The Vermont Report: Jan. 17

Fix K-12 First!

FreedomWorks began the 2006 legislative Session calling on legislators to “Fix K-12 First!” Our objective is to stop raids on the State Education Fund and to use the money solely for K-12 spending as the law intends. By taking such a stand, legislators would demonstrate an understanding and respect for overburdened property tax payers, protect between 400 and 500 small childcare businesses, and, before even considering expanding the public schools by two years, get the financing of K-12 under control.

For a detailed look at the Fix K-12 First! initiative please visit the publications on our website, www.freedomworks.org/vermont/

Please contact your local legislators and tell them to support Fix K-12 First!
http://www.leg.state.vt.us/

Vote NO on S.132!

In his State of the State Address, Governor Jim Douglas said, “Last year, this General Assembly added a provision into the final budget bill that I fear will lead to an unacceptable outcome: adding two more pre-kindergarten grades to the already stressed K-12 education system and putting taxpayers on the hook to fund it…. I am asking the General Assembly to reconsider the decision to further increase the cost of education and the growing tax bills that accompany those costs.”

S.132, the taxpayer funded, universal preschool bill, is back in the Senate Education Committee. Please contact members of that committee and tell them to vote no on S.132. “With teachers’ strikes, k-12 budget battles, and rising property taxes, now is not the time to expand public schools’ budgets and taxpayers’ responsibilities with two more years of public education.”

Senate Education Committee
Senator Don Collins of Franklin District, Chair 868-7975, dcollins@leg.state.vt.us
Senator Bill Doyle of Washington District, Vice-Chair 223-2851, 635-2356, wdoyle@leg.state.vt.us
Senator Jim Condos of Chittenden District, 863-4654, jcondos@leg.state.vt.us
Senator Bobby Starr of Essex-Orleans District 988-2877, 988-2281
Senator Wendy Wilton of Rutland District, 773-3426, WWilton@leg.state.vt.us

Another Private Provider Falls Victim to “Free” Competition.

Senator Jim Condos (D-Chittenden) recently replied to a constituent’s concerns regarding the push for taxpayer funded, public school pre-k with a complaint about, “a variety of charges related to Early Education programs that are not supported by history or facts.” Among these “MIS-STATEMENTS” Sen. Condos numbered the idea that “Private childcare providers will be driven out of business.”

Well, here’s a fact supported by current events: The Stepping Stones Preschool in Proctorsville, Vermont just sent out a press release calling for help because of the desperate situation taxpayer funded pre-k programs are putting them in.

To quote the release, “With the formation of the free preschool program in the Rutland Windsor Supervisory Union (RWSU), Stepping Stones lost more than half of its students and began the struggle to stay afloat…. With the decreased enrollment (from 32 children to 14 children) Stepping Stones was faced with the possibility of closing its doors in 2005.”

Stepping Stones was saved for the time being by a $5000 grant from the community. It is a business that has been in good standing for 28 years, providing, again to quote the release, “high-quality, affordable early care and education programs for preschool-aged children …. Its curriculum is aligned with the Vermont Early Learning Standards (VELS) and the Vermont Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities. Stepping Stones recently earned national accreditation through the National Association for the Education of Young Children.”

If a preschool like this cannot compete with “free,” who can?

How many more businesses like Stepping Stones in Procotrsville and Wanda Haynes’ private preschool in Middletown Springs have to become “history” and a statistical fact for Senator Jim Condos to realize the damage he is causing with his policies?

Facing Other Facts

Other facts Senator Condos considers “Mis-statements” include: “Property taxes will increase to support public Early Ed programs. [Which begs the question, if you are adding new programs and expanding old ones, where is the money coming from if not taxes?], and “Public schools have no legal authority to offer Early Education programs for students who are not at-risk.” Which brings us to our next topic….

Please Contact Senator Jim Condos of Chittenden District, 863-4654, jcondos@leg.state.vt.us and ask him to explain himself.

Bartlett’s Quotation

While a guest on the Mark Johnson Show (WDEV, AM550, 9-11am) Senator Susan Bartlett (D-Lamoille) admitted, albeit in political double-speak, what Senator Condos and others have been steadfastly denying about the previous legality of these programs.

Here is a clip of what host, Mark Johnson (MJ), and Senator Bartlett (SB) said:

MJ: Speaking of Pre-K, the Governor wants to have the legislature take another look at this pre-kindergarten program that was, uh, added to the, uh, appropriations bill at kind of the last hour – not a lot of public discussion about it. You willing to reconsider that?

SB: Well, first, there’s sort of complete misunderstanding about what that did or didn’t do, and it didn’t suddenly open up a brand new door and change the universe. What it did was the programs that were already been receiving funding under the structure that already existed, allowed them to continue receiving their funding. That’s basically what that did.

MJ: That’s all that did? Really?

SB: Yeah! Yeah it is! Isn’t that amazing? It’s gotten a lot of press about… that just simply isn’t the truth. Um… we know—

MJ: If it… if it was already in law, then why did you need to add anything to the appropriations bill last year?

SB:It was in practice, and not… in statute. [bold, italics, underline added]

Kudos to Mark Johnson for asking the $64,000 question and for getting a truthful answer. Translated into plain English, “in practice, and not in statute” means “doing it illegally.”

Our Side Making Progress on Health Care

In a recent Burlington Free Press interview about Health Care, Speaker Gaye Symington said, “We aren’t going to put forward what we did last year. What we will put on the table will be much more constrained than what many members consider reform.”

This is good news insofar as it shows opponents of a government-run, taxpayer funded system are making progress in getting the Vermonters to understand the logistical impossibility, and the disastrous consequences, of implementing a single payer program in Vermont. However, we need to make sure the that what the legislature does, they do not put us on a “glide-path” toward a government-run, single payer program, but rather embrace market based reforms that have been shown to work.

The following is an un-edited clip submitted by Advisory Council Chairman, Frank Mazur, to the Burlington Free Press regarding Consumer Driven Health care. The BFP ran an edited version:

Consumer-driven health care (CDHC) works – and is proven to work – because it is a system that rewards patients for controlling costs, and health care service providers for being innovative, efficient, and cost effective. It is a system that has had a decade of success in South Africa and in various pilot programs in this country. The way it works is to provide patients with the tools and financial incentives they need to manage their own health dollars. It combines a high-deductible insurance policy that covers catastrophic illness with a Health Savings Account that covers the cost of that high deductible and/or preventative care. At the end of each year, any money left over in the HSA the individual gets to keep. This means people have the incentive to both stay healthy and to shop smart – and this combination is proven effective in doing both. When patients are empowered to make choices rather than impersonal bureaucracies, the result is that they become better shoppers. Businesses have incentives to be innovative and cost effective, too. One fantastic innovation for saving costs is walk-in mini-clinics. These are sprouting up in malls, and offer a sensible alternative to expensive emergency room services for routine, non-emergency care. Another is TeleDoc’s, which offers medical advise via cell phones on a 24/7 basis where medication (no narcotics) or appropriate referrals are made for a minimum charge. As such, CDHC can create a vibrant and innovative environment that will keep costs down and quality up.

Notes and Events:

State Director, Rob Roper will be a guest on True North with Laurie Morrow (WDEV, AM 550, 11 – 12 noon) every Monday in January to discuss the Fix K-12 First! initiative.

1/13, Friday, on ABC’s 2020 at 10 p.m. John Stossel has an eye-opening hour on public schools — “Stupid in America: How We Cheat Our Kids.”

1/17, Tuesday, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm: Chittenden County Chapter Meeting. Contact Rob Roper for details if you would like to attend. 802-999-8145, rroper@freedomworks.org.

1/19, Thursday, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm: Franklin County Meeting. Contact Rob Roper for details if you would like to attend. 802-999-8145, rroper@freedomworks.org.

Look for Rob Roper’s article, Whose Lifestyle Is It Anyway, about taxes, demographics and why young people are leaving Vermont in the Jan/Feb issue of Livin’ the Vermont Way.

Please Contact:
Your likeminded friends and neighbors. Forward them this edition of the Vermont Report, and encourage them to join FredomWorks’ growing email list by signing up at www.freedomworks.org or by contacting State Director, Rob Roper directly at rroper@freedomworks.org or 802-999-8145. Feedback welcome!