Political Randomness

[Isgrimnur]

Flow rates - 06/28/13

From Cornwall, Ontario to Baie-Comeau, Quebec, the mean annual flow (historic mean) of the St. Lawrence River increased from 7800 m3/s to 16 800 m3/s thanks to the contribution of its main tributaries, namely the Ottawa, Saguenay, Manicouagan, Saint-Maurice and Aux Outardes rivers.

[Moliere]

Flow rates - 06/28/13

From Cornwall, Ontario to Baie-Comeau, Quebec, the mean annual flow (historic mean) of the St. Lawrence River increased from 7800 m3/s to 16 800 m3/s thanks to the contribution of its main tributaries, namely the Ottawa, Saguenay, Manicouagan, Saint-Maurice and Aux Outardes rivers.

Busy day? You're providing data that's more than 2 years old. I expect better from you.

[hepcat]

First they burn down our White House (they SAY it was the Brits, but we know better), now this? It's time we built a wall!

[Moliere]

It's time we built a wall!

But they have some cool stuff over there.

[Isgrimnur]

Flow rates - 06/28/13

From Cornwall, Ontario to Baie-Comeau, Quebec, the mean annual flow (historic mean) of the St. Lawrence River increased from 7800 m3/s to 16 800 m3/s thanks to the contribution of its main tributaries, namely the Ottawa, Saguenay, Manicouagan, Saint-Maurice and Aux Outardes rivers.

Busy day? You're providing data that's more than 2 years old. I expect better from you.

If there aren't current sources online, there aren't current sources online.

[GreenGoo]

It's time we built a wall!

But they have some cool stuff over there.

This episode taught me that Men without Hats are Canadian.

Who knew? Not me. But you can dance if you want to.

[Moliere]

If there aren't current sources online, there aren't current sources online.

So you're limiting yourself to online sources? Don't you get a lunch hour at your job to visit the local library?

[Isgrimnur]

I don't typically take a lunch break longer than it takes to eat and consume the food. My commute is 45-60 minutes one way. Spending an hour in the breakroom or library cooling my heels to no purpose is just more of my day wasted.

[hepcat]

What is this "li-bary" you speak of? Is it a type of fish?

[LordMortis]

What is this "li-bary" you speak of?

It's where they hold board gaming in a room at the side on the first Saturday of every month. My mother also informs me that they have better Internet than she can get out in the Styx.

[GreenGoo]

What is this "li-bary" you speak of? Is it a type of fish?

It's where homeless people go to poop...and get free access to the internet.

[Pyperkub]

What is this "li-bary" you speak of?

It's where they hold board gaming in a room at the side on the first Saturday of every month. My mother also informs me that they have better Internet than she can get out in the Styx.

We're so sorry for your loss.

[Moliere]

It's where homeless people go to poop.

I thought that's what the St. Lawrence river was for.

[hepcat]

What is this "li-bary" you speak of?

It's where they hold board gaming in a room at the side on the first Saturday of every month. My mother also informs me that they have better Internet than she can get out in the Styx.

Your mother lives in the ancient Egyptian version of hell?

Tough neighborhood.

edit: kub beat me to it with a more subtle approach.

[El Guapo]

No no, you guys totally misunderstand. Mortis' mother is a groupie with Styx.

[GreenGoo]

It's where homeless people go to poop.

I thought that's what the St. Lawrence river was for.

That's just where it ends up.

[Moliere]

That was a fun stealth game.

[Defiant]

The United States said this week it was pleased to hear of Saudi Arabia’s leadership role on a United Nations Human Rights Council advisory group.

“We would welcome it. We’re close allies,” US State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in Washington on Tuesday.

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/US-wel ... oup-419127

Would this be leading by counterexample?

Apparently, the UK and SA were in a secret deal to make sure they both got on the council

[Pyperkub]

I've long been a proponent of the idea that educational funding and achievement had more to do with class/poverty than it did with race and that most racial imbalance was in fact due to poverty. Apparently, I have some re-thinking to do:

“If you color code the districts based on their racial composition you see this very stark breakdown. At any given poverty level, districts that have a higher proportion of white students get substantially higher funding than districts that have more minority students.” That means that no matter how rich or poor the district in question, funding gaps existed solely based on the racial composition of the school. Just the increased presence of minority students actually deflated a district’s funding level. “The ones that have a few more students of color get lower funding than the ones that are 100 percent or 95 percent white,” Mosenkis said.

I think this data would also mean we do need to take a closer look at Affirmative Action in higher education still.

[AWS260]

[noxiousdog]

I've long been a proponent of the idea that educational funding and achievement had more to do with class/poverty than it did with race and that most racial imbalance was in fact due to poverty. Apparently, I have some re-thinking to do:

“If you color code the districts based on their racial composition you see this very stark breakdown. At any given poverty level, districts that have a higher proportion of white students get substantially higher funding than districts that have more minority students.” That means that no matter how rich or poor the district in question, funding gaps existed solely based on the racial composition of the school. Just the increased presence of minority students actually deflated a district’s funding level. “The ones that have a few more students of color get lower funding than the ones that are 100 percent or 95 percent white,” Mosenkis said.

I think this data would also mean we do need to take a closer look at Affirmative Action in higher education still.

I don't understand why they'd be doing funding on a demographic basis. I can't imagine a thought process that would go that way especially in a state the size of Pennsylvania.

There's got to be something more at work inside the actual budgets. Like regardless of poverty, land values are less in minority districts requiring less funding.

It's still troubling and should be examined further.

[El Guapo]

I've long been a proponent of the idea that educational funding and achievement had more to do with class/poverty than it did with race and that most racial imbalance was in fact due to poverty. Apparently, I have some re-thinking to do:

“If you color code the districts based on their racial composition you see this very stark breakdown. At any given poverty level, districts that have a higher proportion of white students get substantially higher funding than districts that have more minority students.” That means that no matter how rich or poor the district in question, funding gaps existed solely based on the racial composition of the school. Just the increased presence of minority students actually deflated a district’s funding level. “The ones that have a few more students of color get lower funding than the ones that are 100 percent or 95 percent white,” Mosenkis said.

I think this data would also mean we do need to take a closer look at Affirmative Action in higher education still.

I don't understand why they'd be doing funding on a demographic basis. I can't imagine a thought process that would go that way especially in a state the size of Pennsylvania.

There's got to be something more at work inside the actual budgets. Like regardless of poverty, land values are less in minority districts requiring less funding.

It's still troubling and should be examined further.

I'm not sure why lower land values would require less funding. I wouldn't think that public schools are generally paying rent or property taxes (though I could be wrong on that). On top of that, since local districts generally get the bulk of their school funding through property taxes, poorer districts should be getting more state funding in order to have equal school funding across districts.

A few possible explanations come to mind: (1) subconscious bias among legislators; (2) the school funding formula / framework was set in more overtly racist days and hasn't been corrected or changed; (3) whiter districts have on average more money and staff, and accordingly more clout in the statehouse.

[stessier]

I think he might mean that since schools derive their funding from property taxes, areas with lower land values provide less funding.

[Defiant]

I'm not sure why lower land values would require less funding. I wouldn't think that public schools are generally paying rent or property taxes (though I could be wrong on that). On top of that, since local districts generally get the bulk of their school funding through property taxes, poorer districts should be getting more state funding in order to have equal school funding across districts.

Possibly higher land values would be coupled with higher cost of living in that area, and thus those schools would need to offer teachers a higher salary?

[noxiousdog]

I'm assuming the following:
Some (maybe all?) portion of funds are collected at the state and then redistributed to the districts.
Since it's not a uniform distribution per student, there must be some variable calculation.


My conjecture:
I cannot believe that anyone is looking at and distributing funds based on the districts' name. Not with 250 districts and not with government bureaucracy. It's got to be some formula.
However, it could be based on some base expenses + $/student. Labor and land values (and yes, school districts have to buy land and then post bonds to buy/build) could set those base expenses lower in minority areas.


I certainly wouldn't swear by any of that and would absolutely like to find out how that fund distribution is determined.

[Isgrimnur]

EducationNext

We then calculate a ratio, called a Weighted Student Index (WSI), of the actual funding received by each school to the funding we would expect if schools received the district’s average allocation for its particular mix of students. The WSI allows us to compare per-pupil funding in schools while accounting for the types of students a school serves. A school with a WSI of 0.7 receives 70 percent of what we predict the school would be allocated, given its student population, if all the schools in the district received the same amount for each student of each type enrolled in the school.
...
Of course, we should not assume that all inequalities in spending between schools are necessarily perverse. District officials in Texas might point out that there are reasons aside from special student needs that could legitimately prompt uneven funding among schools. School level, school size, and academic performance are often cited as factors that shape strategic funding allocations to schools. Districts might, for example, allocate a relatively larger share of resources to high schools because they are expected to provide a diverse curriculum. Similarly, a district could be spending more on its lowest-performing schools to support improvement efforts. As discussed above, though, previous research documents spending differences resulting from less intentional factors, primarily differences in teacher salary costs due to different levels of teacher experience.

We find that, as expected, high schools tend to receive more funding. On average, a high school’s WSI is 0.18 higher than an elementary or middle school, indicating that high schools received 18 percent more than elementary or middle schools within the same district with similar student populations. There is some indication that the lowest-performing schools in a district have higher WSI scores, and additional analyses reveal that this pattern is concentrated among elementary schools. Unexpectedly, we do not find a clear or strong relationship between school size and WSI values. Nor do we find that schools with a larger share of white students have a meaningful increase in their WSI.

Schools with more experienced teachers and the lowest–performing schools receive slightly more funding from the district, with higher WSI by 0.01 and 0.04, respectively. In other words, these schools typically received 1 to 4 percent more than the district average, or $15,000 to $60,000 per school of 500 students in a district where the average school expenditure is $3,000 per pupil.

These findings aside, it turns out that relatively little of the differences in funding by schools is explained by these school and district characteristics. We can account for only slightly more than one-third of all the variation between schools in the same district. If spending is not strongly influenced by observable school characteristics, we have to question whether it is driven by a district strategy at all. What we haven’ within and outside the district, organizational habits, and de facto policies at play in the system that can and likely do affect how districts distribute resources among schools.

[AWS260]

Well, you've got to admire Alabama's chutzpah.

Step 1: Enact state voter ID law.

Step 2: Close DMV offices in predominantly black counties.

At this rate, I expect to see Step 3: In the face of public criticism, begrudgingly re-open the DMV offices, then announce that in order to keep them operating, the state will implement a poll tax.

[noxiousdog]

That makes sense. I can see a district doing picking and choosing based on a lot of factors. It's a far more intimate setting and local politics absolutely dominates.

But the Pyper's study is a state funding its districts.

[Isgrimnur]

Ohio

The amount of state funds that a district receives is based on a formula that takes into account the student enrollment and the property wealth of the district.

Colorado will let you look at their funding worksheets. Call an intern.

Then have them review the Florida PDF. Page 22 has the basics. Full breakdown tables at the end.

[noxiousdog]

Ohio

The amount of state funds that a district receives is based on a formula that takes into account the student enrollment and the property wealth of the district.

Colorado will let you look at their funding worksheets. Call an intern.

Then have them review the Florida PDF. Page 22 has the basics. Full breakdown tables at the end.

Exactly. It's all formula based. Somewhere in the formula there's a correlation between lower funding and minority districts. That has to be a side effect. Absolutely worth hunting down though.

[LawBeefaroni]

Millennials? Sex education in high schools? Not sure where this falls.

A new online Northwestern University “Sex 101” class aims to demystify the subject for freshmen, without leaving parents scratching their heads, as some did following a live sex-toy demonstration on campus in 2011.

In a series of short videos, students will able to learn the basics about sex and reproduction, said Teresa Woodruff, vice chair for research in obstetrics and gynecology at the Feinberg School of Medicine.

“If you Google it, there’s nothing out there like this,” Woodruff explained Tuesday. “Reproduction is one of those things where we don’t assemble the definitions, the fundamental science and the health outcomes in one place that is easily accessible to the public.”

The videos, which will be available for free online starting Monday at cover such topics as the rise and fall of hormones, STDs and how to avoid them, sexual violence and the workings of the sex organs.

“For many college freshmen, they may have had information in a sex ed class in school, but some of them have not had a really good education on this topic,” Woodruff said. “For some, this information is a little bit embarrassing or taboo.”

[LordMortis]

I think he might mean that since schools derive their funding from property taxes, areas with lower land values provide less funding.

That's been the case in Michigan, though it's changes a bit in the last few decades with vouchers and schools of choice in our state now.

I think every student gets so much money from the state, which is why it is so important for teachers to not lose enrollment in something like the first six weeks of school but then mils are set on the property taxes

http://www.senate.michigan.gov/sfa/depa ... basics.pdf

Apparently the state has tried to minimize the inequity by capping the ability of local communities to fund schools through mills.

In general, local taxation for operations (not including
debt/capital or sinking fund) is capped at 18 mills levied on
the
taxable value
of non-homestead property, with no
operational mills levied on homesteads (there is an exception
for “hold-harmless” districts)

[Pyperkub]

That makes sense. I can see a district doing picking and choosing based on a lot of factors. It's a far more intimate setting and local politics absolutely dominates.

But the Pyper's study is a state funding its districts.

My hypothesis is that teacher retention and seniority does play a part in this - thinking that the predominantly minority districts are both less desireable to work in (better teachers leave for better opportunities), and they get/got hit with more layoff notices and have more younger, lower-paid teachers, implying less burden in salaries.

In other words, the non-minority districts/schools end up with lower ongoing salary burdens. I do think that this is only a part of it however.

Language and disciplinary/order difficulties likely play a part too.

[Isgrimnur]

Then have them review the Florida PDF. Page 22 has the basics. Full breakdown tables at the end.

FEFP funds are primarily generated by multiplying the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) students in each of the funded education programs by cost factors to obtain weighted FTE students. Weighted FTE students are then multiplied by a base student allocation and by a district cost differential to determine the base funding from state and local FEFP funds. Program cost factors are determined by the Florida Legislature and represent relative cost differences among the FEFP programs. In addition to the base funding allocation, two major allocations within the FEFP are the Supplemental Academic Instruction Allocation and Exceptional Student Education (ESE) Guaranteed Allocation, which are explained on page 18.

[Pyperkub]

Hey - a compromise bill may pass!

After two years of maneuvering, high-ranking Senate Republicans and Democrats on Thursday unveiled a compromise to bring significant reform to the criminal justice system through a series of sentencing and prison reforms long sought by both liberals and conservatives.

“This historic bill addresses legitimate over-incarceration concerns while targeting violent criminals and masterminds in the drug trade,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Charles Grassley (R-Iowa). “It’s the product of thoughtful bipartisan deliberation.”

If approved, the bill would shorten the length of mandatory sentences for repeat drug offenders and would end the federal “three strikes” mandatory life provision. It would also expand the judicial discretion “safety valve,” allowing low-level drug offenders to be sentenced to less time than currently dictated under existing mandatory terms.

The sentencing reforms would apply retroactively...

However...

With so much support from senior lawmakers, including a member of the GOP Senate leadership, observers believe the compromise has a good chance of coming up for a Senate vote sometime before the end of this year.

“What we’ve had today is an indication of bipartisan support,” said Durbin, who along with other co-sponsors said they are confident the Senate will approve the measure.

The bill faces a potentially more perilous path in the House, where lawmakers are currently working on their own version of reform.

“Well what’s going to happen in the House? I don’t know, I honestly don’t know,” Durbin said.

[El Guapo]

The House long ago abandoned the path of reason for madness. So I assume the legislation is going to pass, only with amendments that repeal Obamacare, end funding for Planned Parenthood, and allocate $3 billion towards Benghazi investigations.

[LordMortis]

The House long ago abandoned the path of reason for madness.

The House the Sauruman built? I like it. Maybe we should redo the Washington Monument and Capitol Building to look like Isengard.

Put some trees in the water and Christopher Lee up top?

[Pyperkub]

The House long ago abandoned the path of reason for madness.

The House the Sauruman built? I like it. Maybe we should redo the Washington Monument and Capitol Building to look like Isengard.

Put some trees in the water and Christopher Lee up top?

Nah, they should put the NSA Eye of Mordor on it



Isengard is more likely to be in Texas anyhow...

[LordMortis]

Isengard is more likely to be in Texas anyhow...

Are you saying the that Texas is secretly a puppet working to empower the federal government?

[El Guapo]

Isengard is more likely to be in Texas anyhow...

Are you saying the that Texas is secretly a puppet working to empower the federal government?

Post Jade Helm, yes.