Published: March 23, 2008 05:07 pm            

Weekly wrap - Monday, March 24, 2008

On tax stimulus checks:

In May, taxpayers across the United States will be getting a check from Uncle Sam as part of the economic stimulus bill Congress recently passed. This is on top of any refund people may get from filing their tax returns. Those receiving a stimulus check will have to file a tax return.

To let taxpayers know that the check will soon be in the mail, the government is sending out a letter this month telling them just that. It’s going to cost $42 million to mail those letters. And we have a question: Uncle Sam, have you lost your mind?

Admittedly that’s chump change in this age of trillion-dollar budgets, but it’s also the height of fiscal recklessness and irresponsibility by an administration that is used to spending taxpayer money as if the apocalypse was right around the corner.

It’s truly disheartening to see taxpayer dollars so cavalierly wasted when ordinary Americans are struggling to meet the ever-rising costs of gasoline and groceries while watching their homes, if they’re lucky enough to still have one, depreciate rapidly.

There is no political payoff for the president by sending out these letters. If he’s looking for a legacy enhancer this isn’t going to amount to much.

– The Herald Bulletin, Anderson

On adult education:

This is an era in which there must be serious debate about what services government should provide, how they should be delivered and how they should be funded. That’s why it’s good to see a summer study committee will be set up to resolve the conundrum of adult education.

One of the first bills Gov. Mitch Daniels signed into law this year was House Bill 1193, which creates that committee to study the problem statewide.

Portage school Superintendent Mike Berta testified to lawmakers this year that adult education programs are losing money in more than three dozen school districts.

In looking at how to solve the funding dilemma, the committee needs to also look at whether the existing delivery model is best.

Should adult education be delivered at a community college like Ivy Tech instead of through school systems set up for the standard K-12 schooling for youngsters? Ivy Tech is already focusing on preparing students for college. Remediation is offered to students who graduate from high school unprepared for college.

Why not develop that program into one that provides adult high school and GED preparation instruction as well?

Whatever the outcome of the study committee’s deliberations, make it a statewide or regional solution, because it’s not limited to the school district hosting the program.

– The Times, Munster

On teacher licenses:

Gov. Mitch Daniels was right to veto a bill that would have created a waiver process for people who twice fail the general knowledge Praxis I exam for teaching in Indiana.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, contends that teacher shortages, especially in urban areas, must be addressed by limited license teachers or substitutes because they cannot find enough people to teach.

But the Praxis exam measures knowledge in the teacher candidate’s chosen field, so failure to pass it has to reflect on most candidates’ critical knowledge.

Daniels remains uncompromising about exposing children often most in need to a potentially inferior education.

“We must continue to think and act creatively to attract qualified teachers to our toughest schools, where the needs for their talents are greatest, rather than lowering the standards we will accept for teachers in those or any of our schools,” he said.

Part of that creativity might include pay differentials that provide financial incentive to teachers in those most difficult schools. Another might be to open the Praxis exams to more parties interested in teaching.

In this way, people now allowed to teach classes to college students, but not at public high schools, and people who, say, have authored books, but are not allowed to teach literature in public schools, would get a deserving chance. And the kids in our education system could be the biggest winners.

– Palladium-Item, Richmond

        

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