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We’re No. 5 – in Roads! It’s All About Priorities The Reason Foundation’s 19th Annual Highway Report ranked Nebraska with the fifth best state roads system in the country. The report considered urban and rural interstate conditions (Nebraska ranked first); urban interstate congestion (22nd); maintenance (15th); capital and bridge disbursements (11th); and rural and other principal arterial condition (34th). Nebraska ranks ninth in total highway system disbursements, yet state policymakers (including 40 state senators) met in Omaha in August to find ways to increase funding for roads. Nebraskans are justifiably proud of the roads ranking, but note that Nebraska ranks 50th – dead last – in the amount of state dollars allocated to K-12 education. Just 10 years ago, Nebraska was 29th in the roads ranking.
to sound flip, but I wonder how many parents would want their names published with the achievement scores of their own kids.” Test Scores Don’t Reflect Teacher Effectiveness A new report by the Economic Policy Institute says student test scores are not reliable indicators of teacher effectiveness. The report said “the accuracy and reliability of analyses of student test scores, even in their most sophisticated form, is highly problematic for high-stakes decisions regarding teachers. Consequently, policymakers and all stakeholders in education should rethink this new emphasis on the centrality of test scores for holding teachers accountable.” The report is at: http://www.epi.org/ publications/entry/6276/
A Bigger Bite Tony Danza’s Toughest Job The Kaiser Family FoundaTony Danza’s acting career tion and the Health Research has had twists and turns, none and Educational Trust report more startling than the latest. that workers are paying a greatTeach: Tony Danza, is a reality er share of their health insurshow that premiers on A&E on ance costs these days. Friday, Oct. 1. In it Danza, who The average employee conhas a bachelor’s degree in edutribution to health insurance cation, tries his hand at teachcosts rose 14 percent in the past ing English to 26 sophomores All about coaches: Among the Nebraska coaches and year, to nearly $4,000. The rein Philadelphia’s biggest public NSEA members to stop by NSEA’s booth at the Ne- port said companies that offer high school. Coaches Association annual convention recently benefits still pay, on average, 70 Danza earned his degree braska were, from left, Elizabeth Grosc and Amanda Novak, Dayears ago, but quickly realized vid City; and Kate Kloke, Shelby.They visited with NSEA percent of the premium. But in the past year companies have “I was too young to teach any- UniServ Director Duane Obermier, at right. not absorbed increases, instead body anything.” Nearing 60, he passing those increases on to said, he began to wonder about employees. Deductibles are also rising, particularly in small what he might do with the rest of his life. The television show companies, where 46 percent of workers are now enrolled in gives him the chance to live out a dream, but Danza committed such plans – a 30 percent increase in just four years. only after he was assured that the kids came first. Danza said he was scared, afraid of failure, and cried three times in the first More From the Insurance Front week. Check local listings. Seen in The Hill, a blog site reporting on policy and politics: “We’re just days away from a new era when insurance comMore on Anderson, Schimek panies must stop denying coverage to kids just because they Last month’s edition omitted two key facts. First, it should are sick, and now some of the biggest changed their minds and have noted that the late Vickie Anderson served as NSEA vice decided to refuse to sell child-only coverage,” said Health Care president for seven years – believed to be a longer term of offor America Now Executive Director Ethan Rome in a statefice in that post than any other vice president in NSEA history. ment. “The latest announcement by the insurance companies Former State Sen. DiAnna Schimek received NEA’s Mary that they won’t cover kids is immoral, and to blame their apHatwood Futrell Award in June. She was nominated for the palling behavior on the new law is patently dishonest.” award by the NSEA’s Ethnic and Minority Affairs Committee. Tying Testing to Teachers It was just a matter of time: In August, The Los Angeles Times began printing classroom-by-classroom test scores, linking each classroom to a teacher by name. The newspaper said it planned to print results for some 6,000 K-6 teachers. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said “What’s there to hide? In education, we’ve been scared to talk about success.” NSEA Executive Director Craig R. Christiansen, in response to the Omaha World-Herald, turned the question. “It does sound kind of Big Brother,” he said. “I don’t want
‘Free’ Isn’t Always Free on the Internet This news from the PCMAG.COM blog Security Watch: The free Internet content you enjoy may have hidden costs. Experts from McAfee Inc. report that when you search for content, adding the word ‘free’ to the search term “wildly increases your chance of hitting a malicious site.” Pirated items – non-free content offered for free – are even more dangerous. McAfee researchers found that in searching for ringtones, adding the word ‘free’ resulted in a “300 percent increase of the riskiness of the sites returned by major search engines.” October 2010 n The NSEA Voice n Page 23
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