The Southern Legislative Conference (SLC), an affiliate of the Council of State Governments, brought together almost 1,000 state legislators, staff and other guests from 16 southern states for its annual meeting in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Dell Inc. was a sponsor and participant in the SLC Annual Meeting, held Aug. 15-19, 2009. Fran Valluzzo and Donna Oldham represented Dell at the meeting, and worked closely with the North Carolina General Assembly’s Host Committee. Following is a summary of the key programs and Dell activities:
Dell Donation of Equipment for Cyber Café and Staff Offices
Dell donated the use of 33 laptops and 12 printers for the SLC meeting. Dell hosted the SLC Cyber Café, which provided opportunities for meeting participants to check email and surf the net while attending the meeting. We also provided laptops and printers for all staff offices and the registration area. After the meeting, 18 laptops and 12 printers were donated to local charities that partner with Dell in the Winston-Salem area.
Dell Plenary Session Sponsorship
Dell sponsored the opening plenary session, at which NC Speaker Joe Hackney welcomed attendees and specifically thanked Dell for its support and mentioned our facility in Winston-Salem. Dell was also formally thanked by Sen. Jeff Wentworth (TX), chair of the SLC. The plenary session featured keynote speaker Harry Markopolos, certified fraud examiner, who uncovered the Madoff Ponzi scheme. Markopolos is also an expert on Medicare and Medicaid fraud, which he characterized as "medical terrorism." He stated that Medicare waste and fraud accounts for 40 cents of every Medicare dollar spent. He said that the only way to reduce waste and fraud is to establish an electronic patient records system. He also discussed the fact that the big financial fraud cases are being initiated by states, not the SEC, which he characterized as weak and "owned by the industry." He gave examples of the NY *** General and the MA Securities Division being leaders in investigating and prosecuting financial fraud.
"Education and the Federal Stimulus"
The program featured Jimmy Wynn from The Education Trust, an independent non-profit established in 1990 to support K-12 reform efforts. TET is supported by a number of private and corporate foundations, including the Gates Foundation. Wynn discussed TET's Title I Fairness Campaign, an effort to equalize per student expenditures among the states. He said that 5 states (NY, MD, PA, CT and MA) receive $2,013 per student under the Title I formula, much more than other states such as TX ($1,425/student) and NC ($1,351/student). TET's campaign is aimed at raising the "floor" so that all states receive the highest level of funding, $2,013 per student. He said the cost of raising all states to that level would be $3.7 billion a year ("$700 million more than Cash for Clunkers," in his words). Stacy Jordan with U.S. DOEd discussed the education stimulus program and its four goals: 1) save jobs, 2) improve student achievement, 3) insure transparency by measuring and tracking results, and 4) providing one shot investments that are sustainable over time. A number of legislators raised questions about sustainability of programs funded by one-time federal infusions of funds. She responded that that was a concern, as states would have to provide ongoing funding after the initial federal funding. She also discussed the Race to the Top (RTTT) funding, the largest discretionary program in the history of DOEd ($4.3 billion). RTTT is a competitive grant program for states and school districts that focuses on four core reforms designed to improve standards, increase data to track student achievement, improve quality of teachers, and turn around low performing schools and districts (See article on RTTT by U.S. Sec'y of Education Arne Duncan, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/23/AR2009072302634.html ).
Chris Minnich of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) discussed the development of "common core standards" in English language arts and math for all 50 states to allow comparison of "apples to apples" in determining a child's academic progress. The CCSSO is working with the National Governors' Association to develop uniform standards, and 46 of the 50 states are participating (TX, AK, SC and MO are not participating).
Meetings with Legislators and Others
During the conference, we met with numerous NC legislators who expressed appreciation for Dell's support for the SLC meeting, including Reps. Julia Howard, Earline Parmon, Beverly Earle, David Lewis, Pryor Gibson, and Senator Linda Garrou. We also met with legislators from other states.