Board trying to cut upcoming budget
Madison County educators are beginning to consider their options for dealing with state funding that continues to fall short of what is needed.
Dipping into cash reserves, cutting jobs, cutting paychecks or closing a school were among the possible scenarios floated before the Madison County School Board Monday in its first look at the upcoming budget process.
The idea of a tax increase was not among the alternatives suggested on how to cope with state funding that currently lags a cumulated $6.6 million below expectations for the past two years. The Legislature is still considering the funding amount for school districts for the 2011-2012 year.
"I'm not going to raise taxes on my way out the door," said Superintendent Mike Kent, who is not running for a fourth term in this year's election.
Possible options presented to the five-member school board by finance director Debbie Jones include:
•Take $2.7 million from the district's fund balance.
•Cut all teachers' and administrators' local pay supplement, an average of $2,000, which would be a savings of $1 million, and then supplement that with $1.7 million from fund balance.
*Cut 40 teachers' positions or cut 20 positions and take $1.7 million from reserves.
•Close East Flora Middle and take $1.7 million from reserves.
Which option would you pick? Vote in the poll to the left of the page.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Study Finds 5,000 Non-Citizens Likely Voted in Colorado
Chairman of House Subcommittee on Elections Pledges Review of Voter Registration Processes After a Recent Study by Colorado Secretary of State Revealed 12,000 Non-Citizens Registered to Vote in 2010 Elections and 5,000 Likely Voted
WASHINGTON – Today, Subcommittee on Elections Chairman Gregg Harper, R-Miss., issued the following statement announcing a review of state voter registration processes after a recent Colorado study revealed that as many as 5,000 non-citizens voted in Colorado during the 2010 elections:
“This report is extremely troubling and cause for a thorough review of the current registration processes implemented across the country, which I guarantee will be a priority for this Subcommittee. It also calls into question each state’s ability to enforce current voting laws and whether or not we need to pursue additional measures to better protect the integrity of our electoral process.”
According to the study conducted by the Colorado Secretary of State in conjunction with the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles, 11,805 non-citizens registered to vote in the 2010 elections and 4,947 voted. The report also finds that without access to federal citizenship data, the state is unable to identify and remove non-citizens from its voter rolls.
WASHINGTON – Today, Subcommittee on Elections Chairman Gregg Harper, R-Miss., issued the following statement announcing a review of state voter registration processes after a recent Colorado study revealed that as many as 5,000 non-citizens voted in Colorado during the 2010 elections:
“This report is extremely troubling and cause for a thorough review of the current registration processes implemented across the country, which I guarantee will be a priority for this Subcommittee. It also calls into question each state’s ability to enforce current voting laws and whether or not we need to pursue additional measures to better protect the integrity of our electoral process.”
According to the study conducted by the Colorado Secretary of State in conjunction with the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles, 11,805 non-citizens registered to vote in the 2010 elections and 4,947 voted. The report also finds that without access to federal citizenship data, the state is unable to identify and remove non-citizens from its voter rolls.
Barbour hires a blogger for online outreach
Barbour adds online communications aide
Haley Barbour's political operation, steadily ramping up toward a full presidential campaign, has hired a communications adviser to handle its online outreach, a Barbour aide confirmed this evening.
James Richardson, who was online communications manager for the RNC in the 2008 cycle, joins a team that already includes former 2004 RNC communications director Jim Dyke.
Richardson has more recently been a consultant to Senator Dan Coats and to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. He's also a blogger who's written quite a bit at RedState and elsewhere.
"Haley is very pleased that James Richardson has joined his team to help manage the national interest of bloggers and other online journalists in the Governor's political activity," Barbour's nephew and chief aide Henry Barbour said in an emailed statement. "Haley understands the significant role bloggers play in today’s political world and wants to maximize that dynamic medium."
Haley Barbour's political operation, steadily ramping up toward a full presidential campaign, has hired a communications adviser to handle its online outreach, a Barbour aide confirmed this evening.
James Richardson, who was online communications manager for the RNC in the 2008 cycle, joins a team that already includes former 2004 RNC communications director Jim Dyke.
Richardson has more recently been a consultant to Senator Dan Coats and to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. He's also a blogger who's written quite a bit at RedState and elsewhere.
"Haley is very pleased that James Richardson has joined his team to help manage the national interest of bloggers and other online journalists in the Governor's political activity," Barbour's nephew and chief aide Henry Barbour said in an emailed statement. "Haley understands the significant role bloggers play in today’s political world and wants to maximize that dynamic medium."
Wisconsin conservatives on the verge of defeating union activists
Morning Bell: Bravery and Common Sense Prevail in Wisconsin
In what Reuters is calling “a confrontation with unions that could be the biggest since then President Ronald Reagan fired striking air traffic controllers nearly 30 years ago,” the Wisconsin Senate approved a scaled-down version of Governor Scott Walker’s (R) budget-repair bill last night that would rein in government union collective bargaining powers. After securing approval from three widely respected nonpartisan agencies—the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the Legislative Council, and the Legislative Reference Bureau—Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald removed the appropriations measures from Walker’s budget, thus eliminating the need for any of the 14 truant Democratic Senators to be present for the vote. The State Assembly will take up the new version of the bill at 11 a.m. today, and if it passes, Walker will have achieved a significant victory for taxpayers everywhere.
The courage of the Wisconsin Senate conservatives cannot be understated. Before the vote, lawmakers were threatened with death and physical violence. After the vote, thousands of protesters stormed into the capitol building, ignoring announcements from police that the building was closed. Once inside, and at great risk to the public welfare, activists handcuffed some doors to the capitol shut. When security escorted the Senators to another building, a Democrat tipped off the mob, which then surrounded their cars and tried to break their windows as Senators returned home.
Senate Democrats, who are still hiding in Illinois, are now claiming that the majority’s committee meeting that broke up the budget-repair bill violated Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law. But the Open Meeting Compliance Guide clearly states that when there is “good cause,” only two hours’ notice is required. The Senate majority did provide the two hours’ notice. If the Senate Democrats’ 19-day refusal to show up for work wasn’t “good cause” enough, certainly minimizing the opportunity for union mob violence is.
In what Reuters is calling “a confrontation with unions that could be the biggest since then President Ronald Reagan fired striking air traffic controllers nearly 30 years ago,” the Wisconsin Senate approved a scaled-down version of Governor Scott Walker’s (R) budget-repair bill last night that would rein in government union collective bargaining powers. After securing approval from three widely respected nonpartisan agencies—the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the Legislative Council, and the Legislative Reference Bureau—Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald removed the appropriations measures from Walker’s budget, thus eliminating the need for any of the 14 truant Democratic Senators to be present for the vote. The State Assembly will take up the new version of the bill at 11 a.m. today, and if it passes, Walker will have achieved a significant victory for taxpayers everywhere.
The courage of the Wisconsin Senate conservatives cannot be understated. Before the vote, lawmakers were threatened with death and physical violence. After the vote, thousands of protesters stormed into the capitol building, ignoring announcements from police that the building was closed. Once inside, and at great risk to the public welfare, activists handcuffed some doors to the capitol shut. When security escorted the Senators to another building, a Democrat tipped off the mob, which then surrounded their cars and tried to break their windows as Senators returned home.
Senate Democrats, who are still hiding in Illinois, are now claiming that the majority’s committee meeting that broke up the budget-repair bill violated Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law. But the Open Meeting Compliance Guide clearly states that when there is “good cause,” only two hours’ notice is required. The Senate majority did provide the two hours’ notice. If the Senate Democrats’ 19-day refusal to show up for work wasn’t “good cause” enough, certainly minimizing the opportunity for union mob violence is.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)