Friday August 17, 2001
Internet Sales Tax?
From The Washington Post: “More than 40 of the nation’s governors are intensifying their push to get congressional approval for sales taxes on Internet commerce. In a letter that will be sent to all House and Senate members this week, the governors will urge Congress not to extend a 1998 moratorium on other Internet taxes unless states are given the opportunity to come up with a system that would allow them to collect online sales taxes. The moratorium on taxes that are exclusive to the Internet, including access fees, expires Oct. 21, and the governors hope to use its renewal as leverage to address the sales-tax issue.“
Although estimates vary wildly on how much Internet sales-tax revenue is uncollected — some estimates are that it will be as high as $13 billion by 2004. Ask your state treasurer how much your state loses to e-commerce. Of course, also ask how much is generated in sales, jobs and business taxes.
State Workers Staying Later in West Virginia
This is a good story to localize. This week, West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise ordered all state offices to stay open and answer telephones until at least 5 p.m. on weekdays.
“These extended hours are just one step forward in providing the best customer service we can,” said Wise, who has often said he would run a customer-friendly administration. “I want to make sure that if you call with a problem or want to do business with the state, someone will be here to help you.”
The new schedules will begin Monday, Mike Garrison, Wise’s chief of staff, said in a memo to state agency directors. “One of the complaints the governor hears from people is that they call a state office at 4:15 or 4:30 in the afternoon and nobody picks up the phone. He didn’t think that was right,” Wise spokesman Bill Case said. “Some offices have traditionally not been open until 5 p.m.
How difficult is it to reach somebody in your state at 5 p.m.?
Teacher Shortage Update
Thousands of teaching positions across the country are still vacant as districts scramble to fill their staffs before schools open in the next week or two. Many administrators, feeling the pressure of a national teacher shortage, are working around the clock to court prospective hires. Read the story here.
Richard Ingersoll, professor of education and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, says “Many white-collar affluent districts have very few problems recruiting and retaining qualified teachers,” he says. “In contrast, some poor inner-city districts near those suburban areas might have a very difficult time. In Philadelphia, you can have districts that are only 15 or 20 minutes apart. One cries shortages, and the other one might have waiting lists.”
Denver deals with shortage: Higher pay and lower barriers to entry are making a dent in metro Denver’s feared teacher shortage.
Connecticut’s shortage: As a nationwide teaching shortage creeps further into Connecticut, a sense of crisis has arrived, both in the state’s top-tier school systems and in the large urban districts, which must fill hundreds of teaching jobs annually. It’s a problem that virtually everyone predicts will grow as increasing numbers of baby boom-era teachers retire during the next decade.
Tennessee’s teacher shortage: There is a joke in Tennessee that anyone with a bachelor’s degree is a teacher. Statewide, that was the case for 1,390 people in the 1999-2000 school year. Because of a national teacher shortage, school districts are issuing teaching permits to people with no training in how to teach a classroom full of children, no license to be a teacher, no certification.
South Carolina recruits teachers from overseas: Forty educators from Spain begin work in South Carolina classrooms this month as foreign language, math and science teachers, helping to put a dent in the teacher shortage. This marks the second year the Department of Education has sent a delegation to the European nation in search of teachers, a strategy that could lead to more foreign-born educators manning South Carolina’s classrooms in the future. “It’s no secret we desperately need help,” said Leonard McIntyre, the state’s chief overseas recruiter. “There are many eager and qualified teachers who want to come here.”
Layoffs in other industries help teacher recruitment in New Hampshire: Education officials say the slumping economy has helped the teaching profession in New Hampshire. They say because of job cuts in the business community, more people are switching careers and becoming teachers.
