Who is to Blame for the Education Mess?

October 11, 2010 Leave a comment

It is not self-evident that the quality of teaching and teachers are mainly responsible for our education slipping backward?  I think that experience in running complex enterprises is that in some cities and schools it is the teaching that is to blame, in others, it is school management, teaching methods and materials, community culture of education and bad (or good) school boards.

I would place enormous weight on school boards and the community that sets the priorities for education.  Teachers will gravitate to places where teachers are trusted and respected.

I am very suspicious of single approaches to solving big problems.

It’s time for all of the adults — superintendents, educators, elected officials, labor unions and parents alike — to start acting like we are responsible for the future of our children. Because right now, across the country, kids are stuck in failing schools, just waiting for us to do something.

So, where do we start? With the basics. As President Obama has emphasized, the single most important factor determining whether students succeed in school is not the color of their skin or their ZIP code or even their parents’ income — it is the quality of their teacher.

via How to fix our schools: A manifesto by Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee and other education leaders.

Filed under Community, Florida, Miami-Dade County, National

Let the People Pay in Coral Gables

October 11, 2010 Leave a comment

The Mayor has an important message.

There is a principle in public finance called “benefits received,” in which people who get the benefits should pay the full costs.

We should pay not only the true cost of parking, but the cost of refuse and solid waste collection, using the swimming pool, playing golf and tennis, using the highways, using the parks, using the hotel or restaurant, using water to irrigate our lawns, etc.  Taxpayers should not have to subsidize their neighbors.

Of course, as a community, we must pay for social safety nets and other social benefits and common or public goods like fire and police protection that benefit the entire community, as well as the individual.

We don’t want firefighters to be checking to see if we paid the fire fee before putting out the flames, since our neighbors also benefit by putting out the fire.  Some of the cost may be paid, for example, for fire fees and emergency ambulance services, but their should be a limit to this.

“In this new age of challenged tax revenue, the fact is people keep yelling they want cities to act like businesses,” said Donald Slesnick, mayor of Coral Gables, where starting Monday drivers must pay for an extra two hours of metered parking as well as on Sundays. “We’re starting to act more like a business in terms of pay as you go.”

via Pay as you stop: Parking costs going up – Miami-Dade – MiamiHerald.com.

Filed under Coral Gables, Taxes and Fees

What Think the Candidates? (Part 2)

October 8, 2010 Leave a comment

The taxpayers of Coral Gables are still waiting for the views on the city’s budget, taxes, spending, salaries and pensions of numerous candidates for city office of commissioner or mayor .

Must we assume for now that they are all complacent about of the budget and associated taxes?

Filed under Budget, Coral Gables, Taxes and Fees

Leaf Blowers–Less Air Please

October 6, 2010 Leave a comment

Mr. Cabrera introduced an ordinance to prohibit gasoline leaf blowers in Coral Gables.  But the city and its contractors and event organizers are exempted.  Electric-powered leaf blowers are allowed.

Mr. Kerdyk was skeptical that the citizens would think it fair that the city and its contractors should be exempt.

One citizen pointed out that an electrical leaf blower is just as noisy as gasoline blower.  I am inclined to believe that that is right.  (Have you ever used one of those high speed hand dryers in the mall restroom?)  Alternatively, I am also inclined to think that lawn contractors might use small lawnmowers to move around the trash and leaves–almost as noisy.

Certainly, in the face of budget deficits, unfunded pension liabilities, union negotiations and impasse hearings, taxpayers paying higher property taxes and fees, failure of the Biltmore lease, unemployment, declining property values and a new economic development district at the University of Miami, leaf blowers is one of the great pending issues of our time.

Filed under Community, Coral Gables, Government

← Older posts

Newer posts →