January 8-10, 2014
Jan 08 01:58 BREAKING: SCSU fall enrollment wrap-up Jan 08 05:22 Wild win, withstand Kings' shootarama Jan 08 12:36 Potter's spirit of cooperation? Jan 09 00:33 Should Aviation fly again? Jan 09 02:21 MNsure mismanagement Jan 09 17:25 Is Franken in trouble? Jan 10 00:58 St. Cloud State loses a dean Jan 10 01:38 Ornstein's repeal obsession disturbing Jan 10 10:57 How the Dayton administration wrecked MNsure
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Should Aviation fly again?
Should Aviation Fly Again?
by Silence Dogood
"Change is inevitable, progress is optional." Anonymous
It is important to know right from the start that the documents presented here were all created from official SCSU data that was distributed by the administration.
Programs either adapt or die. Based on the number of enrolled students shown in documents from academic reorganization, the aviation program was the 10th largest program at SCSU:
Science programs have historically been 'higher cost' programs than most others at a university because of the specialized laboratory equipment and smaller class sizes required for the laboratories. In the College of Science and Engineering, according to University data, only four of thirteen programs made money in both FY07 and FY08:
This data can be expressed in many ways; one way is to calculate the profitability ratio - essentially how much a program earns in tuition for each dollar spent. Programs that make money have profitability ratios greater than 1.00. Correspondingly, programs that cost more than they bring in have profitability ratios less than 1.00. For the six programs that lost money in FY08 (excluding RAS because it was too new to have graduates), the following table can be generated:
Clearly, the aviation department's profitability ratio is much higher than many of the programs, with the exception of the new RAS program, in the College of Science and Engineering and, based on the table above, the aviation department lost the least amount of money of any of the programs in FY08.
There have been numerous statements made that the aviation department annually lost between $500,000 and $600,000. In FY08, the university's own data shows that the aviation program only lost $136,384!
The aviation program at SCSU was a strong program and was adapting to the changes it faced. In 2008, the aviation department applied for FAA approval to be a Controller Training Initiative program. The COSE Dean and Provost authorized the application and after a site visit and formal authorization by the FAA in 2008, students were eligible to be added beginning in the Spring of 2009.
One retired faculty member was brought back half time and an adjunct was hired to teach two classes. In a small department - one with only five faculty members, the addition of essentially a three-quarters time person substantially increased the 'expenses' for the program. Unfortunately, when you add faculty until you build the program, it looks bad from a numbers viewpoint because you have added expenses and not yet received additional tuition from students.
As a result, the Tuition/Expense ratio for aviation for FY09 dropped to 0.60 from 0.78 in FY08. Anyone who understands what it takes to develop a program might have understood the reason for the decline. Unfortunately, it almost seemed like something had to go and since aviation was the only program to decline substantially from FY08, aviation was the 'low hanging fruit.'
At Meet and Confer on December 12, 2013, President Potter handed out the following table showing the number of graduates of the Aviation program by concentration:
Clearly, programs adapt and the Professional Flight numbers have declined significantly while the Management and the Operations numbers have remained quite healthy. The aviation faculty found that many professional flight students had switched into the operations or management track to complete their aviation degree without occurring additional flight training costs. These students would often complete their aviation degree and complete their flight training once they were in the work force. When the aviation closure decision was initially announced by former Dean David DeGroote in 2010, some professional flight students made a deliberate switch into the operations and management tracks in order to graduate in a more expeditious manner. Had the program not been slated for closure, the aviation program might have been expected to start seeing growth in the numbers of additional non professional flight students including air traffic controllers and other niche programs including unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) support personnel.
At the same time that the President distributed the data on the aviation majors, he brought up the need of the university to develop "niche" programs. It is almost ironic that the aviation program was already a "niche" program as the only accredited 4-year aviation program in Minnesota. The air traffic control program would have been the only program at a university in Minnesota giving it a "niche" status as well.
According to an Associated Press article reproduced on the Channel 5 News website, the University of North Dakota opened the nation's first unmanned aircraft degree program in 2009 and started with "five students in 2009 to 120 students last year." Two other universities, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Kansas have recently added their own programs. Also according to the AP Article, "The Federal Aviation Administration projects 7,500 commercial drones could be aloft within five years of getting widespread access to American airspace." According to the Huffington Post Business: "Last year, Congress directed the FAA to grant unmanned aircraft access to U.S. skies by September 2015." This is something that is going to happen sooner rather than later.
Camp Ripley has been designated as a regional site for training for drones or UAVs so the proximity to St. Cloud would have been a distinct advantage for SCSU. Had the aviation program not been closed, it might well have added another "niche" program to the university's portfolio of unique programs.
Interesting facts:The aviation program at SCSU was a high quality program - it was the only accredited aviation program in Minnesota. In 2008, the aviation program had revised its offerings to add an air traffic controller concentration. There is little doubt that, had the administration not chosen to close the aviation program, it would have developed a program for UAVs.
- In the Fall of 2008, the aviation program had 1,026 student credit hours. In the Fall of 2009 the number of student credit hours rose to 1,288. In the Fall of 2010 the number of student credit hours rose again to 1,318. Contrary to some information, the aviation program was growing its enrollment.
- The average enrollment for the past 20+ years was approximately 230 students per year. At SCSU there are 199 programs with enrollments less than 100 enrolled students.
Here's the real lesson to be learned looking back: successful, accredited programs that attract students who graduate and find jobs can be eliminated almost at the whim of the administration. What is really scary is that if somehow you fit the President's definition of a "niche" program, you might be next for elimination.
Posted Thursday, January 9, 2014 12:33 AM
Comment 1 by Nick at 11-Jan-14 03:42 AM
Aviation should be brought back at SCSU, but won't be due to Potter's arrogance.
BREAKING: SCSU fall enrollment wrap-up
Looking Back at Fall Semester Enrollments
by Silence Dogood
The Christmas tree is down and all of the decorations have been put away for another year. The only thing left over are bills that will be needed to be paid.
There is something similar going on at the universities in MnSCU. The 'bills' for fall semester enrollments are coming due. The following Figure shows the Full-Year Equivalent Enrollment for the MnSCU universities for F'13. The data came from the MnSCU website as of January 7, 2014.
From the data, SCSU is the clear "winner" in the largest decline in FYE contest. Unfortunately, winning a contest for the largest decline is a contest that you probably don't wan to win. SCSU lost 284 FYE from Fall'12 to Fall'13. The other five MnSCU universities with declines lost a combined total of 238 students. So not only did SCSU win, it wasn't even close! SCSU's decline is larger by 46 FYE than the total of the other five universities!
Most regular folks can't quite get a grip on this FYE stuff so the following plot shows the same data in terms of the percentages:
Again, SCSU comes out the 'winner'! In fact, SCSU's percentage decline is almost three (2.97) times larger than the average decline of the five universities experiencing a decline.
So what does this all have to do with bills? A very conservative estimate is that each FYE lost represents a loss of $7,000 in tuition. A loss of 284 FYE therefore represents a decline in revenue of $1,988,000. I guess I'm glad that I won't have to pay that bill when it comes due. However, what's even more of a nightmare is that this loss represents only one half of the academic year and for the past thirteen years the spring semester decline has always been larger than the decline in Fall Semester.
While registration is not complete since classes don't begin until Monday. As of Tuesday, January 7, 2014, SCSU's enrollment for spring semester is down 840 FYE or -15.0%. Certainly, this won't be the final number but it is likely to end up worse than the number from fall which will mean the loss of more tuition revenue at the rate of $7,000 per FYE. If the decline is 300 FYE $2.1 million in tuition disappears. If we have 400 fewer FYE $2.8 million in tuition does not come our way. How big does the lost revenue need to become before people wake up and recognize that SCSU is losing real money?
Minnesota State University-Moorhead was down 2.6% in FYE in the fall and is eliminating 40 faculty positions, which includes six retrenchments. The reduction in faculty positions at Moorhead amounts to 10% of their faculty! And they were only down by 2.6%! SCSU's decline is larger and steeper than that at Moorhead. It doesn't take too many smarts to predict what declining enrollment and revenue means for the future of employment at SCSU!
Posted Wednesday, January 8, 2014 1:58 AM
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Wild win, withstand Kings' shootarama
Officially, Wild backup goaltender Darcy Kuemper got the first star of last night's Wild victory over the LA Kings, with Wild wing Nino Niederreiter getting the game's second star. In reality, they both should've shared star of the game billing because they were the reason the Wild won.
Kuemper stopped 39 of the 40 shots he faced in regulation and overtime before shutting out the Kings in the shootout. After the Kings scored their only goal of the night, Nino Niederreiter tied the game with a pretty goal from Jason Pominville and Mikhael Granlund:
Kumper shut the Kings out the rest of the way, showing supreme confidence in the shootout while stopping the Kings' 4 shooters cold. Jonathan Quick was magnificent between the pipes for LA, too. Unfortunately for the Kings, he just couldn't stop Niederreiter when it mattered most.
Niederreiter's game-winning goal in the shootout was magnificent, too. Niederreiter brought the puck in methodically before forcing Quick to commit one way or the other. When Quick committed, Niederreiter shifted the puck to his forehand before lifting the puck into the empty net. Quick knew he was beat as he desperately flailed in his attempt to stop Niederreiter's shot.
While the Kings outshot the Wild, the Wild played a physical, fast-paced game. Mainly relying on totally restructured forward lines thanks to injuries to Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu. Losing the team's 2 leaders for extended periods of time simultaneously might've given the Wild an excuse to collapse.
To their credit, the Wild instead played hard though they were clearly outmanned. Getting outshot 30-9 through the first 2 periods isn't the ideal recipe for winning on the road against a top opponent. To their credit, though, the Wild competed with the Kings for every loose puck, whether the puck was in their zone, at center ice or in their offensive zone.
Finally, it needs to be highlighted that the Wild used their young legs and athleticism to keep the pressure on Quick and the Kings. What they lacked in offensive talent, they made up for with physical play, aggressiveness and fantastic goaltending. Last night, that was the perfect recipe for a Wild win.
Posted Wednesday, January 8, 2014 5:22 AM
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Potter's spirit of cooperation?
If I didn't know better, I'd swear that Dick Andzenge's monthly column was written or approved by President Potter. It didn't take long for Dr. Andzenge to resort to extreme fluffery:
Similarly, in addressing enrollment, all sides need to embrace the message of teamwork university President Earl H. Potter III delivered in his convocation address last semester.
First, there's a reason why SCSU faculty don't "embrace" many things coming from President Potter. There isn't a spirit of cooperation or collaberation. President Potter dictates what will be done. The monthly Meet & Confer meetings are derisively refered to as Meet & Announce meetings.
When President Potter signed the contract with St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis that promised St. Cloud State would pay the City of St. Cloud $240,000 a year for 3 police officers, there was no consultation with the Faculty Association.
It's insulting to say that President Potter fosters teamwork. Do people that think that changing one's mind on a decision when new information becomes available is a weakness? President Potter does. At a Meet & Confer meeting, he said changing his mind would be seen as a sign of weakness.
I'd argue that it would've been a sign that he'd kept an open mind while assessing new information about how to grow the University. John Meynard Keynes was once asked why he'd changed his mind. Keynes' response would've been rejected by President Potter because Keynes said "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, Sir?"
Where was the spirit of cooperation when President Potter spent $50,000 to rent the logo from the Great Place to Work Institute? Apparently, President Potter thinks that saying something makes it verifiable fact. Personally, I think that having a person say that a difficult place is a great place to work is spin.
President Potter's response to his disastrous reorganization of the University was to hire Earthbound Media Group to have them rebrand the University. His response wasn't to improve the University. It was to improve the University's image.
There's no doubt that President Potter has gotten people to believe he's cooperating with them. Steve Hornstein is one of the people who's been duped into thinking that. The basis for Dr. Hornstein's opinion: President Potter's administration hadn't held a Budget Committee hearing prior to November. In fact, at the first Budget Advisory Commitee meeting, they didn't have a printed budget for each of the committee members.
When complaints were made that the administration wasn't prepared, a document described as a budget was produced. The committee members criticized the document, saying that it didn't contain any detailed information explaining what St. Cloud State's financial position was.
Dr. Hornstein said this was a step in the right direction because the administration produced a document that they called a budget. Apparently, Dr. Hornstein isn't a demanding man. At minimum, he isn't demanding President Potter's cooperation. Even insulting gestures by the administration earn Dr. Hornstein's praise.
It's insulting when the faculty accept President Potter's declarations as proof of cooperation. Dr. Andzenge should know better than that.
Posted Wednesday, January 8, 2014 12:36 PM
Comment 1 by Crimson Trace at 08-Jan-14 01:33 PM
SCSU needs a lot of external help. Will they ever get it?
Comment 2 by Wonderer at 08-Jan-14 09:28 PM
I have been closely following the exchanges of information and opinion relating to what is happening at SCSU. Dr. Andzenge's column in the St Cloud Times on 1/8/14 sickened me. It purported to be about enrollment, but it consisted of blandishments and opinions with no empirical support. His generalizations were so broad that they were without direct relevance to the specific problems at SCSU, clearly intended to provide assurance that there is no problem and, if there is, it is certainly not due to Dr. Potter's decisions and behavior as boss. By comparison, hard, detailed MnSCU data has been presented in this column, real information that Dr. Andzenge chose to totally ignore in his rosy comments. Further, as a professional academic, how can he not clinically observe the unrest and discouragement of his colleagues and other staff members? How disappointing to have such an unrealistic editorial piece in the St Cloud Times, putting frosting on an eroding cake instead of solving problems. There are scales on some eyes around here. How discouraging.
MNsure mismanagement
Jim Nobles is a pretty even-keel kind of guy. He's a 'just the facts' type of person, which is what's required in investigating things. Now that Mr. Nobles has announced that he's auditing MNsure, Gov. Dayton has said that he welcomes the audit :
Gov. Mark Dayton and other state agency leaders say they welcome a deeper investigation into MNsure, the new agency that built and operates the new online health insurance exchange.
'I have the highest regard for Mr. Nobles and agree that a full, independent examination of MNsure is highly appropriate,' Dayton said in an e-mailed statement.
That sounds like Gov. Dayton is trying to tell Mr. Nobles how to do his job. At minimum, it sounds like he's trying to direct Mr. Nobles' attention towards the contractors.
Mr. Nobles' response is cause for heartburn for Gov. Dayton and the DFL co-chairs of the MNsure Legislative Oversight Committee:
'It's fine to question the performance of the contractor,' Nobles said about the sweep of his audit. 'We'll do that. But one of the worst things you can do in managing these contracts is to stand on the sidelines with the hope that things will go well. You've got to be actively managing and verifying.'
In other words, Mr. Nobles isn't just interested in finding out if the contractors did their job. He's interested in finding out whether the MNsure board and staff did their jobs and whether the MNsure Legislative Oversight Committee paid attention to MNsure's post-launch problems.
Here's what stood out in this article :
Gov. Mark Dayton has strongly criticized one major vendor and publicly demanded improvement since the bumpy rollout of the website in October. The state legislative auditor launched a review Tuesday to determine to what degree vendors and state officials are responsible for the problems. And a committee of state legislators will convene Thursday demanding answers for a program envisioned as a gateway to health insurance for more than 800,000 Minnesotans this year.
During the September 24th meeting, Sen. Sean Nienow raised questions about data security. Sen. Nienow's questions didn't get answered. At that meeting, Sen. Michelle Benson questioned the prioritization of projects within the MNsure project at that same meeting. That's the last time the committee met.
It's certain that the DFL will do plenty of grandstanding at this morning's meeting. It's important to remember that it's been 107 days and an executive director resignation since their last meeting. The question that the DFL won't answer is why they didn't hold a hearing while MNsure dealt with one crisis after another.
It isn't a stretch to think that Sen. Lourey and Rep. Atkins, the co-chairs of the Oversight Committee, chose not to hold another hearing because their chief goal was to run political interference for Gov. Dayton. That isn't leadership.
Whenever a political party puts a higher priority on protecting their politicians than it puts on doing what's right for the state, that's a sign that that political party is morally bankrupt. Right now, it's apparent that the DFL is morally bankrupt. That's why they should be fired en masse next November.
Posted Thursday, January 9, 2014 2:21 AM
Comment 1 by Rex Newman at 09-Jan-14 05:31 PM
In the private sector, if you hire a contractor, you are held responsible if it fails. Yes, you might have recourse against an under-performing vendor, but you picked that contractor. But not in the public sector, at least as our Governor and "the board" sees it.
I have a little advice for them. Take on IBM at your peril. They do this for a living, including the contract law parts. You're over-matched, unless of course you try to muzzle them with threats of black-listing them from any future work.
And to Mr. Nobles, this is a target rich opportunity to show if you something more than your Caspar Milquetoast reputation.
Is Franken in trouble?
Earlier this afternoon, the McFadden for Senate campaign announced their fundraising totals for the last quarter of 2013. Here's their statement:
McFadden Has Best Fundraising Quarter Yet
Franken Challenger Starts 2014 With $1.7 Million Cash On Hand
Eagan Minn. - After posting his best fundraising quarter yet, Senate candidate Mike McFadden will report having $1.7 million cash-on-hand in his race against Sen. Al Franken (D-MN). In its year-end report, the McFadden for Senate campaign will report raising approximately $780,000 during the last three months of 2013. McFadden has raised $2.2 million since entering the race in late May.
'I am truly grateful for all the support Minnesotans have given to my campaign over the past few months,' said McFadden. 'If there's anything to learn from 2013, it's that we can do better as a state and as a nation. Obamacare is still a disaster, the government is still spending too much money and middle class families are still worried about the economy. I look forward to hitting the campaign trail again in 2014 and holding Al Franken accountable for failing to address the challenges that Minnesota families face today.'
The McFadden for Senate campaign will file its report with the Secretary of the Senate later this month.
If Sen. Franken thought that he'd win without a challenge, he'll need to rethink that opinion. Private polling shows Franken in trouble at this early stage of the campaign. Potentially, that's trouble because more Obamacare trouble is heading his direction. Obamacare, aka the Affordable Care Act, is causing Minnesotans heartburn because it's triggered 140,000 cancellation notices in Minnesota. That's just the first shoe to drop with the ACA.
To defeat an incumbent, a candidate needs a) to raise lots of money, b) an appealing message and c) for things to break right. At this point, Mr. McFadden has at least 2 of those 3 things going for him. He's certainly raised lots of money. He certainly has a positive, pro-growth message that should appeal to Minnesota's middle class.
What's still to be determined is whether things will break in Mr. McFadden's direction. With Obamacare, aka the Affordable Care Act, being a disaster and with more bad news heading in Sen. Franken's direction on that, it isn't a stretch to think McFadden has a shot at having things break his direction.
This race is shaping up to be one of the interesting sleeper races across the nation. If Mr. McFadden continues raising money at this pace, he'll be a formidable opponent for Sen. Franken.
Posted Thursday, January 9, 2014 5:25 PM
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St. Cloud State loses a dean
Will She Be Missed?
by Silence Dogood
The St. Cloud Times published an article on January 7, 2014 that reported that Diana Lawson, Dean and Professor of Marketing at St. Cloud State University is leaving to take a position at Grand Valley State University beginning July 1, 2014. Congratulations to Dean Lawson!
Dean Lawson came to SCSU for the 2006-07 academic year. A few things about her time at SCSU are quite certain. Under her leadership, the undergraduate enrollment in the Herberger Business School has dropped substantially. This data was prepared by the Office of Institutional Research and is available from the website for the Office of Strategy, Planning & Effectiveness. Unfortunately, the data only goes back five years so we don't see the first two years of her tenure at SCSU. The undergraduate enrollment in the Herberger Business School is shown in the following figure:
Data for the 2013-14 academic year is not available because it is currently in progress and will not be over until June 30, 2014. Overall, the decline in undergraduate FYE enrollment from 2008-09 to 2012-13 is an astounding 22.9%!
The situation for graduate enrollment is only slightly better declining only 20.0% over the same time period. The graduate enrollments over the same period are shown in the following figure:
A closer look at the data shows the drop in the graduate enrollment from 2010-11 to 2011-12 was 11.8%, which was then followed by a drop of 9.31%. While the rate of decline is over two percent less, the two-year decline is a staggering 20.7%!
It is often said that a picture is worth 10,000 words, well some data simply speaks for itself! In order to explain the significant declines in enrollment, it has often been heard that the university is 'right sizing.' However, this is just 'administrative speak' for trying to take credit for something which is heading in the wrong direction and not wanting to look bad. If the enrollment decline was truly an attempt to 'right size' the university, it would be something that is being discussed openly and transparently and there would be a plan.
Leaders often take the blame for things that are beyond their control. This is evidenced when a coach gets blamed and fired when a team underperforms because firing the entire team isn't really realistic. Recently, Leslie Frazier was fired as coach of the Minnesota Vikings because the team did not meet the owner's and fan's expectations. Unfortunately, there really aren't 'owners' or 'fans' for a university's academic programs so, as long as you keep the Chancellor happy, you're probably going to keep your job.
However, at some point, if the performance of the team is so poor and a coach is desperate and wants to keep his job, he fires his assistant coaches. It's a way of assigning the blame to someone other than the coach. This actually occurred last March when the 'assistant coach' of the College of Science and Engineering was dismissed. It happened again in August when the 'assistant coach' for the Center for International Studies was dismissed.
Unfortunately, if the assistant coaches of an underperforming team leave on their own, what's a coach to do? Without someone under them to blame, the team's poor performance once again becomes their problem. With the departure of Dean Lawson, one of SCSU's assistant coaches has deserted the team. Looking at the assistant coach's performance based on enrollment, it would be hard to say her area of responsibility is in better shape now than when she came. In fact, from an enrollment standpoint it looks a whole lot worse! With three fewer assistant coaches around to shoulder the blame, the head coach starts looking vulnerable. At some point the Chancellor is going to have to look at the performance of the team and its head coach and decide if the team is headed in the right direction or if a coaching change needs to be made. Based on the team's recent performance, I'd expect a coaching change sooner rather than later.
Posted Friday, January 10, 2014 12:58 AM
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Ornstein's repeal obsession disturbing
Norm Ornstein's obsessive disgust with people who want to repeal Obamacare borders on lunacy. Here's the link to Ornstein's latest anti-Republican diatribe. This delusional rant says everything Republicans need to know how deranged progressives are:
Despite yeoman efforts to make the bill bipartisan - months and months of negotiation by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus with Chuck Grassley and other Senate Republicans, starting from a framework devised and endorsed by Grassley - it got not a single GOP vote. But after passage, it has received nothing but yeoman efforts to sabotage it, including from a slew of Republican governors denying insurance to the most needy of their constituents simply to stymie the law's implementation. And whenever a Republican talks about how to make the law work better, instead of blowing it up (Jack Kingston of Georgia comes to mind), he or she is vilified by partisans and their media acolytes.
Ornstein seriously thinks that Democrats made "yeoman efforts" to make the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, a bipartisan bill? Serioiusly? What's the color of the sun in Ornstein's solar system? That's downright frightening.
The more accurate way to put it is to say that Democrats tried to entice Susan Collins, Arlen Specter and Olympia Snowe into voting for the Democrats my-way-or-the-highway bill. Harry Reid's negotiations with Republicans had as much to do with good faith negotiations as white gas has to do with putting out fires.
Further, Ornstein's villification of Republicans for wanting to demolish terrible legislation that doesn't have a chance of working is frightening. Here's what we know thus far about the ACA:
- Insurance premiums have risen sharply.
- Taxes on companies and the middle class have risen sharply.Deductibles for new ACA-approved policies have skyrocketed.
- People who had policies that paid out millions of dollars and that have saved people's lives were mischaracterized by President Obama, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and Rep. Frank Pallone, (D-NJ), as being "substandard policies."
What part of that does Mr. Ornstein think is an improvement over the old system? Apparently, he thinks this is much ado about nothing:
What I do know is that there are going to be a whole lot of winners under the Affordable Care Act, and a smaller number, but still a significant one, of losers or those caught up in the inevitable upheaval to the health care system.
It isn't that Mr. Ornstein knows this. It's that he believes, despite the evidence presented thus far, that the ACA will suddenly transform itself from being an ugly duckling into being a beautiful swan.
Here's my advice for Mr. Ornstein: Putting lipstick on the Obamacare pig won't turn Obamacare into a thing of beauty. Despite all of the lipstick Mr. Ornstein puts on the beast, it's still an ugly pig.
Posted Friday, January 10, 2014 1:38 AM
Comment 1 by J. Ewing at 10-Jan-14 09:03 AM
Wait! "...the inevitable upheaval of the health care system"??? Who wanted an upheaval? Who voted for an upheaval? I thought if you liked your plan you could keep it, and 85% of us were happy with our plan. No upheaval required or wanted. Take your upheaval and...
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 10-Jan-14 10:12 AM
Exactly right.
How the Dayton administration wrecked MNsure
James Nord's post for MinnPost is the most damning indictment of the Dayton administration yet. This bombshell information is contained in Nord's post:
Newly released contract documents suggest the state and MNsure leaders had a more direct role in the health exchange's many missteps than they have publicly acknowledged.
In recent weeks, Gov Mark Dayton and MNsure officials have increased their criticism of vendors, blaming the private technology companies for some of the underlying problems and glitches with the health exchange's operation.
However, in early May, the state of Minnesota in effect took over responsibility from its lead contractor, Maximus Inc., for constructing MNsure's technical infrastructure, according to contract amendments released to MinnPost by MNsure.
The new documents show that the exchange staff quietly made a signifcant change to its key contract for building MNsure, just months after making major revisions to the timeframe and size of the project.
If MinnPost has the documentation it says it has, then the Dayton administration, not to mention his hand-picked MNsure board, have serious problems. Further, Gov. Dayton can't say that this isn't his fault because he appointed the people on the MNsure board.
What's worse about those appointments is that these board members aren't subject to legislative confirmation. What's worst is that they're part of an independent board. They aren't part of the Department of Human Services. Last night, in a conversation with Rex from Speed Gibson, Rex raised the question about why the MNsure board was set up this way.
But I digress. Back to MNsure's troubles.
If MNsure essentially told the contractor how to do their job, then it's on the MNsure board's head if things go wrong. It's something that Jim Nobles intends to find out more about:
'I think it's been one of the confounding and unnecessary complications of all this : that [MNsure has] created an environment in which transparency and accountability have suffered,' Jim Nobles, the legislative auditor, told MinnPost.
He said he also wants to examine whether officials withheld critical information from the public. 'Even credibility, because they haven't been open and straightforward with people.'
Nobles also said he would look into the effects of the May contract amendments. 'It's certainly something that I will pursue very vigorously to find out what triggered that decision,' Nobles said when the amendment was brought to his attention. 'What exactly did it mean? Who exactly was : doing the project management?'
What this means is that MNsure doesn't know what it's doing. The entire board should be terminated ASAP. If they're so arrogant that they think they know more than the experts they've hired to do this job, then that's a stinging indictment on their managerial skills.
This isn't surprising. Let's remember Ms. Todd-Malmlov's decision to start the advertising campaign before locking down data security . It was Ms. Todd-Malmlov's decision to start the advertising campaign before starting training the people who would work with the exchange, too.
That's what happens when Minnesotans elect someone who's well known but underqualified. The biggest things Gov. Dayton campaigned on were raising taxes and creating the exchange. Both have turned into unmitigated disasters. What's worst is that things won't get better anytime without firing the current governor and the MNsure board.
Posted Friday, January 10, 2014 10:57 AM
Comment 1 by Sean at 12-Jan-14 02:16 PM
The MNSure Board had no formal authority until August 21, 2013.
https://www.mnsure.org/images/Bd-2013-08-21-FinalTransferofAuthority.pdf
Before that point, MMB was ultimately responsible for these sorts of matters.
