Guest Post: Nick Archuleta, North Dakota United President, on Teacher Waivers

North Dakota United

Professional teachers in North Dakota have done an exceptionally good job of educating our youth since statehood. Our teachers have endeavored to provide an excellent education to every child that has walked, rolled or been carried through our schoolhouse doors. Our teachers and schools are recognized nationally for the outstanding service they provide.

Professional educators take the responsibility of providing enriching educational opportunities to our young people very seriously. They spend considerable time learning the art and science of teaching, often accumulating significant debt in the process. They take jobs in communities across the state, at salaries well below those of other professionals because they relish the opportunity to impact children’s lives in meaningful ways. They earn their degrees; they pay for their licenses and commit to continuing their education because they love what they do. They do not ask for the respect of their communities, they earn it every day.

Now, however, there is a plan afoot to turn all that on its ear. Gov. Dalrymple has been put in the unenviable position of having to decide whether to fast-track a plan that is destined to fail. The “community expert” plan would allow school districts to hire untrained, unqualified and unlicensed individuals to teach in North Dakota’s classrooms.

The plan will not solve the issue of unfilled teaching positions because it will only serve to attract more applicants despite their limited capacities to do the job well. The plan will not address the real reasons why some school districts do not attract more qualified applicants and why some have difficulty retaining the teachers they do have.

Every summer in North Dakota, an alarm is sounded at the beginning of August, calling attention to the number of unfilled teaching positions. On Aug. 1, 2014, there were some 200 unfilled positions. That number of unfilled positions seems daunting, yet on the first day of school three weeks later, the number of unfilled positions had dropped to 86.3. So what happened to affect such a dramatic drop in the number of unfilled teaching positions in a matter of a few weeks? No one knows for sure because no one at DPI compiles such information, but I will surmise that teachers signed their contracts.

The reason so many teachers wait to sign their contracts until August is because they are trying to do what is right by their families. Many teachers want to move to a community that offers better salaries, more professional engagement and more opportunity. Often, but not always, these are North Dakota’s larger cities like Grand Forks, Fargo, West Fargo, Bismarck, Mandan, Minot and Dickinson. Once those school districts’ rosters are full, teachers who had hoped to be hired in those cities opt to sign a contract and remain in the communities they served the previous year.

The teacher shortage issue is complex and this simplistic, stop-gap measure will not solve the problem. One cause of the teacher shortage is that as our teachers retire, there are fewer individuals to replace them. This is because there are fewer people choosing teaching as a career. The reasons fewer people choose teaching as a career are many, but two reasons I hear often are low salaries and that teaching has lost the prestige it once enjoyed in our society. The “community expert” plan addresses neither of these issues.

Since 1983, the teaching profession has been under constant criticism. When I was growing up, education was seen as the solution to America’s problems. Now, in some quarters, education is seen as the cause of America’s problems. The teaching profession has come under withering assault from misinformed ideologues who believe that teaching and learning occur in a vacuum, free from negative outside influences like poverty and politics.

Crafting a plan that is based on actual data is the way forward, and North Dakota United stands ready to help. Making communities viable places for teachers to live and work is the key. Raising salaries, requiring high-quality mentoring programs for teachers and creating student-centered, teacher-led teaching and learning environments will help teachers understand that they are valued professionals.

Let’s take the time to get this right. Our kids deserve our best efforts.

Forum editorial: Expanded Medicaid works in ND

Aug 16, 2015

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple, who was among a handful of Republican governors to sign on to Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, did the right thing. He took a lot of political heat from his own party, but resisted. He not only was right at the time, he since has reiterated that it was the right thing to do for North Dakotans who did not have access to health care.

The governor is no cheerleader for Obamacare. He is, however, a pragmatic leader who saw an opportunity to help North Dakotans in need, and made the call. The results thus far confirm his foresight.

Some 19,000 North Dakotans have signed up for health insurance under the ACA’s Medicaid expansion. The program is a major factor in the steep decline in uninsured people in the state. It’s not the only factor (a strong economy and competitive job market are causing more employers to offer health policies to workers), but it is a significant driver of the state’s good health insurance statistics.

The drop from 15 percent uninsured prior to the ACA to 6.9 percent this year is one of the more impressive changes in the nation.

Critics contend the Medicaid change is proving to be more expensive than forecast. No surprise. However, the charge that Obamacare is the primary cause of escalating health insurance and Medicaid and Medicare costs is mostly canard. Health care inflation was raging before Obamacare, still is, and would have been showing the same trends had the ACA never become law. What the ACA has done, unfortunately, is give insurers and health care providers cover for rising costs. Every time rates go up, co-pays rise or the cost of a drug jumps, they conveniently and dishonestly point to the ACA as the culprit.Polls show Obamacare, the concept at least, remains unpopular among most Americans. But break it down and ask about specific provisions – expanded Medicaid, insuring existing conditions, keeping kids on a policy longer – and poll results flip.Certainly there is lots not to like about the ACA. But insurers and providers have moved quickly to adjust to the law’s new reality. And governors like Dalrymple, who was able to cut through the partisan smog, helped make affordable health care accessible.

Forum editorials represent the opinion of Forum management and the newspaper’s Editorial Board.

Red River Market accepts SNAP

Red River Market now accepting SNAP benefits

By Forum staff reports on Aug 15, 2015 at 11:48 a.m.

FARGO – Red River Market in Fargo is the latest farmers market in North Dakota to accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits via electronic benefit transfer cards. SNAP helps low-income families buy food.

The Red River Market has about 23 individual vendors featuring fruits, vegetables, eggs, herbs, baked goods and meat that can be purchased with SNAP benefits. The market is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays at Broadway and Second Avenue North in downtown Fargo.

The Red River Market joins Hildebrant's Farmers Market in West Fargo and William Erbes Farm in Fargo that accept SNAP benefits.

Bismarck Tribune: Medicaid System goes Online in October

Medicaid system goes online in October

By Nick Smith

A multimillion-dollar IT project for the state’s largest agency is on track to be completed this fall after being delayed for years and costs rising from $62.5 million to more than $97.9 million.

Department of Human Services officials said the state’s new Medicaid Management Information System project had experienced a series of delays and changes in its budget, missing a federal deadline of Oct. 1 last year to go live.

The tentative go-live date for the new system is Oct. 5.

DHS executive director Maggie Anderson said no further delays are anticipated.

“We have been doing a variety of training and outreach. This is a very intense time for us,” she said.
As of May 31, approximately $66.4 million had been spent on the project, of which $58.3 million was federal dollars. Of the total budget, about $85.5 million is from federal funds.

“There really hasn’t been a lot of feedback (yet) as far as the transition goes,” said Anderson, who expects to hear comments in the coming weeks from members of the Human Services and Information Technology committees.

In a July 20 letter to Medicaid providers statewide, the department announced the go-live date for the system, to be called the ND Health Enterprise MMIS. It will replace the system put in place more than 35 years ago.

A transition from the old system to the new began this month. Last week was the cutoff date for submitting new claim adjustments to the old system. The cutoff for providing paper claims to the old system is Tuesday, though there are exceptions for some providers. The cutoff for electronic claims is Sept. 2.

In the July letter, providers were told to plan for a potential gap in the payment of claims as the transition takes place.

Jenny Witham, IT Services director for DHS, said the delays resulted when the vendor, Xerox, took a long time designing and developing its system. Another included changes in the project’s scope and in federal law, most notably because of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

“It’s a very complex system. It’s just as complex as the MMIS in New York or California or any other large state. We just have a smaller volume,” Witham said.

Rep. Mark Owens, R-Grand Forks, chairman of the Interim Information Technology Committee, said the project had “slowed down and encountered adjustments” but committee members during the course of the project have been understanding of the situation.

“I didn’t sense a frustration with the lawmakers in the project. As a whole, they wanted progress,” he said.

Owens said the time for the project to come online is now and fine-tuning of the system can come later.

(Reach Nick Smith at 701-250-8255 or 701-223-8482 or at nick.smith@bismarcktribune.com.)

EARN Starter Program

EARN is initiating a new program called the EARN Starter Account.  It is a program that teaches low and middle income people how to save money.  Here is EARN's explanation of the program.

"To participate, all you have to do is link a savings account of your choice, deposit money each month, and make no withdrawals.  Every month you reach your deposit minimum, you will earn rewards!  Even if you've never saved before, or have only set aside a few dollars here and there, the Starter Account is a great way to kick-start and grow a lifelong habit of saving.  Interested?  Sign up now!"

EARN is also hosting a webinar on the Starter Program on August 19, from 1 to 2pm.  

The Starter Account is a new component of EARN's programs which include:

The Triple Boost Account, which "is a matched savings account for low-wage workers to save for their children's education expenses. Savers set aside $500 and receive $1,500 in match money. The total sum of $2,000 can be spent on qualified educational expenses for your child. At this time, we are fully enrolled and no longer accepting new applications" 

The EARN IDA (Individual Development Account) a matched savings account for low-wage workers to save for one of three specific goals: purchasing a first home, higher education, or a small business. With an EARN IDA account, you save $2,000 over a period of time and receive $4,000 in match money. The total sum of $6,000 can be invested towards your chosen goal.  At this time, we are fully enrolled and no longer accepting new applications. 

The North Dakota Community Action Partnership is in charge of a similar program to EARN's IDA in North Dakota that matches two to one with a combination of federal and non-federal dollars. 

Is the Earned Income Tax Credit an Emergency Savings Tool for the Low-Wage Worker? What about interest? Here comes the Rainy Day EITC!

From The Hill blog:

Turning the EITC into an emergency savings tool for low-wage workers

By Kathryn Edin, Sarah Halpern-Meekin, Sara S. Greene and Ezra Levin

“Thank God for tax season!” says Debra McKinley, a restaurant worker in Boston who relies on her tax refund – particularly the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) – to catch up on bills, afford a special treat for her daughter’s birthday and put a little savings aside for emergencies. But it’s nearly August now, and tax season is a distant memory. For many of us that’s just fine, but for McKinley and millions of low-income workers like her, it means anxiously counting the days until next year’s tax return.

McKinley is one of more than a hundred low-wage workers interviewed for the book “It’s Not Like I’m Poor.” The EITC—often the most substantial part of their tax refund—is a financial lifeline for workers like her, but there’s one problem: it’s only available once a year.

As financial pressures mount throughout the year for families like McKinley’s, rainy day funds built up at tax time are often depleted.  That means unpredictable events such as a cut in work hours can quickly lead to ballooning credit card debt or a trip to the payday loan office. Something as simple as a “check engine” light signals a looming, unbearable financial burden. 

 

The EITC is the country’s largest anti-poverty program for workers, but it was not built to contend with the recurring financial shocks that define low-wage life in America. We have a plan that would give these workers the extra help they need when inevitable financial emergencies occur after tax season. We call it the Rainy Day EITC and it deserves attention on Capitol Hill.

Under the policy proposal, a worker who opts in to the Rainy Day EITC on her tax form receives most of the EITC (80 percent) during tax season and defers the remainder. Six months later, she gets a Rainy Day payment—the 20 percent she deferred and a 50 percent savings match.

For a typical low-wage family with an EITC of $2,500, this Rainy Day payment adds up to real savings. The family receives $2,000 at tax time, and six months later gets another $700. That $700 is larger than the typical pay day loan in America. It’s the difference between fixing the car when the check engine light goes on and just hoping for the best. It means a real financial cushion later in the year, after the boom times of tax season have receded into memory.

The Rainy Day EITC isn’t just the brainchild of ivory tower academics and policy wonks. It’s based on in-depth interviews  from “It’s Not Like I’m Poor”with low-wage workers who value the “forced savings” mechanism of the lump sum EITC, but find themselves without a rainy day fund months later. The proposal was honed with input from researchers and administrators of low-income tax preparation programs from across the country.

The Rainy Day EITC isn’t a silver bullet. Many low-wage workers will need their full tax refund at tax time. But for many low-wage workers, the reform would provide a new tool to help them achieve financial security year-round, rather than just during tax-season.

Congress can create that tool through a relatively modest expansion of the EITC. By our estimate, the initial cost would amount to a little over 1 percent of current spending on the EITC. That relatively small expansion would help millions of workers add some stability to their often unstable financial lives. We believe it is well worth the investment.

Edin is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in the Department of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University. Halpern-Meekin is an assistant professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Greene is an Associate professor of Law at the Duke University School of Law. Levin is the associate director of Government Affairs at the Corporation for Enterprise Development, a national nonprofit focused on helping low- and moderate-income Americans save, invest, and build wealth.

North Dakota in the top 10 for Decrease in Uninsured

 The Gallup poll referenced in this Fargo forum Article can be found here, www.gallup.com/poll/184514/uninsured-rates-continue-drop-states.aspx

The Fargo Forum is also looking for stories about people who were able to get insurance under the Affordable Care Act and North Dakota's expansion of Medicaid.  Please email the Forum's reporter at: pspringer@forumcomm.com.

 

Mike Barry, 50, of Fargo, N.D., photographed in his apartment on Wednesday, August 12, 2015, describes the Affordable Care Act as a "god-send" for his health and well-being. According to a new Gallup ranking, North Dakota's uninsured rate has dropped 8.1 percent since 2013. Nick Wagner / The Forum

Access to health care 'a godsend' for previously uninsured man

By Patrick Springer Today at 5:57 a.m.

FARGO – Not long ago, Mike Barry was going to a homeless health clinic to take care of his chronic health conditions, which include diabetes, high blood pressure and pulmonary disease.

But about two years ago, he gained access to health insurance because North Dakota expanded its Medicaid program. He's one of almost 19,000 who picked up Medicaid coverage — a big factor in the drop in the uninsured rate in North Dakota, which fell from 15 percent in 2013 to 6.9 percent in the first half of this year, according to a new Gallup survey.

Now the 50-year-old Fargo man has access to a primary-care doctor and a team of specialists, a dietitian and a diabetes coach.

"I know there's been a lot of discussion about the Affordable Care Act," Barry said, referring to the health reform law that allowed states to expand Medicaid and provides health insurance premium subsidies for others. "For me, it's been a godsend. It's opened a lot of doors."

North Dakota is one of the 10 states that has experienced the greatest reduction in the rate of those who are not covered by health insurance from 2013 to 2015, according to the survey.

Over the same period, when the national uninsured rate fell from 17.3 percent to 11.7 percent, Minnesota's uninsured rate decreased from 9.5 percent to 4.6 percent, Gallup reported. Minnesota was one of seven states to fall below 5 percent.

Most states have seen the uninsured rate drop, a trend Gallup attributes to expanded health insurance coverage provided through the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare.

The states with the largest decreases in the uninsured rate usually had both expanded Medicaid and created their own exchanges.

Minnesota did both, while North Dakota decided to participate in the federal health insurance exchange.

Adam Hamm, North Dakota's insurance commissioner, offered a guarded assessment of the Gallup figures.

"In my nearly eight years as insurance commissioner, I've seen numerous estimates and surveys regarding the number of uninsured North Dakotans ranging anywhere from 7 percent to 15 percent," Hamm said in a statement. "This survey is simply one more data point to consider."

Another reading on the uninsured population came Wednesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which estimates that 11.5 percent were uninsured nationwide in 2014. In North Dakota, the rate was 7.3 percent and 6.5 percent in Minnesota.

Two health insurance executives said they weren't surprised by the sharp drop in the uninsured rate, as portrayed in the trend figures from the Gallup surveys.

In addition to the almost 19,000 who gained coverage through expansion of Medicaid eligibility in North Dakota, another 18,171 are covered through the health insurance exchange, according to figures from March, the most recent available.

That means 36,000 to 37,000 residents in North Dakota recently gained health insurance coverage, said Jeff Sandene, interim president of the Sanford Health Plan, which provides insurance for Medicaid expansion in the state.

"That's a big number," he said. "It really doesn't surprise me," he added, referring to the 8.1-percentage point drop shown by the Gallup surveys. "I didn't know the exact number."

Besides expansion of health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, the strong economy in North Dakota has helped broaden coverage, according to Sandene and Pat Bellmore, chief marketing officer for Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota.

The North Dakota Blues have seen more employers provide health insurance for the first time, Bellmore said.

"A lot of it is the tight labor market," he said. To attract and keep workers, employers must offer competitive benefits, including health insurance, Bellmore added.

Those who previously lacked health insurance now have the benefit of accessing health care, including preventive care that is directed by a primary care physician and carried out by a team of providers, Sandene said.

Barry is a case in point. In addition to his primary-care doctor at Sanford Medical Center, he now sees specialists for his diabetes, kidney problems and leg problems, as well as a diabetes coach and dietitian. A community paramedic visits him once a week to monitor his conditions.

"It's allowed me to access things I wouldn't have had access to," he said.

As a result of the more intensive and coordinated care, Barry's chronic conditions have stabilized and he is seeing some improvement, he said. A 35-year veteran of restaurant work, Barry has been sidelined by his chronic health problems.

"At least I know what the problems are, what I can do, what can be done about it," he said. "It takes the guesswork out."

Bellmore and Sandene expect more individuals to get health insurance through the exchanges, as penalties continue to rise for those who lack coverage — suggesting, they said, the uninsured rate should continue to decline.