Now that Labor Day has come and gone the 2018 campaign season is about to start. Governor Gina Raimondo is in for a tough reelection fight. Obviously, she has a formidable group of contenders seeking …
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Now that Labor Day has come and gone the 2018 campaign season is about to start. Governor Gina Raimondo is in for a tough reelection fight. Obviously, she has a formidable group of contenders seeking to oust her. While her job creation efforts deserve praise, two chronic problems threaten to eclipse her job creation accomplishment….Because each of them goes on and on they threaten to dog her throughout 2018.
As Ted Nesi of WPRI has pointed out, Rhode Island has added about $200 million in additional school aid since 2011-2012. Yet, the latest round of standardized tests released in August show stagnate scores. On the math side only 33 percent of students were proficient. Hispanics were at the 16 percent level for proficiency and African Americans at 15 percent. When it came to English language arts 40 percent of students were proficient. That number is even bleaker when it comes to minorities, which weighed in at only 22 percent proficiency.
So, what do state education leaders do? They jettison the test. Far be it for them to continue to use the PARRC which shows the failure. The teacher unions have been very successful in attacking the test so the lemmings at the Department of Education are changing the testing. The cachet of the teacher’s unions on Smith Hill is evident. The last 2 female Commissioners of Education were driven out of town precisely because they insisted on accountability. Now the mantra of the executive branch is to go along to get along. In fact, the present commissioner has also deep-sixed certain graduation requirements because Johnny’s parents were too upset with them.
There seems to be a giant kumbaya party going on among educators, parents and governmental leaders who will do anything but reform the educational system. Mediocrity is the norm. Expect a new diversion from the test scores as the governor and company mount an effort to repair school buildings. The truth is that local and state leaders have neglected to set aside capital funds for maintenance and repair for years, preferring instead to pour the money into teacher salaries. The public is now supposed to forget their lack of leadership by getting all jazzed up over school building repairs.
School infrastructure has received the same treatment as our roadways. Rather than wash the salt off the bridges for about a $2000 annual maintenance tab, the past Department of Transportation directors allowed the erosion to continue through neglect, thereby necessitating tens of millions of dollars for repair and replacement.
UHIP, The state computer system which is supposed to track welfare and other related benefits, continues to belch benefits for folks who are ineligible for them. Meanwhile, people who do need and qualify for the benefits are on a waiting list or queued up in a long line. Much has been said about the welfare recipients’ plight but the worst wrinkle is the fact that elderly in nursing homes are getting letters telling them — incorrectly — that they no longer qualify for Medicaid so it’s sayonara to their beds.
UHIP problems that affect poor people and elderly bite right into the constituency of the democrats. The governor has a major problem on her hands with no end in sight.
Arlene Violet is an attorney and former Rhode Island Attorney General.