Contacts: 

Chris Shields

chris.shields@mn2020.org

Cell: 612-839-9359

Nora Ferrell

nora.ferrell@mn2020.org

Cell:  773-510-4819

STATEMENT ON NOVEMBER BUDGET FORECAST FROM JOHN VAN HECKE, MN2020:

“We need a balanced approach.”

While the $7 billion (adjusted for inflation in spending and revenue) projected state budget deficit comes as no surprise, it shows, despite Gov. Pawlenty’s massive cuts to health care, property tax relief, and education, Minnesota is worse off financially than we were last year.

The conservative “no new investment” strategy was sold as a way to get Minnesota’s budget house in order. Sadly, it’s worse than ever. It’s that clear Minnesota doesn’t simply have a spending problem, there’s a significant revenue problem as well. We can neither entirely cut nor tax our way out of this problem.

We need a balanced approach if we want Minnesota to continue to be an above average state that offers a high quality of life to the people who live here. Let’s focus on what’s made our state great in the past—good schools, good jobs, affordable housing options, beautiful parks and lakes—and let’s find a way to balance the budget while also funding the programs that make Minnesota a desirable place to live, to work and to raise families.

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John Van Hecke is the executive director for Minnesota 2020.

MN 2020 is a nonpartisan, progressive think tank that focuses on the issues that really matter:  education, health care, transportation and economic development.  New content and analysis can be found daily at www.MN2020.org.

For immediate release: November 10, 2009

Contact:  Nora Ferrell, Minnesota 2020

651-379-9383

612-208-7393 (cell)

Financial Accounting Problems Persist at Charter Schools,

According to New Report

75 Percent of Charter Schools Have Financial Irregularities, According to 2008 Audits

(Saint Paul, MN)—Approximately 75 percent of Minnesota charter schools mishandled their finances in 2008, according to a new report by Minnesota 2020. After a comprehensive review of FY 2008 financial audits for all 154 charter schools in the state, the report found that the majority of schools had at least one financial irregularity and the biggest offenders had eight each.

“Charter schools receive public funding yet receive little public oversight,” said John Van Hecke, executive director, Minnesota 2020. “Earlier this year we found that nearly 80 percent of charter schools had problems on their 2007 audits. This report looks at 2008 audits, and it appears not much has changed. The majority of Minnesota’s charter schools still have a financial management and accountability problem.”

According to the report “Checking In on Charter Schools,” there were 154 charter schools in Minnesota in the 2007-08 school year, and nearly 30,000 students were enrolled in charter schools. They received about  $10,500 per student from the state but are not required to publicly elect a school board. As a result, the public pays for the school but has no say in how it’s run or managed. 

“We applaud the charter schools that have clean financial records; however, this report echoes the findings of our previous examination of charter school audits. While some schools meet demands for financial accountability, the majority do not,” said John Fitzgerald, Minnesota 2020 education fellow and report author. “And a large number of these schools have violations year after year.”

There are 35 charter schools in Minneapolis and 29 in Saint Paul. Although a number of Twin Cities charter schools were flagged for financial violations, none of the schools are on the 2008 “Biggest Offenders” list. Minnesota 2020’s previous charter schools report, which looked at 2007 financial audits, placed Aurora Charter School in Minneapolis on the “Biggest Offenders” list because it had a total of ten violations on its 2007 audit. However, Aurora improved slightly with only four violations in 2008.

The report highlights 12 charter schools that had perfect financial audits for the past two years. Twin Cities schools with perfect audits in 2007 and 2008 include Emily O. Goodridge-Grey Accelerated, Great River School, Academia Cesar Chavez Charter School, Hmong Academy and Dugsi Academy.

“The fact that these schools have produced perfect, clean audits for two years straight shows us that proper financial accounting is achievable,” said Fitzgerald. “However, 12 schools is only a small step in the right direction when the majority of charter schools continue to struggle with financial management. We encourage the rest of Minnesota’s charter schools to take a look at these 12 organizations to find out what they’re doing right.”

In addition to providing the most comprehensive look at charter school finances to date, Minnesota 2020 also scanned each charter school financial audit and made them available online, something the Minnesota Department of Education does not offer at this time. Visit www.mn2020.org to access the audits, as well as the complete report.

“Public confidence is strengthened by ready access to public data,” said Van Hecke. “We hope this will encourage MDE and other public institutions to provide documents in an easily accessible format.”

Other key findings of the report include:

• More than 30 percent of charter schools were flagged for lacking proper segregation of duties, which can lead to a misappropriation of funds.

• Approximately 25 percent of charters school had deposits not sufficiently insured by either a bond or collateral. This requirement ensures that the charter school’s bills can be paid.

• Three charter schools topped the “Worst Offenders” list with eight or more violations including Bluffview Montessori (Winona), Riverway Learning Community Center (Minnesota City) and Recovery School of Southern Minnesota (on “Worst Offenders” list for the second year in a row - Owatonna).

In 1991, Minnesota was one of the first states in the nation to pass legislation to create charter schools. 

The report makes a number of recommendations to tighten charter schools’ financial practices and calls on the state to:

•  Revoke charters with schools that have repeated financial problems.

•  Hold sponsor organizations financially accountable for the fiscal health of their charter schools.

•  Require mandatory financial training for all charter school board members and administrators. 

• Direct charter schools to send parents a financial report card each year that notifies them of all financial infractions found in their yearly audits.

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MN 2020 is a nonpartisan, progressive think tank that focuses on the issues that really matter:  education, health care, transportation and economic development.  New content and analysis can be found daily at www.MN2020.org.

Minnesota 2020 education research is funded in part by a generous grant from The Minneapolis Foundation.

NEWS ALERT: MN2020 LAUNCHES iPHONE APP

MN2020 launched its iPhone application today, making it one of the first nonprofits in the state to create an application for iPhone users. The free app allows users to access Minnesota 2020’s daily stories, Hindsight blog and contact information with a simple click. The app is easy to download and easy to use.

“Our free iPhone application is just one more way to make Minnesota 2020 stories and research easily accessible for our readers,” said John Van Hecke, executive director, MN2020. “We know people are checking our website daily for the latest policy news, and this iPhone app makes that process simpler for iPhone users. More and more people are using new media tools like the iPhone, Twitter and Facebook to access information and stay on top of the news. We want to give our readers a variety of ways to interact with Minnesota 2020.”

Check out this user-friendly video to find out how to access and use the free application.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Nora Ferrell

Senior Communications Manager

Minnesota 2020

direct ph: 651-379-9383

cell ph: 612-208-7393

St. Paul — Responding to the Minnesota Free Market Institute’s assertions that climate change is just politicized science, Minnesota 2020 Executive Director John Van Hecke issued the following statement:

“This symposium is nothing more than a distraction from the real issues and a fight against clean energy investments.  There is no future in 19^th century technology, which is what the Free Market Institute is advocating.  Minnesota and the nation must find ways to advance carbon neutral energy that create jobs and grow our economy.

 “There is not one shred of scientific evidence to support the Minnesota Free Market Institute’s claims about climate change.  If state and federal policy makers don’t get involved in trying to lower green houses gases and carbon emissions, we will be leaving future generations in a polluted world.”    

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MN 2020 is a nonpartisan, progressive think tank that focuses on the issues that really matter:  education, health care, transportation and economic development.  New content and analysis can be found daily at www.MN2020.org.

St. Paul — Responding to the final round of state budget cuts, Minnesota 2020 Executive Director John Van Hecke issued the following statement:

“With Minnesota’s unemployment rate above eight percent, our state government should not be contributing to the problem by eliminating 3,400 jobs.   This latest round of cuts by Governor Pawlenty and his conservative allies are just one more example of their effort to undermine strong communities and hurt Minnesotans struggling the most during this economic downturn.

“Had Pawlenty and his allies supported a tax system that was fair and progressive, many jobs and vital services our state provides could have been saved.”

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Contact:  Joe Sheeran

(651) 917-1026

Cell: (612) 208-9729

Minnesota’s Best Value Hospitals Showing How to Deliver High Quality of Care While Controlling Costs

St. Paul — As the nation debates how to insure everyone without cutting the quality of health care, several Minnesota hospitals and medical centers are providing a model for controlling costs while delivering high-quality care, Minnesota 2020’s latest report, Best Practices: Minnesota’s Highest Value Hospitals finds.

Minnesota 2020 examined hospitals across the state. Those providing the best value with the healthiest outcomes maintained a strong network of primary care physicians that take a holistic, proactive approach to medicine, encourage healthy habits, manage chronic conditions, and provide routine check-ups and immunizations.

“Best Practices demonstrates Minnesotans don’t have to sacrifice health care quality to control medical costs,” said Minnesota 2020 Executive Director John Van Hecke.  “To continue these healthy outcomes, state policymakers and health administrators must find ways to increase the number of well-trained, dedicated and caring primary care doctors, which is becoming increasingly difficult, especially in rural counties.” 

This report evaluates quality of care (which includes diagnosis outcomes, mortality rates and patient satisfaction) and value, as measured by Medicare reimbursements, uncompensated care and several other factors.  Overall, for the quality ranking, the margins between positions were sometimes very small, indicating Minnesota hospitals, in general, deliver high-quality health care.

The following hospitals delivered the highest quality of care at the best value:

Typically, smaller medical facilities that had a higher proportion of primary care physicians to specialists came out better in both value and quality of care.  The report finds that while specialists play an important role in treating and caring for those with advanced and acute illnesses, Medicare and the insurance payment structure has resulted in an increasing overreliance on specialty doctors as a first line of defense.  This has led to many of the skyrocketing costs associated with medical care.

Recently, The Journal of the American Medical Association released a report concluding that only two percent of medical school students planned to peruse a career in general internal medicine.  The lures of prestige and high six figure salaries and fewer administrative duties have many young doctors continuing on toward a specialization. If we don’t stop this trend, the U.S. will be short nearly 40,000 primary care doctors by 2020.    

“In order to encourage a stronger primary care system and persuade more physicians to enter into general or family medicine, Medicare and U.S. insurance companies need to restructure their payment systems to reward medical centers for practicing preventive, holistic and well-coordinated medical care,” said Minnesota 2020 Graduate Health Care Policy Fellow Kyle Bauser, the report’s author.

“By following this model, we could grow the dwindling number of general practitioners and increase cost efficiency and healthy outcomes.” 

Minnesota typically ranks toward the top of lists in national medical and health studies, coming in as the 4^th healthiest state, according to United Health Foundation’s America’s Health 2008 rankings.  The main reason Minnesotans are generally healthier is our low uninsured rate; on average more than 92 percent of Minnesotans have some type of health coverage compared to the nations’ 85 percent.   This also equates to more people seeing primary care doctors.

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MN 2020 is a nonpartisan, progressive think tank that focuses on the issues that really matter:  education, health care, transportation and economic development.  New content and analysis can be found daily at www.MN2020.org.