Olympia Business Watch

Some Labor Day Lawsuit Fun

It's tough out there for the trial lawyers in multimedia land.  There's the latest television installment of the goings-on of fictional tort factory "Sooem, Settle & Kashin" from the folks at Reject R-67.  And now this, from notable musical parodist Weird Al Yankovic:  "I'll Sue Ya!"

Some of the lyrics:

I’ll sue Taco Bell
Cause I ate half-a-million chilupas and I got fat
I sued Panasonic
They never said I shouldn’t use my microwave to dry off my cat . . .
I sued Verizon
Cause I get all depressed any time my cell phone is roaming
I sued Colorado
Cause you know I think it looks a bit too much like Wyoming

The (resounding) chorus:  "I'm gonna sue, sue, yes I'm gonna sue..."

In a world of $10 million cheeseburgers, $54 million pants, $1 million boar tusks, and all the rest, how many of Weird Al's lyrical lawsuits are all that implausible?

(Thanks: WSJ Law Blog)

No Shortage of Perspectives on WASL, Math and Teaching

Release of the WASL scores prompted a deluge of opinion pieces, in addition to The News Tribune editorial I posted on earlier.

In the Seattle PI, guest opiner  Bruce Caldwell draws on a career teaching music and math to urge a balanced curriculum, including more arts education. He concludes:

Students who develop knowledge and curiosity about a wide spectrum of topics clearly learn better in all areas. Most math teachers are doing a good job of teaching; the students simply are not developing the skills to learn because of the narrow focus brought about by testing.

The Bellingham Herald editorializes for the WASL and for some changes in No Child Left Behind.

Our state should not abandon the WASL tests.

Still, the federal government needs to change the No Child Left Behind law to better reflect the reality of teaching special education and English-as-a-secondlanguage students. That any students in those situations are getting high enough scores to match federal requirements is a testament to the hard work our teachers are doing.

Simply put: Standards are needed, better educating is needed, and so is a more realistic system for judging those standards and improvements.

The Spokesman Review also criticizes NCLB.

And then there's this from an op-ed in the PI.

Through the Facing the Future curriculum students explore the connections between population, environment, consumption, poverty and conflict. They develop a global perspective, learn critical thinking skills and are inspired to take personal action. Most important, the materials emphasize that while the problems of environment, economy and society are connected -- so are the solutions.

Maybe after they successfully tackle math.

 

           

TNT Editorial Hits Math WASL Hard - and OSPI Harder

As promised, The News Tribune this morning carries a tough editorial decrying inadequacies in the state's approach to math education and, correspondingly, the poor performance of students on the math WASL.

The trigger is this report by Strategic Teaching, consultants by the state board of education "to analyze the strengths and weakness of" K-12 math standards." An earlier AP news story reported on the preliminary findings.

The analysis of Washington’s math standards says that compared with other high-achieving states and countries, Washington is not expecting enough of its students, some subjects are not being taught early enough, there’s insufficient emphasis on teaching the mechanics of math, and some of the learning expectations are not clear.

The TNT editorial eliminates the bafflegab.

These [standards] were developed over a period of years by the state superintendent of public instruction’s office. Their deficiencies reflect directly on the stewardship of the superintendent, Terry Bergeson.

The first part of that review – done by six master teachers and mathematicians – is now finished. It’s alarming.

The panel compared Washington’s written standards to those of California, Massachusetts, Indiana, Singapore and Finland, all recognized as among the world’s best. The comparison is not flattering.

Stacked up against California and the others, Washington’s overall standards got the lowest score in every category the reviewers considered: depth, grade-to-grade coherence, measurability, accessibility and balance.

The 52-page report will doubtless be the basis of extended discussion. The TNT concludes.

If those WASL scores were grades, Bergeson and her office would get a “B-plus” in developing the reading and writing standards, but a “D” at best in math.

Of course it’s more complicated than that: The scores also reflect a shortage of skilled math teacher and students’ reluctance to take enough math courses. But when an independent, expert review finds so many things wrong in standards that have been under development since the early 1990s, something just doesn’t add up.

As WASL advocates say, it's all about accountability. More to come.

WASL Scores Released

Today, Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson released WASL scores for incoming seniors.

Of the incoming seniors in the class of 2008, 87.5 percent have met the state’s reading requirement and 87.5 percent have met the writing; 83.6 percent have met both the reading and writing requirements.

Excluding students who haven't taken the test ...

The pass rates take into account all students in the class of 2008 who were 11^th graders last year, including the 5.6 percent who have yet to take the reading WASL and the 5.8 percent who have not yet taken the writing test. Among those who have tested, 92.6 percent have passed in reading and 95.3 percent have passed in writing.

So far, so good. Then, this.

As of spring testing, 63 percent of those in the class of 2008 have passed the math WASL or an alternative. Among those who have taken the test, 67 percent have passed.

But math doesn't count as a graduation requirement yet.

The News Tribune editorial board grades OSPI tomorrow, focusing on the math mess. It doesn't look good. Big hint:

If this was a different culture, Terry Bergeson would fall on her sword.

Ouch.

Isn't This Illegal?

Right on time for Labor Day weekend, The News Tribune headlines a likely teachers' strike in Bethel.

Clover Creek Elementary School teacher Danielle Edmonds expressed the sentiment of many of the teachers who gathered Wednesday in Graham to prepare picket signs.

“We’re really doing this for the parents, and the community and the children,” Edmonds said. In order to get high-quality teachers, we need that “TRI” (more pay for work outside the school day) package and we need class sizes manageable so we can instruct their children … in the best way we can.”

They might have a better chance of instructing them "in the best way they can" if they were in the classroom instead of on a picket line. So far, no reports that the picketing would be outsourced.

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation documents the monotonous frequency of teacher strikes in recent years.

While the TNT  doesn't mention the illegality of such strikes, this has been addressed before (hat tip to Jason Mercier at the Washingto Policy Center). And this 2006 opinion from Attorney General Rob McKenna looks pretty unambigous to me. The crux:

  In Washington, state and local public employees do not have a legally protected right to strike.  No such right existed at common law, and none has been granted by statute.  State ... statutes presently do not impose penalties on public employees for engaging in a strike. Under appropriate circumstances, a court may enjoin a public employee strike and may impose penalties for noncompliance. 

Here's a remedy unlikely to be pursued:

If it so chooses, the Legislature may establish penalties that would apply to employees who engage in unlawful strikes.  Provided they are consistent with significant limitations based in free speech guarantees, the Legislature also may establish penalties applicable to employees, unions, and union officials who incite unlawful strikes.

Something to consider next time lawmakers are inspired to pass legislation "for the kids."

State Budget Office Releases Report on I-960

The Office of Financial Management has produced its assessment of the potential fiscal impacts of Initiative 960. (Hat tip to Remy Trupin at the Budget and Policy Center.)

Initiative 960 would result in added costs to prepare ten-year cost projections for proposed state tax and fee increases, to notify legislators and the public about proposed revenue legislation, and to conduct advisory votes on tax increases approved by the Legislature. Costs are estimated to be up to $1.8 million a year, including $1.2 million for local election expenses.

Apparently thinking that's a very big number, the folks at the Budget and Policy Center headline their release: "I-960 will cost taxpayers millions." Maybe I've become jaded, but that seems like an estimate Initiative backers can live with. I know - "a million here, a million there" - but I'd suspect the opposition to 960 worries much more about the spending the initiative prevents than the spending it mandates.

Wind Farm in Kittitas Valley

The Energy Facilities Site Evaluation Council - who comes up with these agency names? - recently recommended, for the second time, that Gov. Chris Gregoire approve the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project. I wrote about it in this column today.

Aside from the obvious implications for meeting the mandates of I-937, the project illustrates why EFSEC has preemption authority. And preemption makes eminent sense in this case.

Journalism and Climate Change

Over at Editor and Publisher, Steve Outing thinks newspapers are way too objective when it comes to climate change.

I've ... been thinking about the newspaper industry and global warming. And frankly, I don't think newspapers are doing enough. Indeed, newspapers' fabled commitment to "objectivity" has been a detriment to efforts to combat global warming.

He goes on (and on - it's a long column), but here's his thinking

I have no quibble with the status quo when it comes to controversial issues where there is a significant split of opinion.

... But advocacy in terms of enouraging people to act to alleviate climate change is really a wholly different issue. There's clearly scientific consensus that humans are altering the planet's climate, and that the effect is accelerating. Stronger hurricanes, melting glaciers and sea ice, worse wildfires and longer fire seasons, more severe droughts and flooding, and more frequent bizarre weather events overall.

The few critics of the consensus are a small and shrinking group, who to most observers seem irrelevant. To the mainstream, they may as well be flat-earthers.

He yearns for the good old days of muckraking and advocacy and gives editors some suggestions, including a "behavior-change campaign," contests (my carbon footprint is lower than your carbon footprint), and suggestions for automakers.

Nicely timed is this Wall Street Journal "denier's confession" by Bret Stephens. Here's just one excerpt from an excellent litany. As they say, read the whole thing. If you can't get it online, buy or borrow the paper.

I confess: Denial never solves anything. But neither does sensational and deceptive journalism.

Newsweek illustrates this point by its choice of cover art -- a picture of the sun, where the surface temperature hovers around 6,000 degrees Celsius. Given that the consensus scientific estimate for average temperature increases over the next century is a comparatively modest 2.6 degrees, this would seem a rather Murdochian way of convincing readers about the gravity of the climate threat. On the inside pages is a photograph of a polar bear stranded on melting ice. But the caption that the bears are "at risk" belies clear evidence that the bear population has risen five-fold since the 1960s. Another series of photographs, of a huge Antarctic ice shelf that quickly disintegrated in 2002, suggests the imminence of doom. But why not also mention that temperatures at the South Pole have been going down for 50 years?

He offers an explanation for why, despite what seems to be an already well developed willingness to skirt the demands of objectivity in some media circles, the public clings to some doubts.

if Americans are not fully persuaded of the dangers of global warming, as Newsweek laments, don't chalk it up to the pernicious influence of the so-called deniers and their enablers at ExxonMobil and Fox News. Today, global warming is variously suggested as the root cause of terrorism, the conflict in Darfur and the rising incidence of suicides in Italy. Yet the 20th century offers excellent reasons to be suspicious of monocausal explanations for the world's ills, monomaniacs intent on saving us from ourselves, and the long train of experts predicting death by overpopulation, resource depletion, global cooling, nuclear winter and prions.

I don't think carbon footprint contests will change that.

UPDATE Outing's column generated some comments for E&P.

Victory for Association Plans, Affordable Health Insurance

Today, Superior Court Judge Kathleen M. O'Connor ruled that the state insurance commissioner could not make new law by himself. It's the culmination of a long-standing dispute between insurance commissioner Mike Kreidler and employer groups offering association health plans. Here's our press release.

Last February, Associated Industries and AWB filed a lawsuit in Spokane County Superior Court, challenging the validity of a Technical Assistance Advisory issued by  insurance commissioner. We asked for summary judgment that the TAA was invalid and unenforceable. Judge O'Connor agreed.

Here's the crux:

While OIC can issue technical advisories, they are not rules and are not enforceable. TA 06-07 amounts to a major policy shift from the plaintiff’s perspective. Policy is made by the legislature. The legislature should make the decision. More than a decade has past (sic) since the legislation was enacted, if the legislature believes it is time for a change they will act.

As we discussed here, this is good news for those who rely on association plans for affordable health insurance. It's also a very clear reminder to state agencies that rule-making should be used for the very limited purpose of implementing legislation, not rewriting legislative intent and making new law.

It's a good day.

 

Do Budget Rules Matter?

Of course they do. Karl Kurtz, however, on the NCSL blog, shares some insight as to how the rules governing state budgets may matter less than we think.

Budget battles are usually the most visible conflicts in American politics because the stakes are highest, and they are the greatest test of wills between political parties and branches of government.  In our two-party, separation-of-powers system, there will always be conflicts between Republicans and Democrats, governors and legislatures, even between chambers, regardless of the rules of the game.

This is not an argument for or against a two-thirds vote vs. majority rule on budget bills in California--or any other rules change.  There may indeed be good reasons for changing the rules--in California or any other state--and thereby affecting when and how conflict over the budget occurs.  Instead, it is a caution that a rules change will not eliminate the disagreements and the need for effective negotiation and compromise to resolve them.

Of course, that's just common sense. Rules shape the nature of the debate, but ultimately the game and the games go on.

Implications for I-960?