JEFFERSON CITY — Last week’s “Rebooting Government” work groups prepared their recommendations and presented their findings to Senate Leader Robert N. Mayer, R-Dexter, and other members of the Senate this week.
The Education work group listed several recommendations for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), K-12, and higher education.
DESE:
- Examine the ratio of school administrators to teachers and the ratio of administrators’ compensation to teachers’ compensation.
K-12:
- Consolidate school districts in an effort to reduce operating costs.
- Merit pay and study vouchers.
- Cooperate with bus routes to achieve efficiencies.
- Allow school districts to share administrators.
- Increase monitoring of school districts’ fund balances.
Higher Education:
- Merge the two state education departments.
- Academic review.
In the area of social programs, several recommendations were mentioned, including: reviewing options to control growth in the Missouri Rx Program by reviewing other states’ programs; monitoring the “on call” status of state employees; and continuing to enact previous recommendations from the last Rebooting Government initiative.
The General Government and Office of Administration work group also came up with numerous ways to streamline state government. Among other suggestions, the work group mentioned:
- Moving to one license plate (estimated savings of $1-1.5 million).
- Evaluating the number of deputy directors, assistant directors and middle managers to reduce the number of state employees.
- Creating a four-day work week for office employees.
- Establishing a biennial budgeting and/or a process to allow state agencies the ability to carry over funding from one fiscal year to the next.
- Consolidating counties/prosecutor system/judicial circuit system/school districts.
- Terminating and consolidating property and office space that is leased by the state.
- Evaluating the cost of elections, polling places, and the number of elections held in the state.
- Privatizing the state lottery and combining the Gaming Commission and the Lottery Commission.
In the realm of agriculture, outdoors, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and transportation, committee members listed several recommendations on how to save taxpayer dollars.
Agriculture:
- Going electronic with brand books, inspection reports, and invoices and purchase orders.
- Limiting the number of times a farmer can be sued due to nuisance.
Natural Resources:
- Using electronic methods for general permits and other day-to-day tasks.
- Moving the State Land Survey Fund out of DNR and stopping the diversion of money to the department’s administration.
- Transferring the DNR permitting process to the Department of Economic Development (DED).
Transportation:
- Moving to single license plates.
The Courts, Corrections, and Department of Public Safety work group considered sentencing reform; increasing criminal fines and revenues from the prison “canteen” fund; consolidating certain administrative law judge and departmental hearing officer positions; combining state services for children (Children’s Division/Mental Health services) under the Division of Youth Services; and creating a permanent web-based system for state employees to submit suggestions for reducing waste and increasing efficiency, among other suggestions.
Finally, the Tax Structure work group suggests giving serious consideration to the Tax Credit Review Commission’s recommendations for the restructure and reallocation of tax credit programs to streamline processes and make such programs less cumbersome. In addition, the panel considers corporate franchise tax as a form of double taxation and notes the tax should be phased-out in order for Missouri to remain competitive in job creation and retention. The work group also recommends to continue enacting previous recommendations mentioned by last year’s Rebooting Government efforts.
To see the PowerPoint presentation or listen to the complete audio of the Rebooting Government recommendations for 2011, please visit www.senate.mo.gov/RebootMO.
For more information about the Missouri Senate, visit www.senate.mo.gov. To contact the Senate Newsroom, call (573) 751-3824 or e-mail newsroom@senate.mo.gov.
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