Posted: November 2, 2012 at 6:47 am

Montana Doesn’t Need Florida to Tell Us What We Need

GOP candidate for state superintendent is touting an unfortunate endorsement today on the TEA Party conspiracy blog PolyMontana.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush says he ran Florida schools “using some of the same ideas that Sandy is proposing.” With a vote for Welch, says Jeb, Montana can be “just like Florida.”

Problem is, these ideas ran Florida schools into the toilet.

Montana eighth-graders have the highest science and reading scores in the nation, while Florida eighth-graders ranked 30th and 31st. In math, Montana eighth-graders have the second highest scores in the nation. Florida ranks 37th.

Perhaps if Welch can get the TEA Partiers to take down the blog post soon some of the damage can be mitigated.

Posted: April 24, 2012 at 8:40 pm

Dennis Rehberg Finally Reads the Highway Bill

Remember how upset Montanans were when Congressman Dennis Rehberg and the U.S. House of Representatives failed to pass the Senate’s bipartisan Highway Bill? The legislation also included long-term stability for the Secure Rural Schools and Payments In Lieu of Taxes programs, prompting county leaders to urge Rehberg to follow the Senate’s lead.

For nearly two months, Dennis Rehberg ignored them. And now, after weeks of inaction that has resulted in construction delays and threats to the health of Montana’s highways and schools, Dennis Rehberg is just now getting around to reading the Senate’s bill. (The highway bill passed with a bipartisan vote of 74 to 22).

I guess it’s nice that Rehberg finally started paying attention. On Tuesday, he sent this press release raising a concern over a provision in the bill about data recorders in new vehicles. That’s something the Bush Administration authorized way back in 2006. So the real question is: Why didn’t Dennis Rehberg raise concern over this issue six years ago?