Bright & Early: Testing, Testing, 1-2-3 Edition
Good morning, Nashville. There isn’t a whole lot of good news coming out of Metro Nashville Public Schools these days, and we’re afraid the headlines this morning are no exception. We won’t know for sure if they’ve met federal No Child Left Behind benchmarks until standardized testing scores come back in the spring, but real-time progress reports are showing that at least one area is lacking: Special ed math. In order to meet the standards, 57% of all special education students have to prove they’re proficient in math, but at the moment, only an estimated 30% are up to par. This doesn’t exactly translate into doom and destruction or anything, but the schools do have a long way to go.
- Overstimulated. Governor Phil is thinking about turning down some of the stimulus money that would increase unemployment benefits to $300 per week. Apparently the feds attached a few strings that would require us to relax the restrictions on who qualifies, probably straining the system even more than it already is. And since we don’t have an income tax here, the burden would be placed on businesses.
- Rock and a hard place. With the growing deficit in funding for Metro General Hospital, which is subsidized to provide care for the impoverished and uninsured, Mayor Dean is bringing in consultant to look at other options for indigent health care. Dean wants to find a way to increase care and decrease public cost, which Councilman Jerry Maynard says is pretty much impossible.
- Bits & pieces. Good thing we’re not losing our skyscrapers in this economic downturn, right? … Governor Phil may still be in the running for a position in President Obama’s cabinet … A new realty company is trying to recycle and reuse the Home Depot Expo Design Center … While everyone else in the country is seeing decline in home prices, ours are actually going up a little.
Photo by Stephen Yeargin.
