Archive for August 2009
Using State Money to Apply for Federal Funds
Guess what officials in Orangeburg County are doing with state money? They’re trying to parlay it into federal stimulus dollars, and at least one community in the county has its eye on putting federal funds toward the purchase of playground equipment.
The county received $50,000 from state economic development funds to hire a grant writer to assist towns in the county in applying for stimulus money.
According to The Orangeburg Times and Democrat, “Orangeburg County and its towns have a long list of projects they’d like the federal government to pay for.”
North Mayor Earl Jeffcoat is uncertain what’s available, but doesn’t lack for ideas on how to use any money that may come his way.
“We need more playground equipment,” Jeffcoat told the paper. “There’s hardly any money for recreation for teens and little kids here. Our water tank also needs to be painted but stimulus money for maintenance may not be available. We might also look at the old health clinic that has been closed. Maybe it could be made into a community center for us.”
State Sen. John Matthews (D-Bowman) helped the county secure state money to hire the consultant through June 2010, The Times and Democrat reported.
“We are already a month behind Dorchester County, which is also using a grant writer for this purpose. This stimulus funding is a rare opportunity. Let’s make the best effort possible to secure money for our communities.”
Grant writer Sherrill Hampton of Hampton Consultant Group of Bowman said she will also seek funding from state sources.
Spending tax dollars to lobby for more tax dollars sounds like an offshoot of the old bureaucratic ploy of using tax dollars to hire lobbyists to push for more government spending.
And let’s not forget, it doesn’t matter whether the money discussed above comes the state or federal government, it all originates from the pockets of American citizens and businesses.
Media Fails to Vet Hydrogen Claims
The new hydrogen fueling station in Columbia is one of two in South Carolina. That equals the number of hydrogen-powered vehicles operating in the state.
South Carolina’s hydrogen industry has found itself quite an ally in the Charleston media.
This past weekend, The Post and Courier offered this decidedly uncritical view of the tens of millions in tax dollars that have been spent in South Carolina on hydrogen research while Thursday the industry turned to The Charleston Regional Business Journal for promotional assistance.
On the S.C. Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance’s web page under its current news section, the group lists as its top story a piece from The Business Journal titled “Hydrogen investment may offer 10-1 return for South Carolina.”
The Alliance’s decision to post the story on its website this week is curious for two reasons: One, the article was published in the Charleston publication back in June; and two, the report simply parroted information released by legislative leaders that gave a misleading impression regarding what the Palmetto State is getting for its hydrogen investment.
“The state’s investment in the hydrogen industry is seeing a return on its investment at a 10-to-1 ratio, said House Speaker Bobby Harrell Jr,” began The Business Journal’s piece.
S.C. Media Glossing Over Hydrogen Realities
Much of the South Carolina media seems reluctant to pull back the curtain on the realities associated with government-funded hydrogen transportation research.
The Obama administration has expressed grave doubts about the viability of hydrogen transportation, but that hasn’t kept the South Carolina media from hyping the concept like it’s a no-brainer solution to our nation’s energy concerns.
Take a story that appeared in The Charleston Post and Courier this past weekend. The piece provided a decidedly uncritical look at the tens of millions in tax dollars that have been invested in hydrogen research in South Carolina, even though there’s been little return on that investment.
Highlights from the story:
State taxpayers have chipped in $12.3 million to hydrogen fuel cell efforts, while federal, municipal and private sources have invested an additional $115 million in South Carolina, said Shannon Baxter-Clemmons, executive director of the S.C. Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance.
SAT Scores Drop 9 Points, Achievement Gap Widens
South Carolina SAT scores dropped 9 points in 2009 and the achievement gap between African-American and white students grew by 5 points.
South Carolina student performance on the 2009 SAT dropped by 9 points to a lowest-in-the-South average score of 1452, according to an S.C. Policy Council analysis of the 2009 College Board report released today. South Carolina students fell further behind their peers during 2009 as students scored 57 points behind the national average of 1509. That gap expanded by 7 points, or 14 percent, over 2008.
The achievement gap between African-American and white students in South Carolina likewise grew by 5 points. African-American test scores dropped by 10 points – from 1250 to 1240 – while scores for white students declined by 5 points from 1541 to 1536. The resulting gap leaves a 296 point margin between test scores for the state’s two largest ethnic groups.
South Carolina’s composite SAT score of 1452 was among the lowest in the country, higher than only the District of Columbia, Hawaii and Maine. Just 10 of the state’s 85 public school districts exceeded the national average.
Singing Innovista’s Praises while Parroting Incorrect Data
Columbia Mayor Bob Coble has been among Innovista's biggest supporters.
Columbia Mayor Bob Coble touted the benefits of Innovista in last week’s State newspaper but it’s difficult to lend credence to his take on USC’s $140-million research campus when he’s clearly out of touch with what’s going on in area technology circles.
For example, Coble never misses a chance to highlight the USC Columbia Technology Incubator, as he did in last Wednesday’s piece, but he seems unaware of what’s going on at the Incubator, which receives funding from the city of Columbia, along with the state and the private sector.
In Coble’s piece on Innovista, he writes that the USC Columbia Technology Incubator has “assisted 63 companies and created 554 new jobs, including 142 jobs held by minorities and women.”
If that’s true, then the Incubator has been stuck in neutral for quite some time. Consider:
- In an op-ed Coble penned for The State back in April he wrote that the Incubator had “assisted 63 companies and created 554 new jobs, including 142 minority and female jobs.”
- Last fall, he wrote to the Free Times newspaper and said that the Incubator had “assisted 63 companies and created 554 new jobs, including 142 minority and female jobs.”
- He said the same thing more than a year ago in another State op-ed, writing that the Incubator had “assisted 63 companies and created 554 new jobs, including 142 minority and female jobs.”
- And in May 2008, Coble again wrote in The State that the Incubator had “assisted 63 companies and created 554 new jobs, including 142 minority and female jobs.”
However, according to Incubator officials, the project has created more than 660 jobs since its inception, including more than 170 minority jobs.
Responding to the Health Care Hecklers
South Carolina Policy Council Research Director Jameson Taylor spoke at a town hall meeting on health care legislation Aug. 17 at Keenan High School.
While speaking at Joe Wilson’s town hall meeting in Columbia, several hecklers accused me of lying about what President Obama’s health care plan will do to the American health care system and economy.
The sense I got from those who support Obama’s vision for health care is that they really like Obama and may not know or even care much about the specifics of his health care package.
In any case, in the interest of continuing a dialogue based on facts, rather than baseless hopes or fears, I wanted to write a series of blog posts explaining my remarks, as well as elaborating upon this fact sheet that we handed out at the town hall event.
By the way, I should say that the crowd of about 600-700 (not 1,700 as the paper reported) was overwhelmingly – perhaps about 90 percent – in favor of free-market health care reform.
In this first post I want to address the fact that millions of Americans will lose their current coverage under ObamaCare.
DeMint Promotes Interstate Health Insurance Competition
Sen. Jim DeMint, seen here at a press conference earlier this year, spoke to about 400 individials Monday at the Daniel Island Neighborhood Association meeting in Charleston.
Sen. Jim DeMint spoke Monday morning at the Daniel Island Neighborhood Association meeting in Charleston. The event – which drew about 400 attendees – was billed as a discussion on the economy and other political issues but it quickly became evident that health care would be the only topic discussed.
The crowd was almost entirely in support of Sen. DeMint – which was expected given the venue.
Sen. DeMint began his talk by outlining S 1324, the Health Care Freedom Act, which he proposed in the Senate. The bill would implement the following reforms:
- Allow individuals to buy insurance plans across state lines;
- Provide a $5,000 tax rebate to families and $2,500 to individuals which can be used toward buying health insurance. The goal is to provide a fairer tax code, offering the same tax incentives to individuals as those who buy insurance through an employer;
- Enact tort reform (This idea, in fact, received the loudest ovation);
- Gives states $25 billion block grants to pool high-risk individuals; and
- Promote the use of Health Savings Accounts.
South Carolina ACT Test Scores Drop Slightly
South Carolina’s performance on the ACT college entrance test dropped this year to an average score of 19.8, which ranks 46th in the nation. In 2008, the state’s average score was one-tenth of a point higher at 19.9. Possible scores on the test range from 11 to 36 points.
This chart shows South Carolina's performance on the ACT test since 2005 as well as how the achievement gap between black and white students continues to grow.
According to the state’s ACT profile released this week by ACT Inc., South Carolina’s average score is 1.3 points behind the national average and 4.1 points behind the highest-performing state (Massachusetts).
South Carolina ranked behind most other Southeastern states, including North Carolina ( 21.6), Georgia (20.6), and Tennessee (20.6). Only Mississippi, Kentucky and Florida scored lower on the ACT among Southeastern states.
The achievement gap between black and white students also continued to expand. Composite scores for white students have increased from 21.3 to 21.9 since 2005. During that same period the performance of African American students has declined by one-tenth of a point from 16.5 to 16.4. This year alone, African-American scores remained flat while the average score of white test-takers improved from 21.7 to 21.9.
The results show public education in the state continues to leave many of the state’s poorest and most vulnerable students behind in failing schools. Choice and free-market competition would encourage innovative ideas in the classroom as well as reward ideas that improve performance and results.
South Carolina will spend more than $11,000 per child during the 2009-2010 year. Many failing schools already spend more than $15,000 per child — if money were the answer to the problem it would have been solved. Throwing money at the problem without fundamental reform will only ensure more tax dollars are wasted on a system in need of fundamental free-market reforms that empower parents with choice and give them options to the current failed system.
Dutch Fork High Tossing Textbooks?
Dozens of textbooks were found in a dumpster outside Dutch Fork High School this week, even though the school district is prohibited from simply throwing away surplus property.
Dozens of textbooks fill a dumpster outside Dutch Fork High School. Used copies of the chemistry book seen here sell online for $27.50.
Are the books worn out? Most of them appear to have been used by just two students. Are they outdated? The same book is selling today for $27.50 online.
The district says its policies prohibit dumping surplus property. Instead, the district must sell the items, or recycle them.
This next school year District 5 will spend $12,363 per student – even higher than the state average of $11,242 per child allocated in the FY09-2010 budget. That doesn’t include money from a $244 million local bond referendum approved by voters in November – money the district says it desperately needs.
Surely other schools could have used these books. If so, why are they in a school dumpster? But, then again, why should other schools have to settle for Dutch Fork’s hand-me-downs? … We may never get to the bottom of DumpsterGate. But we can address the larger problem of wasting taxpayer dollars by bringing more transparency to South Carolina’s public school system.
