Race-based study group attempts to sway states on Medicaid expansion with polling data.

Editors Note: The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, founded in 1970, is a non-profit institution that conducts research on political, economic, and social policy issues of concern to African Americans.

A poll by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, released Tuesday, says a majority of people — 62 percent — across five Southern states including Mississippi support Medicaid expansion as called for in the Affordable Care Act, despite opposition from Southern states’ governors to expansion.

In the poll, support for Medicaid expansion in Mississippi was lower than that in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and South Carolina, pollsters said, but still at 59 percent.

“I hope the leaders of these states will hear the will of the people,” Ralph B. Everett, president of the Joint Center, said during a teleconference from Washington on Tuesday. The center is a Washington-based public policy organization that deals primarily with minority issues.

Mississippi PEP’s Conservative State of the State survey results from January of 2013 shows conservative Mississippians reject Medicaid expansion in large numbers.

Bryant spokesman Mick Bullock said, “Last year, Mississippi spent more than $1.4 billion in state dollars on the existing Medicaid program — more than one quarter of our total state support budget. I’m sure the survey results would have been different had taxpayers been asked if they wanted to foot the bill for a drastic increase to this already enormous cost. Mississippi cannot afford it, and as Gov. Bryant has said many times, any expansion of Medicaid would result in tax increases for Mississippians or cuts to critical spending in areas like education, public safety and economic development.”

The poll showed a large difference in support between races — with African American support at 85 percent to 53 percent for whites — economic classes and political parties. Only 38 percent of Republicans supported expansion, compared to 87 percent of Democrats.

Recently, a poll sponsored by the Mississippi Republican Party, requested by Bryant, showed 76 percent of registered Republicans opposed expansion. Some questioned the validity of that poll, as well, noting the chief Medicaid expansion question included the term “Obamacare” and that 13 percent were unsure.

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College Board approves $11 million for Valley State gym expansion.

Another $11 million has been added to the budget to expand and renovate Mississippi Valley State University’s gymnasium complex.

The College Board approved plans Thursday to raise the budget for the overhaul of the R.W. Harrison Health, Physical Education and Recreation Complex to $17.5 million. The complex includes the 5,000-seat gymnasium where Valley’s basketball teams play. Plans call for an addition that will host academic assemblies and athletic events. The College Board had approved earlier plans with the understanding that more money would be added from a legislative bond issue.

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Democrat lawmakers look to Arkansas Medicaid deal as potential model for Mississippi.

 

The Arkansas “private option” plan has become a model that several conservative states are looking at as a possible solution to Medicaid expansion. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has given preliminary approval to the Arkansas “private option” plan. Arkansas has not submitted its formal proposal to HHS.

“This is the key to Republicans supporting the plan: Realization that we lost the battle to overturn Obamacare,” said Arkansas state Rep. Charlie Collins, a conservative Republican. “As a legislator I don’t have the luxury of living in a fantasy land and pretending Obamacare is not going to come to Arkansas, Mississippi or anywhere else.”

Now, some Mississippi lawmakers are looking at the Arkansas plan as a possible solution for the current standoff that has left the state’s program on track to shut down in less than two months.

Democratic lawmakers in Mississippi blocked Medicaid reauthorization and funding for the 2014 fiscal year after Republicans didn’t allow a bill to be considered to expand Medicaid in Mississippi. The Legislature ended its regular session this year without approving a funding bill, which required a three-fifths majority to pass.

State Reps. Cecil Brown, D-Jackson, and Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, traveled to Washington earlier this month to talk to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials about Medicaid, including the Arkansas plan.

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Rep. Frierson: Medicaid expansion will reduce education funding.

Funding for education is falling short because Medicaid is devouring a larger share of state money than it did a few years ago, a top Mississippi budget writer says in a letter to teachers and school administrators.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Herb Frierson, R-Poplarville, wrote that expanding Medicaid would create more uncertainty about funding for all levels of education, from kindergarten through universities.

“Do you think we should expand the Medicaid program knowing how it may cost the educational community?” Frierson wrote. “Can the educational institutions afford not to take a position on the expansion of the Medicaid program?”

But a Democrat who used to be a budget writer disputes the premise of Frierson’s letter. Rep. Cecil Brown, of Jackson, said in an interview Wednesday that money for education has fallen short because of many financial choices, including giving tax breaks to corporations and setting aside hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild the state’s financial reserves.

“Education hasn’t been funded because there hasn’t been a willingness to fund it,” Brown said, criticizing Republican leaders, including former two-term Gov. Haley Barbour, who left office in January 2012.

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State paying Iowa consulting firm $38K to find next Superintendent of Education.

Consultant Gary Ray and his employees will survey educational leaders and associations about what they want to see in the next superintendent, drawing up a profile that the board could approve by the end of the month. The candidate pool would be winnowed to a group of 8 to 12 people, with the board making its selection after one or two rounds of interviews in September.

Board member Charles McClelland, of Jackson, said he’d like to expedite the process because he fears that candidates might not want to leave their current jobs in the middle of the fall semester. But Ray told board members through a video conference that because many school personnel would be on vacation during the summer, his firm needed the full 90 days to publicize the opening and recruitment of candidates.

“The summer time is a difficult time to recruit because a lot of people are just not around,” Ray said. He agreed that the planned schedule might mean the next superintendent won’t start work until early 2014.

The state is paying Ray and Associates, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, more than $38,000 to help with the search.

Board members agreed to pay a new superintendent “in the range” of $300,000. Board members said the superintendent’s pay is capped at $305,000 a year.

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College Board seeks return to pre-budget cut numbers in 2015 budget.

The College Board will seek roughly $30 million more in state money in the 2015 budget year.

The board members voted Thursday to ask the Legislature for the money for Mississippi’s eight public universities.

Although the 2014 budget year doesn’t begin until July 1, state agencies begin planning requests for the following year in the spring, in advance of legislative hearings looking at 2015 requests in the fall.

Higher Education Commissioner Hank Bounds said $20 million would aid operations of the schools, using the new funding formula the board approved earlier this year. Projections show $20 million would provide enough money so every university would get at least a small increase. The board is trying to equalize funding among universities based on how many courses students complete and other factors.

“We are asking for an amount of money so that every campus moves in a positive way,” Bounds told the board.

The remaining $10 million would increase money for financial aid, agricultural units and other operations the Legislature funds separately.

The $20 million would be a 5.7 percent increase in state spending on general university operations. In 2014, the state will spend $252 million, while the board is seeking $272 million in 2015. That would be about what universities received in the 2010 budget year, before state funding cuts.

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Plunkett: More evidence of collaboration to steal public funds at Mississippi Dept. of Education.

BY: B. Keith Plunkett @Keithplunkett
I first noticed a blog post by the Bigger Pie Forum that published emails showing the Dept. of Education’s interior politics and pressures when it comes to school rankings on May 10 through a tweet. Now that story has been picked up by the Clarion Ledger. It ran this morning.

What it clearly shows is how out of whack things have been as it relates to accountability at the states government run schools, and how the more populous districts have used their considerable power to sway officials at MDE to keep taxpayer money flowing into the coffers.

Bigger Pie reported:

In August 2011, MDE’s former director of its Office of Research and Statistics (ORS) told an MDE contract worker via e-mail that he arbitrarily changed school ratings to make certain schools look more successful than they actually were. Some ratings alternations were made at the request of superintendents.

Former ORS director, Ken Thompson, e-mailed computer programmer Steve Hebbler (who is still under contract with MDE) about finalizing assessment files for the accountability model. Thompson mentioned “appeals” by school administrators who were not happy with their schools’ ratings and wanted them changed.

Judging by Thompson’s emails the pressure must have been intense. In the published emails he said he had become “too tired to fight”.

“I just finished wading through the appeals. We received 33 appeals but it was mostly garbage. I swear I think someone gave out stupid pills this year by the truck load.

“Jackson Public Schools decided they didn’t like the grade-level of 45 students so they want them excluded just because they think they are too old to be in the grade that JPS placed them.

“Hinds County thinks we should apportion proficiency rather than use FAY so they sent pages of students to apportion.

“Tupelo just can’t read and sent pages of students that they claimed weren’t in the SLAIF.

“And the list goes on….

“Some appeals were close enough to valid that I let them have them since it made a difference in the school. Some I let have them just because I’m too tired to fight. There were several errors by schools miscoding test forms that resulted in Pearson restoring the assessments. Arthur is working on getting those results updated. We will have a few MAAECF scoring appeals to change as well. Arthur is going to get those results from Susan in Student Assessment.”

Thompson resigned from MDE in December 2011. He now works as a private educational consultant

Thompson told the Clarion Ledger that “he sometimes gave schools the benefit of the doubt when making decisions because he feels accountability labels in some cases serve as “a ‘gotcha’ system to judge schools.”

The labels put public pressure on schools, Thompson said, and he understands why schools fight for every percentage point.

The Clarion Ledger reporter also decided to call on government school apologist and protector Nancy Loome of The Parents’ Campaign who began circling the wagons for her benefactors at the Superintendents Association.

“When we use assessments and accountability labels to demonize public education, that is a misuse of that system,” she said.

In another email exchange with DeSoto County Schools Accountability and Research Director Ryan Kuykendall, Thompson freely admitted to cooking the books.

“Since your public rate is higher than the rate on your final report, the correct graduation rate was slightly lower than the graduation rate I had originally given you,” Thompson said in an email later that same day. “Consequently, I used the incorrect rate since it was the most advantageous to the district.”

Is there any wonder our education system is in the shape it’s in?

Mrs. Loome has it partially correct. The use of assessments and accountability labels have been misused. But, not to demonize public education. Government school administrators have managed to do that job all on their own.

This effort has been an outright fraud perpetrated by public school administrators against the taxpayers, the students and the parents of Mississippi. Will none of our public officials charged with the job of protecting the public interest call it what it is?

This deserves, at the very least, to be the subject of an investigation.

About Keith: Keith Plunkett has worked on communications issues with a range of public officials from aldermen to Congressmen, and a variety of businesses, governmental agencies and non-profits. He serves or has served as a board member of several non-profit, civic and political organizations. Contact him by going to HorizonMediaMarketing.com or follow him on Twitter @Keithplunkett

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MS House Dems meet with Federal HHS officials to gather info for “alternative” Medicaid legislation

Last week, state Reps. Cecil Brown, D-Jackson, and Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, traveled to Washington to meet with officials of the Department of Health and Human Services.

“They clearly want to work with Mississippi officials and are willing to consider options,” Brown and Johnson said in a statement. “We intend to spend the next couple of weeks working on some alternative legislation that we would seek comments from them and that we would propose during any special session.”

Brown and Johnson said they hope Bryant agrees to work with them on compromise legislation to continue the current Medicaid program and expand it to include 300,000 additional low-income working Mississippians.

But Bryant blames Democrats for the stalemate.

The Mississippi Hospital Association has come out in support of expanding Medicaid.

Gwen Combs, vice president of policy for the Mississippi Hospital Association, says MHA estimates state hospitals will see a reduction of 75 percent, from $198 million to $50 million, in 2014 federal fiscal year in Medicare cuts to hospitals prior to Medicaid cuts taking effect.

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How much do Mississippi’s public college presidents make?

The Chronicle of Higher Education released their annual ranking of executive compensation at 191 public colleges including Mississippi schools.

According to the Chronicle, public college leaders are seeing an increase in pay. The median base compensation rose to $441,392 from 2010-2011.

As for the Mississippi public college president’s total compensation for the 2012 fiscal year, according to the Chronicle, Mississippi State University’s Mark Keenum’s had $458,299. University of Mississippi president Daniel W. Jones received $454,298 and former University of Southern Mississippi president Martha Saunders made $369,125.

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MDOC Squeeze: Parole Board Chairman McMillan not concerned with budget.

Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps says the prison system faces a budget crunch, partly because the Parole Board releases fewer inmates these days.

But the Parole Board chairman, Malcolm McMillin, says it’s not his job to worry about Epps’ budget.

McMillin said decisions about parole are strictly up to the five-member Parole Board, which he has led since Gov. Phil Bryant appointed him to the post in January 2012. He said he sees no need to meet with Epps to talk about the prisons’ financial condition.

“As far as the Department of Corrections goes, I think it is up to the commissioner to be concerned as to whether or not his budget is balanced and whether he has enough money to operate is between (him) and the Legislature,” said McMillin, a former Hinds County sheriff.

The Clarion-Ledger reported that Epps sent McMillin a letter last month requesting a meeting because he wants McMillin to understand how the Parole Board’s actions affect the Mississippi Department of Corrections Budget.

Epps compared two 10-month periods. He said 47.8 percent of eligible inmates were paroled from March to December 2011. From May 2012 to this past February, the board paroled 35.5 percent of those eligible.

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