - 2010 was $34,260.

There's a lot to be said for paying certain professions more than others, but it's also fair to ask if average teacher salaries that are $23,455 more than the median household are appropriate - or affordable. Can Toledoans, the majority of whom are poor and middle class, continue to afford to pay teachers 72% more than they, themselves, make?

The Census also shows an 8.4% decrease in population - from 313,619 in 2000 to 287,208 in 2010, a loss of 26,411 people. So even less people are paying into the system, and with spending continuing to increase, it means more of a burden on those left.

And let's not forget that they just 'found' and 'unexpected' $8.2 million in additional carryover, resulting in a surplus of $11.22 million going into the 2012-13 school year.

This is a sampling of the facts and figures you need to know as you considering your vote on a 10-year additional 4.9 mill levy. This will be an addition to the 64.39 mills they already collect.

Remember 1 mill on a house valued at $100,000 is about $30.60, so the 64.39 mills to TPS equals more than $1,970 - and they want another $150!