BLOG

Most of you are probably wondering, “What in the world is SCAAC?” That’s not surprising.

This little-known education committee, composed of volunteers, was officially titled the “School Curriculum, Assessment and Accountability Council” when it was created by legislative act in 1998. Most people just refer to the council by its initials. Pronounced, the abbreviation rhymes with rack.

Since its formation, the SCAAC’s two parents, two teachers, two superintendents, two principals, two local school board members, two school district assessment coordinators, two employers, two university professors, and one at-large member – all appointed by the governor – have served as an advisory committee to the Kentucky Department of Education and the Kentucky Board of Education on a broad range of topics. The existence of the SCAAC insures voices from ‘front line troops’ in our schools and other interested groups are heard by policy-makers.

Today marked the final meeting for current SCAAC appointees. Their appointments end on April 30, 2012.

These folks put in a lot of challenging time advising the education department on the creation of Kentucky’s new assessment and accountability program. They have done a lot of work to bring that new and involved program into being. Along the way, they could have road-blocked the process and prevented a decent program from being created. However, the members rose to the challenge to help create a new assessment that will certainly prove far superior to the previous CATS assessment. This new assessment will challenge, but should not overwhelm, our public school system.

So, thank you to the departing SCAAC members. With a lot left still to do to get our new assessment system running effectively and efficiently, the governor needs to re-tap many of you for more SCAAC service.

SCAAC was chaired by Jessamine County Schools Superintendent Lu Young.

Other members included: Rob Akers, Harrie Buecker, Sara Call, Jana Beth Francis, Catherine Hacker, Larry Hicks, David Higgins, Patrice McCrary, Ben Oldham, Polly Page, Edward Reeves, Pennye Rogers, Sandra Shepherd, Denise Whitaker, Carl Wicklund and Phyllis Young.

A hat tip to all!

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Contact: Jim Waters, 270-782-2140                                                                                

(FRANKFORT, Ky.) – A proposal that would drive up insurance costs for Kentucky businesses and consumers by mandating higher reimbursement rates for chiropractors – rates that would be set by an unelected bureaucrat – is unsound public policy and should be rejected by the state Senate.

HB 202, which passed the House on a 77-15 vote earlier this month, would require insurers to reimburse chiropractors at a much higher rate by tying reimbursement fees to the Workers Compensation Fee Schedule.

Insurers would establish the workers comp fee as the minimum that chiropractors could be paid – a mandate that an independent actuarial analysis reports could drive up health care costs for insured Kentuckians by more than $43 million a year.”

“The last thing we need is for Frankfort to exacerbate an already serious problem with rising health care costs in the current environment brought on by the federal government’s unprecedented mandates – which has created lots of uncertainty for consumers and their employers,” said Jim Waters, president of the Bluegrass Institute, Kentucky’s free market think tank. “If this bill becomes law, every other group of health professionals unhappy with their reimbursement rates soon will be in Frankfort with their hands out – pointing to this bill saying: ‘Where’s ours?””

Not only does the bill take away the right of individual chiropractors to negotiate in a free market, it allows the Labor Cabinet Secretary to establish reimbursement rates and co-pays for Kentuckians.

“I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the chiropractors’ primary lobbyist in Frankfort is Donna Brown, the wife of Labor Cabinet Secretary Mark Brown.” Waters said. “This is a blatant conflict of interest that would result in an agency that Secretary Brown is in charge of establishing rates that benefit his wife’s clients. This should give state senators enough reasonable doubt to oppose this ill-advised policy.’”

While federal mandates have harmed chiropractors’ ability in recent years to collect reasonable co-pays that are in line with other health care professionals, mandating higher fees is not the answer.

“Just like Obamacare was not the solution to very real problems in our nation’s health-care system, so this bill is not the way to solve the reimbursement-rate issue,” Waters said. “Both will only make their respective situations worse.”