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Why did Key replace Kurrus?

Johnny Key, left, and Baker Kurrus speak to reporters Tuesday.

Johnny Key, left, and Baker Kurrus speak to reporters Tuesday.

By Steve Brawner
© 2016 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Reporters have biases, and I’ll admit to mine: Two of the government officials I like the most are Johnny Key, the state’s education commissioner, and Baker Kurrus, the soon-to-be-former Little Rock School District superintendent.

The two have been linked together for the past year. Key is a former state senator, not an educator, which a lot of unhappy people noted when Gov. Asa Hutchinson picked him for the state’s leading public schools post. Because the State Board of Education had taken over the Little Rock School District, Key became its de facto school board when he became commissioner, and he appointed Kurrus as superintendent.

Kurrus is also not an educator – which, again, a lot of unhappy people noted when Key appointed him – though he had served for a while on the Little Rock School Board. He’s an attorney and a businessman, as well as a competent, passionate, driven individual. He went to work organizing things, talking to people, and showing that he cared. He brought hope, and people warmed up to him.

Earlier this month, Key decided not to renew Kurrus’ one-year contract, which clearly disappointed and surprised Kurrus. His replacement is Mike Poore, who currently is superintendent of the Bentonville School District and led a large, urban district out of academic trouble when he was working in Colorado.

In an interview in his office Tuesday, Key said the Kurrus hiring was always supposed to be temporary, though “temporary” was never defined. He said that while the state took over the district because of academics, there were fiscal and foundational problems that needed to be addressed first, and Kurrus was uniquely able to do that because of his organizational skills.

Key’s decision surprised and angered a lot of people and put the governor in a tough spot with some of the Little Rock legislators.

I also was surprised. I watched Key as a well-liked legislator carefully, even unnecessarily, build a coalition to pass a school choice plan.

How could such an accomplished bridge builder act so arbitrarily? In a press conference with Kurrus last Tuesday and during the interview the following Tuesday, Key explained that Kurrus had accomplished his mission of righting the ship, but now it’s time to focus on the academic distress that caused the state takeover in the first place. Poore has experience that Kurrus lacks. In between on Friday afternoon, Key issued a statement admitting he had erred in how he went about making the change.

In our interview, Key explained this is the time of year when superintendents are replaced. Little Rock has five years to get out of academic distress, and one of those years is gone. He didn’t want to wait another year and believes Poore is better suited to move Little Rock out of, and well past, academic distress.

“The broader issue was, Baker’s got us where we need to be right now. Who can come in and take us to that next level?” he said.

Some people aren’t buying it. They’re saying this is about the two men disagreeing about charter schools, which, in some cases, involve a private entity operating a school funded with taxpayer dollars. In Little Rock, two of these in particular are popular: eStem and the LISA Academy. Kurrus has publicly worried those schools will take students from the Little Rock School District, further disadvantaging it. Key tends to believe competition makes schools better, as do certain school reform types such as the Walton Family Foundation.

Some are saying that Kurrus publicly questioned charter schools, but Key and his big business overlords like charter schools, so Kurrus was shown the door. Everything has to be a conspiracy these days.

Key told me in his office that the two did disagree about charter schools, but it was not a “determining factor” and that the charter disagreement was a “minimal” consideration. When I pressed him on what “minimal” meant, he held his thumb and pointer finger an inch apart and repeated that it wasn’t the issue. The issue was that Poore had the skill set he wanted.

Remember, I’m biased towards Key and Kurrus. It’s possible that Key was spinning me, of course. But if he were, I would think he would have said “none” instead of “minimal.”

Key said it was time for an academic type to fix a school district in academic distress. That part is easy to understand, even if suddenly replacing a man who was succeeding isn’t.

The larger debate: How Arkansas works

arkansasFlagBy Steve Brawner
© 2016 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

This debate at the Capitol over health care is difficult to write about day to day because things change quickly. So let’s talk about what it might mean for the future.

First, the background. Legislators are debating the private option, which uses federal Medicaid dollars to purchase private health insurance for Arkansans with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. It came about as a result of the Affordable Care Act, which created Obamacare. As of the end of January, 267,590 adults were eligible. It has helped Arkansas reduce its number of uninsured adults and gotten hospitals paid more often for their services – probably saving some of them, in fact.

However, some Republican legislators say it’s an unsustainable expansion of Obamacare leading to more government dependence and a bigger national debt. Gov. Asa Hutchinson is trying to make the program more agreeable to them by requiring more from recipients while changing the name to Arkansas Works. For many, it’s still not agreeable enough.

During the recent legislative session, Arkansas Works passed, but just short of the three-fourths majority needed for any kind of state spending. Arkansas Works is part of the larger Medicaid budget, which also funds nursing homes and other programs. So at least five members of the House and two in the Senate who voted against Arkansas Works must now vote to fund the entire Medicaid budget, including Arkansas Works.

This has been a huge debate. There’s been talk about how close to the cliff the state would get. The opponents haven’t wanted to fund Medicaid with Arkansas Works, and the supporters haven’t wanted to fund Medicaid without it.

The three-fourths requirement for funding is a high bar. It means that any nine senators can block anything.

So in the future, will they? If some nine senators don’t support the Common Core next year, will they threaten to withhold funding for public schools? What if nine senators want to spend more money on programs for poor people and threaten to withhold their votes for something else?

In fact, the Arkansas Constitution gives one-fourth of either House the ability to shut down the entire state government. It requires that, before anything else is funded, funding must be secured for general appropriations, which includes legislative reimbursements and such. So it’s possible for that one-fourth minority to refuse to fund general appropriations, and then nothing happens. In fact, as part of the political brinksmanship being played at the Capitol, House Democrats did just that while saying that Arkansas Works must be settled first.

Nine senators can exert their will over potentially the other 126 legislators. That’s a powerful weapon. But it’s perfectly legal and constitutional.

Is it the wave of the future? If so, it would require a complete change in the culture of the Capitol, which is a remarkably collegial place where legislators generally like each other, regardless of party. Arkansas Democrats and Arkansas Republicans, after all, are much more alike than Massachusetts Democrats and Alabama Republicans. In a body dominated by Republicans, the Senate chair of the powerful Joint Budget Committee is the universally popular Sen. Larry Teague, a Democrat from Nashville. That kind of thing wouldn’t happen in Congress. Moreover, legislators don’t want to be seen as obstructionist because they want to pass their own legislation.

Legally, nine senators can block anything, but culturally, they would pay a heavy price if they did. When cultures shift, the law remains. On the other hand, laws are always interpreted through the lens of culture.

Ultimately, Arkansas Works probably will be funded. On Tuesday, supporters pushed through the Joint Budget Committee an amendment that would end the program at the end of the year. The governor has said he will veto the amendment but not the bill, and the Legislature won’t be able to override. Voila! Arkansas Works passes without anyone having to convince two of those senators to go on the record voting for it.

Where will this lead? The Legislature is supposed to fund with a three-fourths majority, not a simple majority. It might get Arkansas Works funded, but it probably will draw a legal challenge.

Got all that? While the debate today is about Arkansas Works, the larger debate is about how Arkansas works.

Related: Arkansas Works and the private option: What’s all the fuss about?

Will Arkansas need jaws of life?

arkansasFlagBy Steve Brawner
© 2016 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

If you think conflict and high stakes are more interesting than smoothly functioning day-to-day government, and you probably do, then this next month at the State Capitol is for you.

At issue is whether 267,590 Arkansans will remain eligible for government-provided health insurance. That’s the number that had been approved for coverage under the private option as of the end of January.

Here’s the background. The private option was created in 2013 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled states could choose, rather than be required, to expand Medicaid under Obamacare. (Medicaid is the government health care program that serves the poor, the aged and the disabled.) If states so chose, benefits would go to adults with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, which is an $11,880 salary in a household of one and is higher for larger families.

Many Republican-led states then refused the Medicaid money. Arkansas instead used it to purchase private insurance for that population. It’s the reason the state has reduced its uninsured population by one of the highest percentages in the nation, and it’s projected to save Arkansas hospitals a billion dollars’ worth of unreimbursed care over the next five years. But opponents say it’s an unaffordable expansion of Obamacare that creates more government dependency and increases the national debt.

Last week, legislators were called into special session by Gov. Asa Hutchinson to vote on his version of the private option, which he is calling Arkansas Works. He’s pushing it hard. It passed in the House, 70-30, and in the Senate, 25-10. Majorities of Republicans and Democrats in both chambers supported it.

But even those comfortable margins were not big enough to assure the program will continue. The Legislature now moves into a fiscal session, where funding for state agencies requires a three-fourths majority in both Houses – 75 in the House and 27 in the Senate.

Traditionally, legislators have not used the funding process to overturn what was decided in the lawmaking process. If they lose the battle over the policy, they don’t try to block funding.

But opponents are promising to fight this thing to the death in the fiscal session, even if it means, as a tactic, voting against funding the entire Department of Human Services’ Medical Services Division. That division administers not only the private option, but many other medical services, such as nursing home care and health services for foster kids.

The House of Representatives seems more likely to avoid such a fight. Rep. Laurie Rushing, R-Hot Springs, who was one of the 30 who voted no, the next day voted only “present” in a largely procedural vote and then attended the bill signing. She told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette she and six other House members won’t fight the funding. That’s enough to assure passage.

But the Senate – that’s where it’s going to be interesting. It takes only nine senators out of 35 to block funding, and nine of the 10 opponents have made it clear they will not budge. The 10th, Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, is declining to comment about the issue at the moment.

Meanwhile, many Arkansas Works supporters in the Senate are also resolute. If nine opponents can block any DHS funding bill with Arkansas Works, then nine supporters can block any funding bill without it.

All 11 Senate Democrats voted for Arkansas Works. They typically don’t play hardball, but this time? Here’s what Sen. Bruce Maloch, D-Magnolia, said Tuesday: “I don’t think we’re going to pick out a specific agency or entity or college in any of the 10 districts of the senators that voted against it and try to kill their appropriation. … But we will not vote for a DHS Medical Services appropriation without Arkansas Works.”

Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, one of the most outspoken opponents, was quoted by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette observing that both sides are playing chicken, both have a foot on the accelerator, and a “crash” appears inevitable.

In signing the unfunded bill into law, Hutchinson said he hopes that’s not the case. He said he won’t horse trade but that he has “a lot of tools in my pocket.”

Hopefully, one of those tools won’t have to be the jaws of life.

Related: The debt, the private option and the painter.

Rubio’s speech: Much better than the debates

Rubio speechBy Steve Brawner
© 2016 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Here’s my takeaway after covering Sen. Marco Rubio’s speech in Little Rock Sunday: I like him more than I did before, and I like the debates even less.

Rubio offered a hopeful vision – well, as long as he’s elected – that was in sharp contrast to those awful debates. There, Republicans have competed with each other to see who could offer the most doom and gloom while insulting President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and, increasingly, each other.

During his 40-minute speech, Rubio was at his best when he talked about his family’s American experience. His parents came to America from Cuba in 1956 speaking almost no English. His father became a bartender and his mother a maid. At times they wondered if they had made a mistake and even considered going back, but they persevered. Ten years after coming to America, they owned a home in a safe neighborhood and were able to raise their children to enjoy freedom’s benefits. His father has passed away, but Rubio, who has had an interesting spiritual journey, said he hopes he is aware of what his son has become.

“My parents loved America because they understood what life was like outside of America,” he said.

Campaigns are about stories, and that’s a good one.

Rubio promised to be a uniter of both his party and his country. Encouragingly, the son of immigrants promised, “If you elect me president of the United States, I will be president for all Americans. I will never ask you to be angry at one group of Americans so that I can win an election.”

Democrats, of course are a “group of Americans,” so I wish Rubio would tone down the rhetoric when it comes to them. He flatly declared that Clinton is “disqualified” from being president because of the email controversy and Benghazi. He should leave that to the legal system. Our political leaders should stop questioning the other side’s legitimacy, because sometimes that side wins, and it’s not healthy when half the country hates the president. He also said, “We will lose the American dream if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders is elected.” Really? We’ll lose it entirely in four years?

Also disappointing was this: While the campaign stage was adorned with signs saying, “End the debt,” he didn’t mention it, nor his own party’s role in increasing it to $19 trillion, nor offer a rebuttal to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget’s declaration that his tax plan would add $6.1 trillion to the deficit.

Now I’m becoming a downer. It was a good speech, at times an uplifting one, and Rubio seemed to genuinely enjoy interacting with the Arkansans who mobbed him afterwards. He’s not my candidate – Ohio Gov. John Kasich is – but I like him, and his story, much better than before.

Looking ahead to an eventful 2016

Calendar turning copyBy Steve Brawner
© 2015 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Happy new year. In Arkansas politics, it’s going to be an eventful one.

In January, Gov. Asa Hutchinson will meet with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell to request a waiver for “Arkansas Works.” That’s his version of the private option, the program that uses federal Medicaid dollars to purchase private insurance for lower-income individuals. He’s asking for changes that will require more personal responsibility on the part of recipients, and which will make it more acceptable to Republican legislators. Those legislators will vote on Arkansas Works, or something like it, in a special session focused on health care in the middle of the year.

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