WASHINGTON, April 16, 2011 - This Wednesday and Thursday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will travel to Platteville, Wis. and Waterloo, Iowa to host White House Rural Council events with local producers and stakeholders to discus Administration efforts to spur economic development through education and workforce development.

On Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will host a White House Rural Council event with agriculture teachers from across Wisconsin to discuss the RESPECT (Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence and Collaborative Teaching) project. RESPECT is an Administration proposed initiative to make teaching America's most important and respected profession. The Secretaries will discuss how important agriculture educators are to the nation's economy and future, the need to provide better support for current teachers, and how to inspire the next generation to teach. This event will be live streamed at www.uwplatt.edu, and viewers can participate in question-and-answer via Twitter, hashtag  #ruraled.

On Thursday, Agriculture Secretaries Vilsack and Education Secretary Arne Duncan will travel to Waterloo, Iowa where they will be joined by Jay Williams, executive director of the Office of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers at the U.S. Department of Labor, and local students, faculty, and business leaders, to host a White House Rural Council workforce training roundtable discussion. The discussion will focus on improving rural economies by training and retraining workers for in-demand careers.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012

WHO: U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

Wisconsin Agriculture Teachers

WHAT: White House Rural Council Town Hall on the Teaching Profession

WHEN: 12:25 p.m. to 1:25 p.m. CT

A media availability will be held from 1:35 p.m. to 1:50 p.m. CT

WHERE: University of Wisconsin-Platteville's Pioneer Farm, 29200 College Farm Rd., Platteville, Wis.

THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2012

WHO: U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

Executive Director for the Office of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers Jay Williams, U.S. Department of Labor

Principals

Waterloo Community Schools Superintendent Gary Norris

WHAT: White House Rural Council Roundtable on Workforce Training

WHEN: 9:10 a.m. to 10:10 a.m. CT

A media availability from 10:20 a.m. to 10:35 a.m. CT

WHERE: Hawkeye Community College's Fennemen Center Farm Lab, 5503 Hammond Ave., Waterloo, Iowa

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Affordable Care Act provision helps Iowa hospitals receive fair reimbursement from Medicare

Washington, DC - Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-01) today announced that 20 Iowa hospitals have received over $20.8 million in additional Medicare reimbursements under a provision of the Affordable Care Act known as the "Lowest Quartile Provision."  These Iowa hospitals have historically been underpaid because Medicare bases payments largely on geography.

During the healthcare reform debate in 2010, Braley led efforts to save taxpayers' money by eliminating geographic disparities and changing the way Medicare reimburses doctors and hospitals.  In a late-night negotiating session with Congressional leaders, Braley successfully added a provision to the Affordable Care Act to provide catch-up payments to hospitals located in the lowest 25 percent of counties receiving Medicare reimbursements.

"For decades, Iowa's doctors and hospitals have been punished for no reason other than geography," said Rep. Braley. "These payments are one more step toward ending these geographic disparities and reforming our Medicare system so it finally rewards quality of care instead of the number of procedures performed.  Successfully implementing these reforms will save taxpayers billions of dollars."

Last year, the same 20 hospitals received a total of $12.5 million in catch-up payments under this law.  Under the "Lowest Quartile Provision", Iowa has received the 4^th highest amount of payments of any state.

Iowa doctors and hospitals have long received lower Medicare reimbursements than providers in other states because of a Medicare reimbursement formula that focused on geographic location over quality of care.  Despite offering some of the highest-quality, lowest-cost care in the nation, Iowa hospitals and doctors have historically been among some of the lowest-reimbursed providers in the country.

The following Iowa hospitals are receiving the funds:

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Classrooms First could cut $1 billion in operation costs

SPRINGFIELD - April 16, 2012. The Classrooms First Commission is expected to release a set of draft recommendations Tuesday that would make it easier for school districts to consolidate and help them save up to $1 billion in operations costs by sharing services, Lt. Governor Sheila Simon said today.

No districts would be forced to consolidate under the recommendations, but the state would require counties with small and declining school-age populations to study whether county-wide consolidation or sharing services would save money and boost learning.

Money recouped from what Simon calls "voluntary and virtual consolidations" would be redirected to public school classrooms so students and taxpayers would benefit from the efficiencies, according to the draft report.

"These recommendations are a road map to stronger, streamlined school districts," said Simon, chair of the Classrooms First Commission. "There's no one-size-fits-all way to achieve efficiency, but there are many ways to eliminate wasteful spending and free up money to improve learning in classrooms."

The Classrooms First Commission is a bi-partisan group of education stakeholders that was charged last fall by Governor Quinn and the General Assembly to reduce duplicative education spending and improve educational outcomes. It reviewed several paths and collected input from hundreds of Illinois educators and taxpayers through public hearings and an online survey.

The commission found that mass consolidation would cost state taxpayers nearly $4 billion up front under current law. A more cost-effective approach would be to eliminate or modify state regulations that discourage districts from voluntarily consolidating. At least 40 districts were in the process of or considering such realignments in the past year, according to the report.

"Forcing districts to merge is not realistic, but providing them the resources and tools to consolidate on a voluntary or virtual basis is well within reach." said State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, a member of the Classrooms First Commission.

The draft recommendations to promote voluntary consolidation at little or no new cost to the state include :

·         allowing compact but not contiguous districts to consolidate; currently districts must be compact and contiguous

·         expanding the regional board of school trustees dissolution authority, by allowing local districts with under 750 enrollment to seek dissolution with or without a referendum; currently this is an option for districts serving communities with under 5,000 people

·         piloting a new capital project list that targets school construction money at districts willing to consolidate and that are in need of new buildings, additions, and/or building renovations

·         phasing in lower local tax rates for new unit districts; currently, elementary and high school districts become a lower, unit taxing district immediately after consolidating

·         requiring counties with small and declining school-age populations to conduct efficiency studies that could lead to shared services, district mergers, or even county-wide districts; 12 counties currently have county-wide districts and another 16 counties have small and declining student populations, according to state and federal population projections through 2030

"These changes will help to remove red tape so districts can more efficiently provide students with a quality education whether that be through consolidation or shared services," said State Superintendent of Education Christopher A. Koch.

The draft recommendations also include two legislative proposals that would promote shared services in areas such as technology, transportation and food service across districts.

The first proposal would create a revolving fund to provide short-term, low-interest loans to seed cooperative service agreements or conduct efficiency studies. The loans would be repaid with the money gained through resulting streamlining.

A second proposal would authorize the Illinois State Board of Education to provide a web-based resource management program to districts to help them identify potential savings in five major spending areas: instruction, transportation, food services, administration and facility maintenance. A pilot program of a similar service in Ohio resulted in at least a 5 percent operational savings at participating districts. At that rate, Illinois districts could realize a net savings of almost $1 billion.

"Right now districts are required to complete many annual reports, but they simply end up in a black hole and are never linked," said Michael Jacoby, executive director of the Illinois Association of School Business Officials and member of the commission. "This new service would create a business analytics tools for districts to compare their data, learn best practices and make operational changes to initiate new efficiencies. This could free up significant resources for instruction and offset the funding losses all districts are currently experiencing."

The Governor's office would establish a resource repository for the shared service agreements so districts could have samples to follow. It could be patterned after a shared service repository for municipalities in New Jersey.

"Shared services offer school districts the opportunity to provide more diverse curriculum options and expand educational opportunity, while streamlining delivery and saving money," said Jason Leahy, executive director of the Illinois Principals Association and a member of the Classrooms First Commission. "It is my hope that the Classrooms First Commission recommendations will point districts towards the tools and resources they need to accomplish this goal."

A statewide health insurance pool and a state-run online professional development tool for various health/safety trainings are additional options for savings and streamlining, the report states.

"Through these recommendations, we hope to eliminate barriers to efficiency and provide school districts the tools they need to streamline operations and put resources into the classroom," said Paul Swanstrom, executive director of the High School District Organization of Illinois and a member of the Classrooms First Commission. "I look forward to working with Lt. Governor Simon and my fellow commission members as we gather public input and work to finalize these recommendations."

The Classrooms First Commission is scheduled to meet Tuesday in Springfield to vote on the release of the draft recommendations, and public hearings are set to begin Thursday in Champaign. Comments will also be collected at www.ltgov.illinois.gov.

Simon said public input will be incorporated into the final recommendations. A final report will be delivered to the Governor and General Assembly by July 1.

MEDIA ADVISORY

EVENT: Classrooms First Commission meeting

TIME: 11 a.m.

DATE: Tuesday, April 17

PLACE: Fourth Floor Board Room, Illinois State Board of Education, 100 N. First St., Springfield

Parents and educators are always trying to spark student participation whether it's in the classroom, in the local community, or throughout the world.

When middle-school students at Allison Academy in North Miami Beach were asked what they could do to improve their country, they focused on what they understood - bullying, violence and racism.

Those problems are all rooted in the same issues, says Rachel Albert, author of "Quest to Telos," (www.QuestToTelos.com), a young adult novel where fantasy meets reality and even world peace is possible.

"They stem from a lack of personal integrity and absence of social responsibility," she says.

"Children who choose to put those values into practice are actively working toward peace. But they can only put into practice what they've learned; instilling those values may seem simple, but many parents miss the mark and actually model the opposite."

Throwing money at social problems like racism or violence doesn't resolve them, Albert says. But children can.

"The energy from kids' excitement can make a real difference and we need their energy focused right here at home," says the mother of four. "They see problems; it's up to us to give them the tools to address them."

The following tips can help parents teach their children personal integrity and social responsibility, giving them the keys to world peace.

• Never lie in front of your kids. It may seem obvious, but many parents lie in front of their children or encourage them to lie; misstating a child's age to save money on movie tickets or allowing them to take credit for school projects completed by the parent.  These seemingly inconsequential lies suggest it's OK, even good, to distort the truth. This causes long-term damage a million times more costly than whatever was gained in the short term.

• Give your kids a reason why. Author Mark Twain once said that the two most important days of your life are the day you are born and the day you figure out why.  If you fail to tell your kids why we are here, you have missed the opportunity to
figure out what motivates them and gets them excited. This is the most important key to getting kids' cooperation and empowering them to help the world.

• Don't criticize your children. Criticism is toxic, so why do almost all parents criticize their kids?  When we focus on what they aren't, they believe they can't. This creates angry children who express their pain by bullying others.  It's better to tell them how you feel rather than what you think of them, e.g., "I feel frustrated that you didn't listen to me," or "Can you say that in a more loving way?"

• Don't speak badly about other people. This is probably one of the hardest things to do, considering we're a generation that pays for gossip.  Speaking badly about others teaches kids to look for what they view as the negative in others and take joy in sharing it.

• Model charity. Actions speak louder than any words. When you teach kindness to children, they tend to feel empathy and have more successful lives, a crucial step toward achieving world peace.

Once we tackle the issues plaguing America, then as a model nation, we will be ready to tackle world peace, Albert says. Kids are hungry to form an identity and make their mark on the world. It's easier to try to bring peace to another country, but that never works. We need to start at home.

About Rachel Albert

Rachel Albert is a certified court reporter and business owner. "Quest to Telos" is her debut novel; it's being used by a private school to develop an inspirational, critical-thinking curriculum for middle-school students ready by the summer. Albert is currently working on a sequel. She is a staunch advocate of boosting teen literacy while inspiring kids to make a difference starting with their own hearts.