OPINION
SUNDAY AUGUST 3, 2014
HERALD/REVIEW
A5
Working to make good, better, and better, best
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chool starts tomorrow and Sierra Vista Unified School District (SVUSD) faculty and staff members are more than ready to meet the more than 6,000 eager students on buses, and in classrooms, cafeterias, libraries, computer labs, gymnasiums and playgrounds around the District. On Friday, Aug. 1, more than 600 SVUSD staff members participated in the 2014-2015 district opening ceremonies at Buena High School. The event took on the look of a large family reunion, with the welcoming of new colleagues as well as the celebration of multi-decade anniversaries and appreciation to those who have worked all summer to prepare campuses for our students and staff. The program centered on the important role each SVUSD employee plays in reaching our vision of Achieving Excellence Together. During the 2013-2014 school year, SVUSD staff members focused on improving the working and learning culture throughout the district by reaching for our shared vision of Achieving Excellence Together with CARE: Communication- Action, Respect, Encouragement. Staff members were recognized
throughout the district for their demonstrations of Achieving Excellence Together with CARE. There has been a palpable change in the operational culture of the district as a result of our yearIERRA ISTA long focus on communicating UPERINTENDENT and acting with respect and RISS AGERL encouragement. Continuing on our journey toward a vision of Achieving Excellence Together, this year we will focus on SVUSD PRIDE: Personal Responsibility in Delivering Excellence. As part of Friday’s program, I shared a quote from a famous Buena High School teacher, Terry Rothery. She drove these words home to many students, consistently applying them in her own life: “Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best.” We must model lifelong learning. No matter how well we
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perform today, we have room for improvement. Vince Lombardi said “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” SVUSD faculty and staff are champions of bringing out the best in their students. Each employee, along with the SVUSD Governing Board, was asked to commit to taking PRIDE in being part of SVUSD as we work together in support of teaching and learning for all students. Individuals shared in small groups and posted how they take Personal Responsibility in Demonstrating Excellence in their work. Their examples included collaborating with their peers to ensure all of their students meet the standards, making connections with students, providing excellent customer service, making learning fun, ensuring school buses are well maintained and ready to transport children safely to school, giving students the tools to have confidence in themselves, being prepared to engage students in learning every day, partnering with parents in supporting their children in their drive to achieve their learning goals and the list goes on.
It was an amazing morning, a prelude to a fantastic year in SVUSD. We understand excellence is not an accident. It is the result of hard work, sincere effort, skillful planning and execution. No one is perfect but I am confident that SVUSD faculty and staff members are prepared and determined to make the “good, better, and the better, best,” to support effective teaching and learning throughout the district. We will show our SVUSD PRIDE, taking Personal Responsibility in Delivering Excellence. We look forward to sharing our state achievement results with the community on Aug. 5, following their release from the state. I invite you to contact me at kriss. hagerl@svps.k12.az.us to share your experiences with an SVUSD team member caught showing their PRIDE in our important work. Thank you for supporting the children, teachers and support staff of your community’s outstanding schools. KRISS HAGERL is the superintendent of schools for the Sierra Vista Unified School District. She can be reached at Kriss. Hagerl@svps.k12.az.us.
A bump in the Obamacare road
LANNY A. KOPE, EdD has been a hospital trustee for more than 30 years, serving on urban and rural hospital boards. He is the immediate past Board Chair of Sierra Vista Regional Health Center and has had a national responsibility as Chair of the American Hospital Association’s Committee on Governance. Dr. Kope is also an University of Phoenix faculty member in Health Care.
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also vaulting the border fence into Mexico to enhance trade, tourism and commerce ROWING RIZONA and cooperation. These efforts have A’KOS KOVACH helped establish essential partnerships across boundaries that now produce economic benefits that extend both ways well beyond our line of sight into neighboring metropolitan areas. Ponder this cart of facts: Sierra Vista to Guaymas 322 miles — 130,000 + population. Sierra Vista to Hermosillo 237 miles — 784,000 + population. Sierra Vista to Nogales So 67 miles — 212,000 + population. Sierra Vista to Tucson 75 miles — 524,000 + population. Sierra Vista to Phoenix 187 miles — 1.5 million + population. Sierra Vista to El Paso 303 miles — 674,000 + population. Sierra Vista to Albuquerque 435 miles — 558,000+ population Sierra Vista to Agua Prieta 52 miles — 100,000 + population. In other words 4.5 million people within a short six hour or less drive, using Sierra Vista as the starting point. These urban centers contain consumers. The residents in these urban areas are mostly middle class people with disposable income. So as we become more aware that these areas are linked economically, culturally, historically, sharing natural resources and along familial lines we can begin to see a pattern.
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Now turn your attention to the Arizona Sun Corridor MegaRegion (Nogales, Tucson, Phoenix and Prescott), Southeastern Arizona is a connector between major metropolitan areas plus a wide range of economic opportunities south of the border in Mexico. But now drill down further, to a smaller segment of this enormous talent pool which is host to an abundance of natural resources. Look carefully at Greenlee County. Why is it so attractive from an investment point of view? Start with county governance. The Board of Supervisors is actively engaged in economic development and natural resource preservation. Both Clifton and Duncan support and foster investment, job creation and new construction. The private sector recently invested over $2 billion into infrastructure and amenities. The annual payroll exceeds $300 million, but there is a serious housing shortage plus the commercial and retail segment has huge gaps. By sharing resources with the Arizona Workforce Connection and SBDC SEAGO has extended a hand to the Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments and they have responded with gusto. This open door policy combined with transparency instead of secrecy has developed a huge base of support for outside developers and investors to take a closer look. This is what happens when there is open cooperation and collaboration. Now more and more New Mexico job seekers are finding jobs in Morenci. Silver City
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From borderless solutions to MegaRegions hen John Donne wrote the following lines of poetry he could not have gauged their impact on everything from regionalism and economic development to mortality. No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thy friend’s Or of thine own were: Any man’s death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind, And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. (Listen to these words read by Joan Baez here: http://www. dailymotion.com/video/xlx6ay_ john-donne-no-man-is-an-islandjoan-baez_creation ) Like it or not, the inescapable reality that we are, for good reason, ‘connected’ is fact. How we deal with local matters affects all of our neighbors. The buying, shopping and traveling habits of people in Pima affect profitability and sustainability in Safford. Likewise, this same example can be taken from every small town across the SEAGO Region into the larger communities nearby. For many years now the SEAGO Program of Service has reached outside city limits, over county lines, into other Council of Government Regions. We did not stop at the state line reaching into New Mexico but
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on their own . I’m not sure this depicts a caring society. One approach which keeps “popping up” is the Single Payer System and is becoming more and more appealing with each turn in the health care road. About two-thirds of the citizens are currently in a single payer system. Veterans Administration, Medicare, Medicaid, and Tricare, and subsidized individuals who are in the Insurance Exchanges. are products of a single payer system: The federal government. The only ones outside of the system are those who have commercial insurance. Halbig vs Burwell could have a major impact on the PPACA. Hopefully, the ultimate decision which probably will be by the Supreme Court will not have a negative impact on those Arizonans who are getting tax credits and who now can go to a doctor when they are ill. It’s a “wait and see!”
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SUNDAY, 8/03
The Funk Don’t Quit! PG13 GET ON UP Stars: Chadwick Boseman, Nelson Ellis & Dan Akroyd 10:00 • 12:45 • 3:45 • 6:45 She has the power! R LUCY Stars: Scarlett Johanson, Ana Leigh & Morgan Freeman 10:00 • 1:15 • 4:15 • 7:15 PG13 DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Stars: Gary Oldman, Keri Russell & Andy Serkis 10:00 • 1:00 • 4:00 • 7:00 MON. - THU., 8/04 - 8/07
The Funk Don’t Quit! PG13 GET ON UP 12:45 • 3:45 • 6:45 She has the power! R LUCY 1:15 • 4:15 • 7:15 PG13 DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES 1:00 • 4:00 • 7:00
Sunday, 8/03 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY [PG13] 3D 11:45 12:50 3:00 4:05 6:15 7:20 9:30 10:30 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY [PG13] DIGITAL 10:20 1:30 4:35 7:50 10:55 HERCULES [PG13] 3D 1:40 7:10 HERCULES [PG13] DIGITAL 10:55 4:25 9:55 THE PURGE: ANARCHY [R] DIGITAL 11:50 2:20 4:55 7:30 10:05 PLANES: FIRE AND RESCUE [PG] 3D 11:35 4:30 9:35
PLANES: FIRE AND RESCUE [PG] DIGITAL 2:05 7:05 SEX TAPE [R] DIGITAL 12:30 2:55 5:20 7:45 10:10 AND SO IT GOES [PG13] DIGITAL 11:20 2:00 4:40 7:15 10:00 TAMMY [R] DIGITAL 7:35 10:25 TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION [PG13] DIGITAL 11:40 3:25 7:00 10:40 HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 [PG] DIGITAL 11:15 1:45 4:50
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doom. There probably has never been a health care topic more discussed and misunderstood than the PPACA. It’s interesting to hear individuals talk about repealing Obamacare yet not know what provisions the law contains, such as elimination of pre-existing conditions or benefit caps. Inevitably individuals are in favor of those provisions since they benefit them. They just aren’t in favor of the law. One of the main features of the PPACA was providing health insurance through the concept of shared responsibility, i.e. the Individual Mandate. By providing insurance, the amount of uncompensated care was to decrease and take the cost burden from the shoulders of the nation’s hospitals and businesses. Guess what ? It worked! In our state, the Arizona Hospital and Health Care Association reports there has been a decrease in uncompensated care because of the PPACA and because of the AHCCCS expansion. This is significant in that in 2013 through April uncompensated care equaled $286 million. During the same period in 2014 it dropped to $213 million. It’s been estimated by several reputable sources that the number of uninsured has decreased by 8 million people nationally. However, all is not bright: Enter Halbig vs Burwell. This case, just decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on a split 2-1 decision, rejected tax subsidies for insurance purchased through federally operated insurance exchanges. However, in the same case heard in the 4th Circuit Court in Virginia, the Court of Appeals upheld tax subsidies for the federally operated insurance exchanges. The court reasoned the IRS
was permitted to advance the provisions of the PPACA in a broad manner. You may recall, one of the provisions of the PPACA was that if the states didn’t operate an exchange, then the federal government would do it for them. It was a surprised White House staff when 34 states opted to let the federal OMMENTARY government operate their LANNY A. KOPE, EDD exchanges! The PPACA authorizes tax credits for the purchase of insurance on an exchange “established by the State under Section 1311.” Federal exchanges are established under Section 1321 of the Act. The basic thinking by many scholars is that Congress would not intend for some citizens to have tax credits while others do not, and that the statute’s language should be viewed in a holistic manner. There’s no doubt this case will ultimately end up before the Supreme Court since there is an opposing ruling by two Courts of Appeals. If the plaintiffs prevail, there would not be subsidies for individuals who purchased insurance in their state through federally operated exchanges, which is the case in Arizona. This would dismantle one of the key provisions of the PPACA since those who receive the subsidies would not be able to afford the full monthly premium of more than $300 and would once again become uninsured. It seems to me United States citizens should be covered by some type of health plan that provides them an opportunity for treatment when they are ill. It seems inhumane to deny medical treatment because of financial circumstances. We are in essence saying the affluent can be healthy while those who are less affluent have to face illness
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hen the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed into law, there were many forecasts of gloom and
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