The Right Not to Pay vs. Individual Freedom

Guest column by Chuck Muth

OK, show of hands: How many of you believe motorcycle riders should be forced to wear a helmet because if they're injured in an accident they could possibly become a financial liability to taxpayers? Hmm, I see some limited government conservatives with their arms up. Bummer.

Apparently y'all believe that an infringement on an individual adult's liberty is acceptable as long as it's for the purpose of limiting potential financial exposure to the taxpaying public. Which means you probably agree with the following comments that "Elizabeth" recently posted on my MuthsTruths.com blog:

"An unhelmeted rider is most likely to be an uninsured rider. Private insurance cannot help if the rider is not insured. Logic dictates saving taxpayer funds, and wearing a helmet has been proven, in study after study, to do just that. Your wish to have the wind rushing through your hair is infringing on my right not to have to pay for your stupidity."

OK, fine. But I assume those of you who agree with "Elizabeth" will be consistent and support legislation forcing unmarried women to put any children born to them out of wedlock up for adoption, right?

What? Your answer is "no"? How so if you're willing to infringe upon the right of a motorcyclist to ride without a helmet because it infringes on your "right not to pay" for someone else's stupidity. Indeed, consider the following by columnist Ann Coulter on the subject:

"(T)he leading cause of all social pathologies is single motherhood. ... The statistics are so jaw-dropping that not giving up an illegitimate child for adoption ought to be considered child abuse. Various studies have shown that children raised by a single mother comprise about 70 percent of juvenile murderers, delinquents, teenaged mothers, drug abusers, dropouts, suicides and runaways.

"...A 1990 study by the Progressive Policy Institute showed that, after controlling for single motherhood, the difference in black and white crime rates disappeared. Meanwhile, adopted kids, on average, turn out better than even biological kids raised in two-parent families.

"...We could wipe out chronic poverty in America tomorrow if only women would get married before having children or give up their illegitimate kids for adoption. ... A 2008 study led by Georgia State University economist Benjamin Scafidi conservatively estimated that single mothers cost the U.S. taxpayer $112 billion every year..."

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm certainly not advocating that we start ripping newborns from the arms of unmarried women. However, those who hide behind the "right not to pay" argument need to understand the dangerously slippery slope they're heading down.

As Ronald Reagan once said, "I don't believe in a government that protects us from ourselves. That's one of our sacred rights - to be stupid."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach and blogs at www.MuthsTruths.com. He may be reached at chuck@citizenoutreach.com.

Bad teachers

Over the next week I'm going to review a handful of education bills that were signed into law and give you the skinny: what's great and what is not so great?

I'll start with AB 225 - this bill allows tenured teachers with two unsatisfactory reviews in a row to be put on probationary status (aka tenure is revoked). Teachers must then do another year as a probationary teacher in which they can be dismissed at the end of the year if they don't improve.

Sounds great, but is this a good bill? The devil is in the details and well...this bill isn't that great once you get to know the details.

First, teachers can "fight" unsatisfactory reviews, forcing the principals into multiple meetings with the teacher. In these potentially lengthy meetings, the principal must explain the teachers deficiencies and provide reasonable assistance to help improve the teacher's quality. Over the course of 1 probationary year, the principal must do three of these evaluations with each probationary teacher. There is, I've been told, a considerable amount of paperwork and time required when you write an unsatisfactory teacher evaluation. It is such a headache for principals, that many just give teachers satisfactory evaluations and move on. This is why some 97 percent of teachers get satisfactory evaluations.

Even still, the bulk of those teachers who receive unsatisfactory evaluations keep their jobs in the end. According to the left-of-center think tank, Center for American Progress, Nevada keeps 99.4 percent of its teachers (according to Governor Sandoval it is 99.7 percent). The reason? Thanks to mountains of paperwork and the ability to fight unsatisfactory reviews and ultimately fight the job termination itself, it is a pain in the butt to get rid of the bad teachers. Worse still, according to one principal I interviewed last year (who feared being sent to Goodsprings for talking about the process and so will remained unnamed) admitted the easiest way to get rid of bad teachers was to give them a good review!

What?

Here is how it works. Principals can figure out pretty quickly which new teacher stinks and which ones have potential. But instead of writing a bad review for the bad teachers and dealing with all the paper work, the principal writes a good review. With good review in hand, the principal then notifies the school district that they no longer need that teacher. The bad teacher, is then recycled back into the applicant pool where they are given first priority to any new job opening up in the district. In other words, bad teachers are just shuffled off to a different school.

This bill doesn't address that problem....at all.

Additionally, if the principal requests dismissal of the teacher, said teacher can continue the fight by requesting requesting arbitration. In other words, a tenured teacher still has four attempts to fight job termination. Worst of all, according to the Center for American Progress, Nevada actually fires more tenured teachers than untenured teachers.

In other words, very few, if any, bad teachers will be fired because of this new law.

These facts suggest not much will change. Unless the principal and student testing data evaluations are final (ie remove ability of teachers to fight and create mountains of paperwork and time wasting meetings for the principal) bill won't do much of anything right now.

While this is not a victory of "action" it is a victory in the "war of ideas." The seed has been planted that "getting rid of bad teachers" is a good idea. Its only a matter of time before that seed grows and real meaningful legislation can take root.

NV Supreme Court Upholds Ruling in CD2 Case - Republicans Rejoice

From the AP:

The Nevada Supreme Court says state Republican and Democratic party leaders can choose their candidate to run for the state's open U.S. House seat.

In a decision issued late Tuesday, justices upheld a lower court ruling and sided with the state Republican Party over Democrats and Secretary of State Ross Miller, who said the Sept. 13 special election should be an open contest.

The Nevada Republican Party issued the following press release after the ruling:

LAS VEGAS, NV – Amy Tarkanian, Chairman of the Nevada Republican Party, released the statement below following Supreme Court decision regarding the CD2 special election.

“We are extremely pleased with today’s ruling by the Nevada Supreme Court. The Nevada Republican Party chose to fight to preserve and protect the rights of the constituents of Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District and today’s ruling is a victory for us all. The decision handed down today simply affirms our unwavering position and finalizes an answer to our questions with the Secretary of State’s unfortunate initial ballot rules. Today’s ruling moves us one step closer to preserving this important seat, carrying our momentum into 2012 and turning Nevada red again.”

The Republicans have held this seat ever since it was created. It is widely believed the Democrats' only chance in this special election was a free-for-all "ballot royale" election in which everyone was free to register under their own party. Under this scenario, the much-more disciplined Democrats would run a single candidate while a number of Republicans would flood the field and split the party's vote among them.

This is why the Democrats favored the "ballot royale" created by Secretary of State Ross Miller and the Republicans sued to stop it.

The Supreme Court's decision ensures that only Mark Amodei, who was selected at the state party's central committee meeting a few weeks ago, will be able to run as a Republican. Barring anything unforeseen (and that never happens, right?) Amodei would have to be considered the favorite at this point.

Ignoring the Elephants in the Room

This morning the Las Vegas Sun editorial board penned a piece lamenting the loss of good teachers. Of course, the culprits, in their view, are budget cuts and "the No Child Left Behind initiative of former President George W. Bush, which ties federal education funding to test results."

The Sun does, however, say something with which I completely agree.

Because the focus needs to be on the best way to educate children, good teachers should be rewarded and poor teachers should be replaced. Following that blueprint, while maintaining a well-rounded education that also includes instruction in history, arts and foreign languages, will give students the best chance to succeed in life.

Then they wander off into the standard talking points of the left when it comes to education, or anything having to do with the government, more money, more money, more money.

NLV Fire Department Confirms Oceguera Was Double-Dipping

The first rule of holes is: When you're in one stop digging. Apparently, they don't teach that in firefighter school.

Last week, the Nevada Journal, a publication of the Nevada Policy Research Institute, revealed that its study of the pay records of the North Las Vegas Fire Department indicated that Nevada Assembly Speaker John Oceguera, whose full-time job is assistant fire chief for NLVFD may have been double-dipping while in the Legislature - receiving pay for two government jobs at the same time.

Happy Independence Day