Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right
For the second US election in a row, the Aspen Institute has published post-election commentary by Public Works President Eric B. Schnurer. In addition to Schnurer's article, the latest issue of Aspenia, the multidisciplinary policy journal published by the Institute’s Italian branch for a broader audience of international leaders, also includes commentary by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

In his article, La bipartisanship degli errori ("Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right," 125K PDF in English), Schnurer asserts that our notion of the public sector needs an updating: Today, governments – like just about everything else in the 21st Century – increasingly must compete in an evolving marketplace for their services against new types of competitors. But these new realities have barely entered the political debate, which may help explain why the public – which knows which way the wind is blowing long before the politicians do – finds the choice between what the parties offer less than compelling. In each of the three main areas into which public policy is generally divided – economic, social, and foreign policy – Schnurer points out how the underlying realities of government have changed in ways that render both parties’ ideologies largely obsolete:

• Economic Policy: From Cop to Co-Op. Changing technology has rendered most seemingly “natural” monopolies no longer defensible. The same is happening to government services. More and more, people will be able to decide how much – and which – government they will “buy.” This will put increasing pressure on government to perform. But if government rises to the challenge, it will put increasing pressure on the private sector to do so, as well.
  
  
• Social Policy: The Carrot and the Stick. Liberals and conservatives in the US today perhaps can be defined best by their approach to the use of coercion in order to promote social or moral objectives. Research and experience across a wide range of fields indicates, however, that public policies work best in promoting desirable behaviors not through dogmatic application of either punitive or incentive policies but through a pragmatic combination of both.
  
  
• Foreign Policy: The Virtual State. American politics continue to be plagued by another false dichotomy – between the Bush Administration’s view of the war on terrorism as a traditional war on traditional states and most Democrats’ vision of a struggle that is not a “real” war at all, waged against foes that are not traditional states. These foes in fact raise the novel challenge of the “virtual state” – a challenge that does not fit neatly within either party’s current ideological portfolio.

New Mexico unveils Career Clusters Guidebook by Public Works
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has unveiled the Work in New Mexico Career Clusters Guidebook, which was produced by Public Works on behalf of the Governor’s Workforce Coordination and Oversight Committee to address the disconnect between the state and federal dollars being spent on workforce training in New Mexico.

Public Works has worked with the Office of Workforce Training and Development and the Governor's Workforce Coordination and Oversight Committee to help align the state’s education and workforce development programs with the occupational demands of the state's future economy. The Committee has designed a career clusters system, which directs students and workers into training and education that gives them the right skills to be successful in today’s workplace. As part of this effort, the committee identified seven broad business sectors that will need a workforce in industries that New Mexico wants to grow. The career clusters initiative creates the pipeline that provides highly-qualified workers for New Mexico companies in these industry clusters:

• Arts and Entertainment
• Business Services
  
• Communications and Information
  
• Energy and Environmental Technologies
  
• Engineering, Construction and Manufacturing
  
• Health and Biosciences
  
• Hospitality and Tourism

While releasing the publication, Governor Richardson said, "This guidebook is going to be the bible for job seekers. This simple guide outlines where the jobs are and what skills are needed to get these jobs. It is our goal to have this in the hands of everyone who wants to work in New Mexico."

Delaware Consumer Tool Chest
Delaware State Treasurer Jack Markell asked Public Works to design a Consumer Tool Chest filled with financial security tools to inform and empower older Delawareans about products like reverse mortgages, how to keep track of pensions, tips for creating a retirement strategy, and information on when to make withdrawals from retirement accounts. In addition, the tool chest contains a Financial Health Resources Directory to save consumers time tracking down state and federal agencies and organizations; information on the Most Common Billing Mistakes, and a Fall-Proof Safety Check and a Home Injury Safety Check that can be used to survey and fall-proof the home. Treasurer Markell unveiled the Consumer Tool Chest in Spring of 2006 in co-sponsorship with AARP of Delaware. Since that time, thousands of Consumer Tool Chests have been requested in hard copy and downloaded from the State Treasurer’s website.

From Education to Work
The Arizona Governor’s P-20 Council commissioned Public Works to assess the alignment of K-12 public education with post-secondary study and workforce demands. Public Works’ report – From Education to Work: Is Arizona Prepared? – identifies the skills and education requirements of high demand, high wage occupations, and assesses the linkages and gaps between high school graduation and requirements for entering post-secondary education and a globally-competitive labor force. This report forms the cornerstone of Arizona’s work as the P-20 Council develops recommendations to improve the alignment of K-12 schools with college and workplace expectations. The final goal is that all students graduate from high school well prepared to succeed in post-secondary study and careers, to provide the human capital Arizona must have to sustain and grow a diversified economy.

Advanced Technologies Regional Network: Delivering High Quality Technical Education in Gallup, McKinley County, and for the State
As part of Governor Bill Richardson’s technical high schools initiative, New Mexico appropriated $10 million to seed the development of technical high school programs in community colleges in order to ensure that technical education was sufficiently rigorous to prepare youth for good careers in the 21st century. The University of New Mexico (UNM) at Gallup was selected to develop an exemplary program that could be replicated statewide. Public Works LLC was commissioned by UNM Gallup to formulate the strategic plan for this new effort. This report reviews the importance of technical education for training the nation’s future labor force, outlines some of the elements of successful technical and professional education programs, describes the process for developing high quality education and training programs to produce a more competitive regional workforce, and offers a blueprint for an Advanced Technologies Regional Network – a community college-based, grades 9-14 educational program for advanced technicians and professionals.

Organizational Development Review: New Mexico Public Education Department
The New Mexico Department of Public Education hired Public Works to conduct an organizational review. The purpose of the review was to uncover opportunities for improvement and to provide recommendations for the Department on ways it can improve customer services, and thereby respond to stakeholder needs more effectively. The review identified how well stakeholder needs were being met and how assessment and accountability tools and services were being delivered. This project included surveys of hundreds of New Mexico teachers and school administrators on the workings of various state government education-related functions.
Read final report.

Environmental and Organizational Assessment of the Arkansas Department of Health
The Arkansas legislature retained Public Works to conduct a performance review of the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) after ADH announced that a decline in revenue forced him to cut $5.3 million from the agency's budget, lay off 38 employees and eliminate 69 vacant positions. Public Works found that ADH had problems with data collection and tracking; for example, the agency tracks the number of child screenings it does annually, but it did not know how many children go without it. That means the agency could not determine how many uninsured children fall through the cracks and could not develop a way to target them. Nearly half of the 1,000 ADH employees who responded to a Public Works survey said they did not understand how decisions were made and were not involved in decisions that affect them. Public Works offered a new organizational structure that condenses the department's seven existing divisions into three to make clear the lines of accountability and to streamline decision-making. Public Works developed an in-depth implementation plan based upon our review of ADH operations and an identification of national best practices. The work resulted in bi-partisan political support, agency ownership of the report, and favorable media coverage.

"Hobson's Choice: Why American Elections Are So Closely Divided"
Many see the US as "a 50-50 nation," a profoundly divided country cleaved into meaningful and deep-seated distinctions, writes Public Works President Eric Schnurer. Yet "Occam's Razor," a hoary axiom of logical analysis, tells us that the most likely explanation for any phenomenon is the simplest, and there's a much simpler explanation for why, over an extended period of time, the United States has produced a series of basically 50-50 political outcomes: The choice between the two parties is, to most Americans, a "Hobson's Choice" - a choice that's no choice at all. When it comes to picking between the political options, most Americans are essentially flipping a coin.

Most Americans have been seeking something that the two parties currently aren't selling, for some time. This is especially true of younger Americans - and thus increasingly true of the society as a whole. The voters already recognize that the conditions that defined "left" and "right" for the last several generations have passed into history. Eventually, the parties will recognize this, as well, and will realign around the new realities, because someone - whether within the current party structures or not - will demonstrate the political gain in doing so. In fact, not too far below the surface of politics at the national level, tectonic shifts in what it means to be a Democrat and a Republican are already occurring.

"White Paper on Early Care and Education: The Need for National Policy"
With almost two thirds of American women with preschool children now in the workforce, and new requirements for work now in place for single parents on welfare, the availability of effective and safe care and education for children has become a preoccupation of U.S. families, employers, and policy makers across the income spectrum. At the same time, a growing body of research indicates that children's development potential is affected strongly from the earliest days of infancy by their interaction with adults, so that the quality of care is of growing concern.

This paper recommends the development of a comprehensive national policy towards child care and early childhood education. Such a policy would address dire funding needs for quality child care programs; better coordination of educational and social programming for children; development of more effective child care professional training programs, research and dissemination of best practices, and program standards; and promotion of equity. Finally, not only could a national policy on ECE improve the future prospects of today's children and tomorrow's workforce, but also development of a high-quality child care industry could serve as an overall economic driver to improve the American economy and stimulate job creation for today's workers, as well.

"Balancing Budgets Responsibly"
"By focusing on government through a practical rather than an ideological lens, many state and local leaders are finding creative ways to identify performance improvements that save money-or bring in additional non-tax revenues from the federal government.

"One technique for making such improvements is a performance review, which systematically identifies ways to save money and move government in the right direction. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson ordered a complete performance review of state government upon taking office, promising that $89 million could be saved in the state's $2 billion general operating budget. In fact, the first phase of the review produced 92 recommendations resulting in savings that will rise to at least $100 million annually. Gov. Richardson began to implement many of these proposals almost immediately, and virtually all the rest were included in his fiscal year 2005 budget. The performance review's first phase helped to ensure that the state's budget remained balanced despite tough fiscal times. An equal number of new recommendations from Phase II of the review are due to be unveiled soon, and Richardson has commissioned a similar review of the state's new public education department, created by a constitutional amendment last year."

"Children's Budget & Report Card"
One of the most important and growing challenges for 21st Century government leadership will be identifying and measuring outcomes, and relating governmental actions and spending to their attainment. Public Works has provided the analysis and development for a pioneering effort in this area: The Philadelphia Children's Budget & Report Card, now in their fifth year, track and aggregate all spending in the city on children - across program lines and government levels - specify objectives for the city across a wide range of child welfare measures, annually "grade" the city on their attainment, and are now beginning to assess how well the spending initiatives relate to the outcomes. These importance tools - which should be replicated in cities and states across the county - can be viewed if you click here.

"Crisis Response Box"
Like those in the public sector itself, Public Works' objective is to develop ideas that actually become realities - and make a difference in people's lives. When faced with a major critical incident, school principals have to react fast. Public Works was asked by California's Attorney General & Superintendent of Public Instruction to create a tool that would give school principals all the facts they'd need to gain immediate control of a crisis. After interviewing police and school principals throughout the country involved in major school shootings, we came up with the Crisis Response Box. It has been such a success that other states like Mississippi, North Carolina and Washington are now using it, too. Click here to see California's Crisis Response Box.

"A Tax Cut That's Just Right"
While congressional Democrats searched in vain for a plausible alternative to President Bush's massive tax cut targeted mostly to high-income earners, this article argued that the federal government should use the money instead to kill three birds with one stone: A Health Insurance Tax Credit allowing everyone to deduct from the bottom line on their tax form the lion's share of what they pay in health insurance premiums would deliver tax relief to almost every American family - as Bush pointedly boasts he intends to do - but in a far more equitable fashion. It would cure the major defects in virtually every bipartisan plan to provide health insurance to all Americans. And it would restore consumer control of health care and thus curtail the worst abuses of HMOs and insurers without passing a patient's bill of rights -- or any other government regulatory scheme to which Republicans object.

"The Carrot & the Stick"
This article, published in the Progressive Policy Institute's Blueprints magazine, presents a "Third Way" approach to fighting crime: Reducing drug use is the most effective way to reduce crime, and, as it turns out, coerced drug detoxification is more effective than voluntary treatment - providing an alternative to traditional either/or choices between the punitive and the therapeutic.

"What's Your Plan": Paying for long term care
Long term care costs are quickly eating up family and government budgets. This Blueprint article offers a solution: First, we must close the loopholes in Medicaid, making it difficult if not impossible for relatively well-to-do families to game a system meant for the poor and instead encourage all Americans, rich and poor alike, to care for themselves to the extent they can. Second, government can rectify market failures by investing in "public goods," promoting greater availability of information, and stimulating demand for LTC insurance. Third, we must empower people to care for themselves by ensuring a more competitive market for long- term health care, making it easier for people to buy insurance and to pool their purchasing power to get better deals, and provide help to those who can't in a way that enhances value for all. This would be part of a new approach to government's role that you could call "competition.gov."

New Jersey property tax reduction study
This report, prepared for New Jersey Policy Perspective, a state-level think tank, presents an alternative approach to the perennial problem of property tax reduction - slashing tangible property (i.e., housing) taxes for almost all state taxpayers, and paying for it through a nominal increase in intangible property (i.e., financial assets) taxes affecting only the wealthiest taxpayers (who had already received the steepest tax cuts). Contains detailed tax calculations for every New Jersey community.

New Programs for Youth Offenders: A Search for Effective National Models
Public Works helped stage, and wrote this report summarizing the results of, this two-day conference on programs across the country that have proven effective in addressing the behavior and problems of youth offenders. Most importantly, this report looks at why the programs that show success do so, and how such efforts might be replicated nationwide. The analysis provides a blueprint for a new way to approach social issues generally.

StateWire reports on national issues at the state level
Because of our range of expertise on state issues and policy innovations, Public Works was asked by the Center for National Policy, a national non-partisan think tank, to create and write a monthly newsletter on state-level developments. Provided monthly to political and opinion leaders in Washington, DC, and state capitals across the country, CNP StateWire has brought "inside-the-Beltway" readers outside-the-Beltway perspectives on policy successes - and failures - in fields from school vouchers to regulatory reform to prescription drug pricing to sprawl to crime policy to long-term care for seniors.