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Minnesota and the new National Alzheimer’s Plan
St. Paul recently became a part of Alzheimer’s history when the Obama Administration announced its national strategy for tackling the disease. Under this strategy, the administration hopes to find ways to treat and prevent Alzheimer’s by 2025. With a budget of $100 million, they intend to fund mostly research projects, but it will also provide support to caregivers, educate the public, and increase data collection.
With grant money from the Obama administration, researchers will test a new insulin nasal spray that a St. Paul doctor developed 15 years ago.
While the literature is still developing, doctors are seeing a connection between the role of insulin and the brain’s normal memory processes. Glenn Smith, a clinical neuropsychologist at the Mayo Clinic, explains, “[p]reliminary research suggests that when taken as a nose spray, insulin reaches the brain within a few minutes and improves memory.” But, Smith cautions, “[t]his research involved small groups of participants who had either early Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment. Although this research is promising, more research on the safety and effectiveness of intranasal insulin therapy for Alzheimer's disease is necessary.” Hopefully, the grant money from Washington will move us one step closer to a conclusive answer.
But Minnesota’s influence does not stop there. Dr. Ronald Peterson, the director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, is also the chair of the advisory council that produced the plan. He is optimistic about the prospects, saying: “I think [the national Alzheimer's strategy] is aggressive, but it may very well be accomplished as well." Minnesota's role in the formation of this strategy should not be surprising; we have got 98,000 reasons to get involved. 98,000 is the number of people that suffer from Alzheimer, and as the baby boomers get older it will only grow. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, by almost 25%.
This is a pressing problem for the nation and Minnesota. The cost of caring for people with dementia is huge, almost $200 billion this year. And it’s only going to get more expensive as that number grows. While Minnesota does have some policy language on Alzheimer's, it is far from comprehensive. The Alzheimer’s Disease Working Group argues that, “Minnesota needs a much stronger and comprehensive statement on Alzheimer’s disease, which articulates the state’s commitment to policies and actions that support its citizens affected by the disease and prepares the state for the enormous increases in Alzheimer’s that lie ahead.”
Posted in Health Care | Related Topics: Mental Health Senior Issues
Bad Evaluation System Costs NYC Good Teachers
Maybe it's the whole East Coast thing, but for whatever reason, New York City's unethical release of so-called “value-added” scores linked to individual teacher names has generated much more analysis and outrage than a similar 2010 data dump in Los Angeles. Case in point: The Washington Post's blog “The Answer Sheet” brings us the story of Ms. Abbott, a good teacher done wrong.
Ms. Abbott teaches (well, taught) at the Anderson School on Manhattan's Upper West Side. A gifted-and-talented school, its students are routinely grade levels ahead of where they're supposed to be. In Ms. Abbott's case, her seventh and eight grade math students had covered the tested material two or three years earlier. In 2009, her seventh grade students scored in the 98th percentile of all seventh grade math classes in New York City. According to the city's “value-added” model, they should have been in the 97th percentile as eight graders in 2010. When they only made it to the 89th percentile, Ms. Abbot was informed that her “value-added” calculation meant 0% of eighth-grade math teachers scored below her.
Never mind that all of her honors students who took the high school level Regents Integrated Algebra exam in January passed, nor that one out of every three of those students got a perfect score. Never mind that her students' thought processes were often too sophisticated for the state tests used to calculate her “value-added” score. In problems that called for explanation, her students' response was to use equations when the simplistic grading approach was often no more sophisticated than looking for a keyword.
It turns out that this was the last straw. To quote “The Answer Sheet”:
“I love to teach,” she says. And she loves mathematics. Ultimately, she decided, the mathematics was more important than the teaching, although she envisions teaching mathematics at the college level in the future. “It’s too hard to be a teacher in New York City,” she says. “Everything is stacked against you. You can’t just measure what teachers do and slap a number on it.”
The East Coast's loss is the Midwest's gain; in the fall, Ms. Abbott will start pursuing a mathematics Ph.D. at UW-Madison. While she's there, maybe she can share her experience with the university's Value Added Research Center that helped design the New York evaluation model. Minnesota's policy makers should view hers as a cautionary tale about the dangers of bad evaluation systems.
Posted in Education | Related Topics: Teachers Teacher Assessment
Tougher Decision for Gov. Ramsey than Gov. Dayton
Minnesota conservatives’ business property tax breaks would have had a real impact on job creation. Yes, they would have. If it was still 1850, eight years before Minnesota’s official statehood, when the average non-farm worker earned roughly $330 and the average carpenter made $550 yearly.
But with a typical annual state property tax cut of about $27 for Minnesota businesses owning a $150,000 property and whopping $228 for $1 million properties, it’s tough to see what kind of economic development they would have generated today. It would have also cost the state about $47 million through fiscal year 2015.
That kind of math might have provided territorial governor Alexander Ramsey with a tough decision. For Governor Mark Dayton, vetoing such a lopsided 2012 revised tax bill was a clearer choice.
No doubt, conservatives will rail against the governor’s veto as anti-jobs, but here’s the irony, conservatives actually paired back many initiatives that would have spurred job growth and economic development, including incentives to hire unemployed veterans or recent college graduates, buy new equipment and enhance local development.
When it comes to fiscal responsibility, conservatives wanted to continue the borrow from the future trend they engaged in last year, cutting into our Minnesota’s fragile budget reserves for business tax cuts, with real chance they’d create actual jobs.
Even more egregious, an initial House version of this conservative legislation, took money from the Minnesota Renter’s Credit—which provides relief to low- and moderate-income families—to finance tax breaks for big businesses and cabin owners. Now that’s redistribution of wealth.
Posted in Fiscal Policy | Related Topics: Business Growth Governor Dayton Business Tax
The Affordable Care Act and Medical Bankruptcy
When Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, it set out to accomplish many reforms, including reducing medical bankruptcies. President Obama said, people—with and without insurance—“have gone bankrupt because of health care.”
The President is right! Medical bankruptcy is a serious problem, responsible for approximately 54% of all personal bankruptcies. But will the Affordable Care Act be successful at reducing medical bankruptcies?
The answer? Sorta.
The ACA does impose maximum caps on out-of-pocket expenses: $5,950 for individuals, $11,900 for families. And those efforts will not be in vain; the average medically bankrupt family owes nearly $18,000 and will benefit from the cap. But its not that simple. The ACA’s commitment to maintaining a competitive market for insurance drives companies to use consumer-choice type insurance plans that have high deductibles in order to keep costs low.
Furthermore, the 80/20 rule requiring insurance companies to spend at least 80% of premiums on medical services and not overhead, will force them to cut back on managed-care plans.
These consumer-choice plans will leave many families pushing up against these caps. Ryan Sugden, in the Journal of Law and Policy, points out: “When the ‘double whammy’ of an illness hits—rising medical costs meeting reduced income—even the Affordable Care Act's out-of-pocket cap will be insufficient to protect against a budgetary crunch all too familiar to many low- and middle-income families.”
That is not to say that the ACA will have no effect on medical bankruptcies. For many, people insurance works well and for many having access to insurance is sufficient. But, as long as health care maintains its market-oriented approach there will be winners and losers, and bankruptcy is a natural part of that cycle.
Essentially the ACA will likely reduce the total number of medical bankruptcies, but it will further reinforce a system that makes some inevitable. We are faced with a choice; between accepting some bankruptcy as inevitable or pursuing a more substantial reform project that forces us to leave behind much of the current system.
In the short-term, the ball is in Minnesota’s court. According to rules issued by HHS, states will be responsible for determining whether or not the ACA-mandated exchanges will be “active purchasers” or an “open marketplace.” Exchanges that are active purchasers will be able to extract concessions from insurers while an open marketplace allows all insurance plans that meet the ACA’s requirements to be sold on the exchange. By being aggressive and establishing an active purchasing exchange that can negotiate for low deductibles and larger benefits, Minnesota can control costs and prevent some medical bankruptcies.
Posted in Health Care | Related Topics: Health Insurance Health Care Reform Personal Finance
NCLB 2.0
It's deja vu all over again. While growing numbers of states seek and receive waivers from No Child Left Behind (NCLB), certain familiar trends stand out. On the one hand, we've found ways to make bad mechanisms better. On the other hand, don't count on that doing much.
Education Week has an article examining the different school grading systems being implemented in the states that have applied for federal waivers from NCLB's restrictions. Minnesota is mentioned, with specific attention paid to our inclusion of Annual Measurable Objectives (AMOS – yes, I know, another acronym) in school scores.
The broad point of the article is that states vary widely in how they assess and report school quality. While each state must have such a system to receive a waiver, the details are left up to the states with only occasional federal intervention.
In some ways, this smacks of one of the core problems of NCLB. Under that law, states must track whether or not schools are making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) on standardized tests. The thing is, each state got to use its own tests and set its own cutoff points for AYP. The result was a crazy patchwork of “school quality” reports that “showed” otherwise similar states like Arizona and New Mexico having wildly divergent levels of “school quality”.
The school grading systems now rolling out are more nuanced than a strict test score calculation. That is, generally speaking, a good thing. State-to-state comparisons are still going to be an absolute mess, but that isn't any worse a situation than under NCLB (or, for that matter, under the pre-NCLB framework that had much fewer requirements for states). What this says to me is that we still have problems figuring out how the federal government can play an effective role in improving school quality, if it can indeed do so at all.
The broader point is that the new systems are unlikely to tell us things we didn't already know. I may be proven wrong, but I'll predict right now that most of the schools in the southwest suburbs of Minneapolis will generally score well, while the northside schools won't fare as well. We already know which schools and communities need more resources and development, so let's focus on getting the job done.
Posted in Education | Related Topics: NCLB
Signs of the Times: Federal Move Saves Minnesotans Millions
In rescinding dozens of W. Bush-era federal regulations mandating replacement of street and highway signs, the Obama administration has saved Minnesota communities $55 million to $76 million, according to Minnesota U.S. Sen. Al Franken.
The Federal Highway Administration "listened to the concerns of communities across Minnesota and decided to elminate these unreasonable deadlines, giving them more control over their budgets and their road signs," Franken told the Star Tribune.
The relaxed rules will allow state and local governments to replace traffic signs when they wear out instead of by specific deadlines prescribed by the FHWA in January 2008. Upgraded federal standards for reflectivity, size and type face, meant to enhance readability and safety, will apply at that point. In addition, communities may keep historic street-name signs in historic districts indefinitely.
While 46 different deadlines were shelved, a dozen deemed critical to public safety were retained. They include requirements for "One Way" signs at divided highway intersections and "Stop" and "Yield" signs at railroad crossings without automatic gates or flashing lights.
"Officials at the state and local levels are in the best position to make decisions related to sign replacement and other issues related to traffic management," said FHWA Administrator Victor Mendez. "These changes will give them the flexibility they need to make the best use of taxpayer dollars."
It's good to see Washington backing away from costly, unnecessary mandates on lower levels of government, especially when public budgets remain tight as a drum.
Posted in Transportation | Related Topics: Local Government Roads & Highways Road Safety Transportation Funding
Coal’s Changing Landscape
Last year the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued two rulings (the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule and the Mercury and Air Toxic Standards) that require new and existing coal- and oil-fired power plants to reduce ozone, particulate matter and other toxic emissions.
These new regulations, combined with extremely low natural gas prices, have caused coal plants throughout the country to install significant emission-reduction upgrades, and have forced some of the oldest and dirtiest plants to shut down altogether. Expect to see these upgrades and potential shutdowns among the 10 major coal-fired power plants that supply energy to Minnesota customers.
Minnesota Power has been retrofitting the coal-fired units in its Boswell Energy Center (Northeast Minnesota’s largest energy generation station) over the past six years to reduce emissions, but recently announced a doubling of those efforts to its largest unit. Xcel Energy is currently in what it calls “a deep dive” to analyze its future energy generation needs, including the role played by the Sherburne County Generating Station, by far the state’s largest coal plant. In late December of last year, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) approved significant upgrades at Otter Tail Power’s Big Stone plant across the South Dakota border (which serves about 60,000 Minnesota customers) to mitigate harmful emissions.
But in the same decision the MPUC did not approve similar upgrades to Otter Tail Power’s two coal units at the Hoot Lake Power Plant near Fergus Falls, MN. While the major units getting upgrades were built in the 1970s or later, these smaller units were built in the late 1950s and early 1960s, are some of the oldest coal-fired units in the state, and may succumb to the same fate that old coal plants throughout the country are currently facing.
With low natural gas prices and expensive retrofits pending, some of the country’s older and smaller (and consequentially dirtier) plants are simply no longer economically viable to operate. One example is the expedited closing of two coal plants outside Chicago this September. As Otter Tail Power analyzes its future energy generation and financial needs, the two Hoot Lake coal units may close up shop as well. Coincidentally, Minnesota's Department of Commerce recently concluded that Minnesota Power should close down 3 of its coal-fired units by 2016 and 2 more by 2020 due to economic concerns for consumers and industries.
Although we do not experience the direct impacts of coal mining here in Minnesota, we do feel the environmental and health impacts of burning one of the dirtiest fossil fuels on earth. Forward-thinking efforts by officials at the state and federal levels are helping move Minnesota toward a healthier and greener energy portfolio.
Posted in Economic Development | Related Topics: Energy Environment Sustainability
Can’t Stop Counting Bad Policies
I really thought the Huffington Post was trying to steal market share from the Onion the other day. Scrolling through my news feed, I saw the headline: “House Votes to Cut Census Survey Done Since Thomas Jefferson.”
While the “Since Thomas Jefferson” part was a little nuanced, it turns out the U.S. House had voted to eliminate two major surveys vital for understanding our nation’s demographics—the American Community Survey (ACS) and Economic Census. Both are priceless tools for millions of U.S. businesses.
A Minnesota 2020 staffer’s digging (thanks Rachel) found a U.S. Census-produced video highlighting Target Corporation singing the Census’s praises. The video includes several company leaders explaining how Census numbers, including the ACS, used in conjunction with sales and other internal data help the company make critical stocking decisions in their 1,700 nationwide stores.
“Census data is the only source of information that can give us neighborhood level data in an urban center,” says Joan Naymark, who was then Target’s marketing, analytics, and planning director.
In the video, Target managers explain how urban stores tend to require much smaller packaging and smaller home furnishings for people living in more compact homes and taking public transit. ACS data, they say, has been critical to understand urbanization trends, allowing them to place apparel that appeals to a younger customer base.
“No one else but the Census Bureau has the resources and ability to collect the information at this level of accuracy for all places in the U.S.” Naymark went on to say how the ACS is a real bonus because of its annual updates.
Target is Minnesota’s second largest corporation, with nearly 70 billion in annual sales, and one of the state’s 19 Fortune 500 companies. If conservatives are so pro-business, why would they want to do away with such a valuable business tool?
Think about it. The Census is a vital piece of our nation’s information infrastructure, just as vital to businesses as roads, bridges, airports, and a high-integrity judiciary.
This is the kind of limited government, anti-intellectual, anti-tax path modern conservatism has set us on. It’s the wrong direction. Here's one more example.
Posted in Economic Development | Related Topics: Business Growth Federal Government
Let’s Talk About Race
Bringing up race in discussions of education (outside the observation of white/black or white/Latino achievement gaps) is often a recipe for derailed conversations, high emotions, and lack of meaningful progress. Whether destructive stereotypes about how much certain racial or ethnic groups “value” education or the perpetuation of myths about racial intelligence, attempts to lay blame for the achievement gap on people of color are just flat out wrong. So what's the real deal?
(Obviously a 400-word blog post cannot begin to grapple with every facet of race and education, but I'd like to lay out some broad strokes and get some feedback to drive further investigation and elaboration.)
Arguments, including some that have cropped up in comments here, that label teachers or the entire education system as racist certainly draw attention, and often contain good points, tend not to foster the necessary conversations, either. Fundamentally, the responsibility for strictly racial differences in outcomes lies primarily with our social institutions—including education, but also law enforcement, the court system, etc.
Now, I've argued that “the achievement gap” in a general sense is largely about income, not race, and I hold to that. The intersection of class and race is complicated, and I continue to believe that the bulk of achievement differences that we see are the result of the material and psychological effects of poverty rather than race.
However, I also believe that a smaller share of most racial achievement gaps is actually about race. This is not the result of evil teachers consciously choosing to give white students higher grades. Sometimes it's the exact opposite—giving students of color insincere positive grades and feedback – out of a desire to appear unbiased.
As an upper middle class white teacher whose students were mostly people of color from low-income backgrounds, I was familiar with the subtle pressure to make allowances on account of the outside difficulties a student faced. I tried to resist that pressure whenever possible, but probably succumbed more times than I'm aware of. That the differences in treatment came from a place of sympathy rather than hatred doesn't mitigate their potential to hurt rather than help, and it's from this place that the “No excuses” schools (including, yes, Harvest Prep) bring real strength to the discussion.
We do no one any favors by pretending these problems don't exist. Engaging on this is a long, difficult process, but it's a process we as progressives must drive and experience.
Posted in Education | Related Topics: K-12 education Achievement Gap Minority Issues Poverty
Complete Streets: Not Just a Metropolitan Fad
It's a bedrock American principle that public facilities should be accessible to all the people, even if we haven't always honored it. Despite years of Americans with Disabilities Act reforms, some government buildings still block out wheelchairs. And streets and roads, full of a wild mix of human-, animal- and fossil fuel-powered transport a century ago, gradually were monopolized by motor vehicles.
Only recently has a principled campaign to reopen public rights-of-way to non-drivers begun to take hold. It's called Complete Streets, now a policy of the state of Minnesota and many local governments. Some of this movement is centered in the Twin Cities area, but most of our state's official Complete Streets policies have been adopted by governments outside the metro—places like exurban Big Lake and rural Pipestone, Dilworth, Clay and Ottertail counties. The Minnesota Complete Streets Coalition has the full list.
One of the first cities in Minnesota to take this step was Albert Lea, back in September 2009, eight months before the state did so. In a recent guest column in the Albert Lea Tribune, City Council Member Ellen Kehr recounts this history, calling it "a step in the right direction toward making Albert Lea and all Minnesota roads safer and more accessible to users of all ages and abilities, whether traveling by car, on foot or bike."
"Why complete streeets?" she added. "They provide accessibility to seniors, children and people with disabilities. They have a proven record of promoting community connectedness and bringing vibrancy, efficiency and economic stimulus to the areas they serve. Building on our economic value and quality of life, complete streets can lower transportation costs for families and enhance our environment."
Albert Lea's Front Street bicycle lanes were among the first in Greater Minnesota, Kehr said. "We can be proud to say that Albert Lea has been a leader in the area of both passing public policy and implementing the complete streets design," she concluded.
May is National Bike Month, an occasion for two-wheel events across America. In Albert Lea, the festivities include a Family Bike Rodeo, Bike to Work Day, adult and child triathlons and "Albert Lea Open Streets: A Day of Play."
We usually think of alternative transportation as a big-city phenomenon. But regional centers such as Albert Lea, population 18,000 and relatively unsprawled, may actually provide more fertile ground for nonmotorized mobility.
Posted in Transportation | Related Topics: Minnesota Cities City Management Complete Streets Bicycles