What's a Public School?
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that "Nearly a quarter of all Milwaukee children whose education is being paid for by public dollars are not attending a conventional MPS school this year."

These students are enrolled in 200 specialty programs within the Milwaukee Public Schools, 106 schools in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, charter schools, and suburban schools that accept city students.

The article notes that charter schools--many of which appear to be run by government entities of one sort or another--receive "$7,050 per student, regardless of family income, and more than $23 million in state funding." Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program schools--mostly privately administered schools--received "$5,882 per qualifying, low-income student from the state this year." So much for the claim that school choice (the parental choice program) drains money from MPS; if anyone "drains" money, it's the schools chartered by the University of Wisconsin and the City of Milwaukee.

This report also tut-tuts that the Parental Choice schools are "much less subject to public scrutiny than conventional public schools." As if the parents who make the decisions were not the public.
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Kiss Your Tax Dollars Goodbye
The student activities board at the University of Michigan (Dearborn) bring in an outside author to give a lecture on kissing, an event that featured live demonstrations.

Do college students really need to be taught how to kiss?
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Does "Wisconsin Works" Work?
"Wisconsin Works" is the name for the Badger State's welfare reform program. A new report suggests that "Wisconsin Works" doesn't place enough emphasis on work. Only 25 percent of participants in W-2, as it is called, are actually working. Defenders of the program say that work was never meant to be the entire emphasis of the program.

The Journal-Sentinel of Milwaukee says that the report is published by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. But it's not online yet.
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Failure Coming to a Prestigious Public School Near You
The No Child Left Behind Act is having some interesting effects. Evanston Township schools may be placed on a list of low-performing schools in Illinois.

This is big news, given ET's high-flying reputation. To top things off, the "Midwestern Ivy" college, Northwestern University, is in Evanston.

But ET will face scrutiny for subpar performance of its minority students--something that earns sanctions under NCLB.
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How do I get Work Like That? Golfing on the Public's Time
Since May of this year, four employees of the Village of Barrington (a wealthy suburb of Chicago) have attended 29 golf outings on village time. A trustee defends the practice, saying "Department heads are the face of the village. It's an opportunity for them to get out in the community." A professor at Northern Illinois University says "It's not even a perk; it's part of their professional development. It's about knowing your peers."

OK, I've been part of corporate outing, but it was my own dime, and time. And I may concede that hitting the links as part of an annual conference for one's profession may happen to. (The social highlight of the professional meetings I attend, however, tends to be the formal dinner, where we still talk shop.) But at least two of the village employees took at least some "company time" to participate in a weekly league sponsored by the local chamber of commerce.

One question. How do I get one of those jobs?
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Best Reading
Today I won't do much blogging, since (among other reasons) I will be spending the morning at a conference on health care.

In the U.S., we have great science and technology. Life expectancy is increasing, and many ailments are coming under control. Breakbuster drugs promise not only a longer life, but an easier one.

But our public policy on health is all wrong. It's based on an economy and society--stable, lifelong employment, the nuclear family as the overwhelming living arrangement--that to some extent never exists. And unlike the pattern of what we do with homeowners or auto insurance, when it comes to health insurance we depend third parties--employers or the government--to purchase and administer insurance for us. Except it's not really insurance, but insurance PLUS prepaid services. That's part of the problem.

Here, then, are some of the leading organizations addressing health care: Kaiser Family Foundation (good for statistics), the Galen Institute (working on the messy connection between health care policy and tax policy), and The Heritage Foundation.
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I Want my Drugs. Cheaply.
Add Massachusetts to the list of states where officials have called for price controls on prescription drugs. Well, the AG of the Bay State hasn't exactly called for the U.S. to impose price controls; instead, Thomas F. Reilly has called on the FDA to make it easy for American to import drugs from Canada, which does have price contols.

Sounds like a great political plan for Reilly; after all, "AG" stands not only for "Attorney General," but "aspiring governor."
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Wisconsin Conceal Carry Amendment
No final decision, but a Senate committee in Wisconsin has made changes to the conceal carry proposal in hopes of winning the approval of Governor Jim Doyle, who has vowed a veto. Meanwhile, a state senator from Milwaukee learns the wrong lesson from recent shootings in his district; he says that now opposes the measure because it may lead to more violence. (Senator ... legislation is all about letting the good guys defend themselves; the bad guys already pack heat.)
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Is it the art that brought you here?
Under Wisconsin law, 18-20 year olds (who are in every other legal sense adults) are not able to drink alcohol, or enter venues where alcohol is served, except .... There are several exceptions, including "stadiums, fairs, museums and other such venues." So, a Green Bay Packers game? Sure.

Now, a Milwaukee business that serves alcohol bought some paintings, hung them on the wall, and asked for designation as a "Center for the Visual and Performing Arts."

The business? Club Paradise Gentlemen's Club. Yup--a strip joint. The, uhm, gentlemen, 18 or older but under 21 will be able to view the two abstract paintings on the walls, as well as anything else that just happens to be going on.

Just another example of how laws can have unintended consequences.
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Blame the NFL
Today's version of "Best of the Web" over at OpinionJournal offers news of this odd lawsuit. Here's the entire text:

In 1999 Antonia Verni, then two years old, was paralyzed when the car in which she was riding was hit by a truck driven by a drunken man named Daniel Lanzaro. Lanzaro was sentenced to five years in prison, and Antonia's parents, represented by lawyer Rosemarie Arnold, are suing . . . the National Football League.

Yes, it seems Lanzaro had been drinking beer at a New York Giants game. The Associated Press reports the lawsuit "contends the league promotes the type of behavior that led the fan to drink 14 beers . . . and then drive home."

Now, I'm much more of a college football fan than an NFL fan. And I would agree that driving while intoxicated is an act of irresponsibility. But suing the NFL in this sad case is just another example of an attorney looking for someone with deep pockets, regardless of culpability.

Let's play this, uhm, game, and see what other victims of criminal acts could do. The victim of a buglarly could sue a TV station for broadcasting reruns of "Dallas," on the grounds that it encourages greed. The possibilities are endless.
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Hell Freezes Over; State Union Agrees to Concessions
negotiator for two unions have reached a tentative agreement with the state of Minnesota. Employees will get no cost-of-living agreement for the duration of the two-year agreement.

But don't feel sorry for them. First, they will get to keep their jobs. (Some, though, will not; the union choose to lose some members rather than make further concessions.) They will also be able to get merit pay raises. (Come to think of it, that may be better--for employees as well as taxpayers--than automatic pay raises.) And their health care coverage will still be a bargain; single workers will pay nothing for their premiums, for example. It just won't be as generous as it used to be. Finally, I suspect that most state jobs have some sort of longevity pay ("steps and ladders"), so even if the base pay schedule doesn't bring about a raise, simply staying on the job for another year will.

How did all this come about? I suspect Governor Pawlenty's toughness in negotiating with the legislature over the state budget (resulting in no tax rate increases) played a huge part. Like most states, Minnesota overspent in the last decade, and its reliance on progressive income taxes means that the state budget took a hit when the economy softened.
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Milwaukee Going Upscale? A Dinner with that Beer, Please
Governments no longer try to ban the sale of alcohol, as was the case under Prohibition. But they do control the distribution and sale of alcoholic beverages much more than any other product, though the required liqueur license and other requirements.

The government of West Milwaukee is now using its control over liquor distribution is a tool to attempt to shape the municipality's culture, turning it into more of an upscale community.

Says the village president, Ron Hayward, "The times that there are two or three bars on every block is passed. West Milwaukee wants to upgrade its image."

Of course, if "West Milwaukee" wanted to change its image, people there could simply stop patronizing the local taverns. But the village council wants to speed up the process, by favoring full-service restaurants over taverns in the granting of licenses.

One bar owner said, of the village leaders, "What they're deciding is what's good for the neighborhood and what's not."

But the small owners are not innocent of putting the squeeze on business. In an anti-competitive move, the Tavern League of Wisconsin encouraged the state legislature to increase the license fee for a new tavern from $500 to $10,000. That made the value of existing licenses more expensive, and made it more difficult to get a new one. The crackdown on new licenses in West Milwaukee and other communities is the continuation of that trend.
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When is a Road not a Road?
Matt Helms, transportation columnist for the Detroit Free Press, takes on this question from a reader: this highway was just rebuilt, and it looks like there are three lanes, but there are really only two. Why?

The answer: federal environmental policy. Right now, that space is just an extra-wide shoulder. It would take too much trouble to pass the environmental policy tests. But should the policy governing roads change, the state will just have to make a few changes, and ... you've got a new lane.
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