The Gainesville Sun exposes what should be a "Jeb!" scandal today in "Privatizing problems:
It's supposed to be cheaper for private companies to run state services. In order to do that, one usually has to resort to the lowest bidder. But that's not what happened when the state decided to turn over the Florida Information Resource Network to a private company. . . . Last spring, the Florida Department of Education paid Hayes E-Government Resources $9 million to take it over.
But federal authorities notified the state in June that it was denying a request for more than $7.6 million to pay Hayes, saying federal regulations weren't followed in hiring the company, and that documentation showed "that price was not the primary factor in selecting this service provider's proposal." . . .
Hayes' principal lobbyist is J.M. "Mac" Stipanovich, a Republican operative who was campaign manager for Gov. Jeb Bush's unsuccessful gubernatorial run in 1994.
Florida already has transferred state employees to Hayes. Now, officials may have to return to the Legislature in search of more money in an already tight budget year . . .. FIRN operated well under state control for nearly 20 years."
Read it here. As usual, "Jeb!" will not be called to account for this outrage.
Special Session Madness -If the Legislature has a session in October, it will be designated 2003E. The E doesn't stand for "excessive" or "embarrassing," although it would be both; it's the fifth letter of the alphabet, representing the fifth time the 160 lawmakers will meet since they supposedly finished for the year on May 2. "Restrict any new session".
Putting Ed Testing In Perspective -The state's SAT scores, though better than those of 10 years ago, have declined in the past five years. Bob Schaeffer, FairTest's public-education director, said that undermines the assertion made by Gov. Jeb Bush and his administration that education has improved since he was elected in 1998.
"There is no evidence in that data or in the ACT data that the overall quality of education of high-school students in Florida is improving," Schaeffer said. "More in Florida take SAT but lag nation in scores".
Different Priorities - On one hand, Buddy Dyer and the "Orlando City Council ha[ve] approved a 'living wage' law for city employees and contract workers." On the other hand, we read that in "June, Governor Jeb Bush signed a bill that prevents local governments from making businesses pay more than the federal minimum wage" See "Orlando enacts 'living wage' law"
Could It Be Because He Was A "Union" Leader?Too often, high-profile community leaders convicted of even serious misconduct seem to escape with a judge's wrist-slap. That leniency sends a harmful and unwelcome message about a different, unfair and more lenient standard of justice for the wealthy and well-connected.
DCF - An internal review by the Department of Children & Families found that its work to reduce the backlog of incomplete child abuse investigations may have left thousands of children "at risk of harm." "DCF effort left kids `at risk'". See also "A Numbers Game".