Back for another week of policy news:

Star Tribune – Nick Coleman: Charters, as a cure, feel like a disease

Once again, Nick Coleman nails it.

“More than 80 percent of charter schools were found to have serious financial or management problems during 2007, according to a review of state records done by the liberal think tank Minnesota 2020. That group’s executive director, John Van Hecke, finds it ironic that charter schools, built on a promise to make education more responsive, have avoided the scrutiny traditional public schools must face.

“When they were launched, the battle cry was, ‘We’ll be better than traditional public schools,’” he said. “Now it’s, ‘Don’t hold us to the same standards as traditional schools.’ But the public clearly is demanding more and more accountability over how its money is spent. And the answer is more and more oversight, from the Education Department and the Legislature.”"

Minnesota Independent: Healing ‘doctor drain’ in rural Minnesota provides additional community benefits

The need for rural medical professionals is great, programs like this are a good start.

WCCO: Homeless Speak Out Against Pawlenty’s Health Cuts

Hubert Humphrey said, “It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”

Marshall Independent: County talks LGA, library

“Lyon County Commissioners don’t want to levy the amount the county will lose in local government aid, county commissioner Mark Goodenow and county administrator Loren Stomberg said this week.

Stomberg had prepared a preliminary budget for the general fund and highway department fund for 2010 that included about a 3.8 percent increase for the council to consider at Tuesday’s meeting. The increase includes levying about $150,000 to recapture what is expected to be lost in LGA for 2010, Stomberg said.

“We’re not going to levy back the LGA cuts,” Goodenow said this week. “We could, but that’s a one-time thing. What would we do after that?”"

Mankato Free Press: Strand now the voice of LGA

mnpACT!: Rise in State Health Costs Could Come from Budget Cuts

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Tags: Charter Schools, GAMC, LGA, Rural Doctors

This entry was posted on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 12:13 pm and is filed under Education, Health Care, Minnesota Communities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.