As part of our efforts to promote transparency and open data in Puerto Rico, ABRE Puerto Rico this month received formal recognition and support from the Office of the Electoral Comptroller (OCE in its Spanish acronym) to publish campaign contribution data for Puerto Rico. In conjunction with this collaboration, ABRE Puerto Rico has created a new web-based tool that allows the public to search through individual political campaign donation information. We have placed our application in our portal at ABRE Puerto Rico's donation page, allowing any citizen to seek out contribution details by donor name, candidate or political party.
Currently, the law in Puerto Rico requires that political campaign donation data be public; however, until today, a citizen who was interested in seeing this information had to physically go to the OCE and pay for copies. Political parties, on the other hand, have representatives in the OCE and have full access to the data. With the publication of these data through our tool, Puerto Rico finally reached the national standard of transparency regarding donations to political campaigns. We hope easy access to this information helps avoid situations that could be seen as conflicts of interest or political favoritism in the awarding of contracts or in the appointment of governmental positions. Furthermore, it should put a check on the ability of parties to dominate how this information is used.
A screenshot of Abre Puerto Rico's donations page.This is a huge vote of confidence for our organization from the OCE, and we are honored that it has allowed us to disclose its data. We are confident that the easy access to this information will contribute greatly to improving accountability in our government. In a statement, Electoral Comptroller Manuel A. Torres Nieves said, "Collaboration with ABRE provides a new tool that promotes transparency and facilitates and unifies access to information available to the people. We hope that more people will get involved, use the data and increase citizen participation in monitoring the financing of political campaigns in Puerto Rico." ABRE is also working with the OCE to release detailed expense reports, allowing citizens to see how parties use public funds for their campaigns.
A screenshot of Abre Puerto Rico's data request platform, where users can ask for information and track it through the process.Beyond this success, ABRE Puerto Rico recently went live with a government information request and tracking application on our website. Citizens can petition the government for any public information and monitor the progress of their data request using the tool. We recognize that citizens are frustrated by the lack of transparency and access to government data. Before, there was no centralized and uniform way for citizens to channel their requests for data and monitor government responsiveness. In many cases, these requests were ignored by government agencies. Our goal in ABRE Puerto Rico is to shine a light on the requests process and hope that the public pressure motivates government to fulfill its constitutional obligation to provide citizens with information.
Washington, DC—The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on a bill that would improve the federal payments made to physicians in Puerto Rico under the Medicare program, Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi announced today. The bill, entitled the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, would also authorize a two-year extension of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), under which Puerto Rico receives about $150 million a year. In addition, the bill would authorize new funding for the Community Health Center program. Puerto Rico is home to 67 community health centers—known as “330 centers”—that treat about 340,000 patients annually.
First, the legislation would permanently repeal and replace the “Sustainable Growth Rate” payment formula, known as the SGR, which has been a longstanding problem for physicians in Puerto Rico and the rest of the United States who treat patients enrolled in traditional Medicare. Over the years, Congress has temporarily fixed—or “patched”—the SGR formula 17 times. On April 1st of this year, the current patch will expire, which would result in a 21 percent reduction in payments to doctors under Medicare. This bill would prevent this cut from coming into effect, and would replace the SGR formula with a stable payment system that promotes higher quality care for seniors.
“I strongly support the effort to permanently repeal and replace the flawed SGR formula, which has been the source of considerable anxiety and uncertainty for physicians in Puerto Rico. Doctors deserve a fair and predictable reimbursement system under Medicare,” said Pierluisi.
Second, the legislation contains an important provision that extends—through January 1, 2018—the “Physician Work GPCI Floor,” which prevents a cut of up to 3 percent in the reimbursement rates for doctors in Puerto Rico and certain other U.S. jurisdictions. Pierluisi recently wrote a letter, along with other Members of Congress, urging the inclusion of this provision in the bill.
The federal government calculates payments to physicians through the use of a geographic pricing cost index, GPCI, which is designed to measure how much it costs to practice medicine in different parts of the country. There are three separate GPCIs: Malpractice, Physician Work, and Practice Expense. In the case of all three, the GPCIs calculated for Puerto Rico are the lowest of any jurisdiction in the United States.
“I have been working to ensure that reimbursement rates for Puerto Rico physicians more accurately reflect the actual cost of practicing medicine in Puerto Rico. I have explained to federal officials that many doctors are leaving Puerto Rico and that this exodus owes, at least in part, to the inadequate payments they receive under the Medicare program. Because of these efforts, the federal government has already made an important change to Puerto Rico’s Malpractice GPCI that took effect on January 1, 2014. The agency was using malpractice premium data for Puerto Rico that was more than a decade old. I brought the matter to the agency’s attention, they responded by obtaining more accurate data, and—as a result—Puerto Rico’s Malpractice GPCI was increased by 17 percent,” said Pierluisi.
“We have also achieved a positive result in connection with the Physician Work GPCI. In 2006, Congress established a floor of 1.0 for the Physician Work GPCI, which helped Puerto Rico and certain rural areas in the 50 states whose Physican Work GPCIs would otherwise fall well below 1.0. Since I arrived in Congress in 2009, I have advocated for this floor to be extended, and it has in fact been extended multiple times. The bill to be voted on this week would extend it again, this time through January 2018,” added the Resident Commissioner.
According to calculations, extension of the Physician Work GPCI floor would mean that reimbursement rates for Puerto Rico physicians will be up to 3 percent higher than they would have been if the floor had been allowed to expire.
Third, the bill would provide $7.2 billion for the Community Health Center program nationwide over the next two years.
“Puerto Rico is home to 67 community health centers, in 48 municipalities, operated by 20 non-profit corporations. These centers employ over 2,500 health care workers and treat approximately 340,000 patients a year,” said Pierluisi.
Finally, the bill would extend CHIP, a federal-state program that helps families find health care coverage for their children, through 2017. Funding for CHIP will otherwise expire as of September 30, 2015. Puerto Rico receives CHIP funding as part of its Medicaid program.
“CHIP is very important in Puerto Rico, and so I strongly support its reauthorization by Congress. It is estimated that, in 2015, Puerto Rico will receive about $150 million in CHIP funding from the federal government. Total federal Medicaid funding and CHIP funding for Puerto Rico in 2015 is expected to be $1.3 billion. This is a massive increase over what Puerto Rico was receiving prior to the 2010 Affordable Care Act, but it is still nowhere close to fair, state-like treatment,” said Pierluisi.
If the U.S. House approves the bill later this week, the bill will then be considered by the U.S. Senate.
Legislation will also reauthorize important federal health program for children and fund community health center program
Although the use of pesticides containing methyl bromide was discontinued for residential use about 10 years ago because of its impact on the ozone layer, the St. Thomas-based Terminix pest control company was able to buy it in Puerto Rico, Planning and Natural Resources spokesman Jamal Nielsen said Wednesday.
He said they used it in an attempt to eradicate powder post beetles at Sirenusa condominium resort on St. John. Powder post beetles are a type of bug that can turn wood to powder.
Gov. Kenneth E. Mapp said in a Wednesday news release that Planning issued a Stop Use Order to the company which used the pesticide. The entire inventory of the pesticide was placed under quarantine, while local authorities and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency personnel collaborated to determine how to remove and store it appropriately.
The news release indicated there is an investigation underway to determine how and where the product was used elsewhere in the territory.
The pesticide was used to fumigate a room at Sirenusa on March 18. On March 20, members of a vacationing Delaware family suffered seizures and were rushed to Schneider Regional Medical Center with apparent chemical poisoning. Efforts to get updated information on the condition of Steve Esmond, Dr. Theresa Devine and their two children, Ryan and Sean, Wednesday were unsuccessful. Wilmington, Delaware, attorney James J. Maron, who is serving as the family spokesman, did not return two phone calls requesting information.
During his thirty-year rule of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin took direct control of food resources, farms, and land, causing mass starvation and the deaths of nearly 7 million people in modern-day Ukraine.+
The example of murderous central planning has been aped by other communist regimes worldwide with equally grim results, leading to widespread malnutrition and death in China and North Korea. Meanwhile, Cuba imports some 80 percent of its food, according to UN figures, despite purportedly being a paragon of self-sufficiency.+
Puerto Rico’s farms are to be the latest site of government intervention. (Pixabay)
Centralized government control over food and consumer goods is about control, not serving the interests of the people. It has one purpose: total power.+
One might think that the lessons of the former Soviet Union and other failed communist states would resonate enough to preclude such madness from happening again, but those lessons have been forgotten or ignored.+
Instead, Puerto Rico’s government is about to embark on a total food-control initiative dubbedthe Food Security Plan for Puerto Rico. It calls for promoting local agriculture in line with the island’s Land Use plan, and helping Puerto Rico become more independent by producing more of its own food.+
It sounds great. Who doesn’t want food independence? But it turns out that Puerto Rico is not the only one working on a Food Security Plan. The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), mostly under the control of socialist governments, also approved a resolution on Food Security and Sustainable Development earlier this year.+
Amid reams of communist doublespeak, the CELAC resolution also set the following objective:+
68. Restate the Latin American and Caribbean character of Puerto Rico and take note of resolutions adopted by the UN special committee on decolonization.
In other words, CELAC supports independence for Puerto Rico.+
The same resolution references the plan for food security:+
17. Recognize the direct contribution of family agriculture to food security and sustainable development in the goal of creating a region free of poverty and hunger.
18. Approve the Plan for Food Security, Nutrition and the eradication of hunger…
Now the obvious question: how do these governments ensure nutrition and eradication of hunger? Will they let the market decide? If their policy in other areas is anything to go by, definitely not. Instead, they’ll set quotas and diktats and set about ruthlessly enforcing them.+
How do you eradicate hunger? By going house to house and making sure people eat. How do you provide “security” for food? By taking direct control of food production and distribution.+
If government control elsewhere has been an unmitigated disaster, why will food management be any different?
While the Puerto Rico proposal also touts the importance of the family farmer, it too is a pathway to total control. It’s just as in the Soviet Union, when the Bolsheviks appealed to the farmers to win their support, only to starve them to death for dubious political gain when they began to question the system.+
Am I suggesting that the Popular Democratic Party plans to starve Puerto Rican farmers to death? This may not be their intention. But grave problems with the food supply are inevitable if this state-led food security plan continues under independence — for independence under socialist rule is the Popular Democratic Party’s real aim.+
Let’s ask an even easier question. If government control of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, Water and Sewer Authority, highways, health insurance, hospitals, Planning Board, police, prisons, schools, and many other areas has been a complete and unmitigated disaster, why will the commonwealth have any greater success in managing food resources?+
The government’s record on managing public needs is abysmal. Small wonder they’re using any excuse to endorse the food security bill: for example, claiming that the cessation of Puerto Rico services by major shipping company Horizon Lines is a threat to the food supply (the small print: Horizon Lines didn’t transport food).+
On the surface the food security plan for Puerto Rico looks good, feels good, and sounds good. Local media are even reporting positive growth in the food production sector as a result of the ongoing program. That’s how you sell a poisonous idea: make it taste sweet going down.+
As I’ve asked readers here and on my other blog before: stop for a moment and take a look around. How are the roads? What’s the situation with crime? Do you trust your government? How are health services? How are the schools? How are the electricity and water service?+
How much more power do you want the government to have over you?+
Promoting local agriculture and providing food independence for the island are both ideas I support. But given the examples of history, what should we really expect if the commonwealth takes control of the food supply?
Stop Hunger Now and Hewlett-Packard are teaming up again in the fight against hunger. More than 300 employees will package meals for the world’s hungry on March 20th at HP Caribe in Aguadilla Puerto Rico. This event is in conjunction with a campaign by HP to package over 1 million meals around the world in 2015. In 2014 over 4,500 HP employees packaged approximately 1.5 million meals at 21 HP sites around the world.
“Today is a significant day for the Hewlett-Packard Puerto Rico Family,” says David Trabal, Human Resources Director. “Our objective is to provide nutritional meals to the Food Bank of Puerto Rico, so they can support all NGO’s in Puerto Rico who serve the less fortunate.”
Stop Hunger Now meal packaging events are a volunteer-based program that coordinates the streamlined packaging of highly nutritious dehydrated meals comprised of rice, soy, vegetables and 23 essential vitamins and minerals. Around the world, nearly 805 million people lack adequate food. Stop Hunger Now operates meal packaging locations in 19 cities throughout the U.S. and four international locations in South Africa, Malaysia, Italy, India and the Philippines. More than 450,000 volunteers from corporations, religious communities, schools and civic organizations have packaged Stop Hunger Now meals.
Founded in 1998, Stop Hunger Now has delivered aid and disaster relief supplies in the form of food, medical supplies, clothing, school supplies and more to thousands of disaster victims and other hungry and vulnerable people in 65 countries.
“What we want everyone to know is that hunger is solvable and is the common thread among the world’s most challenging issues. When hunger is targeted, you give leverage and hope to every other cause including poverty, disease, education and the welfare of women and children,” said Rod Brooks, President and CEO of Stop Hunger Now.
The event will be hosted at HP Caribe in Aguadilla from 8:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. Meals packaged at the event will be distributed to Puerto Rico’s Food Bank. More than 300 employees will join together and accomplish this goal in just two hours. For information about the event, please contact Nilda Prieto at HP Caribe, 787-685-4509 or by email at nilda.prieto(at)hp(dot)com.
- See more at: http://www.stophungernow.org/hewlett-packard-in-puerto-rico/#sthash.iPPq86BD.dpuf
This report focuses on the performance of students on the 2013 NAEP mathematics assessment administered in Spanish to public school students in Puerto Rico. Because of technical issues in earlier administrations, results are available for 2011 and 2013 only (see About the Assessment for more details). Average scores for students in Puerto Rico were unchanged between 2011 and 2013, with fourth-graders scoring 182 in both years and eighth-graders scoring 218. Students who scored at least 214 at grade 4 and at least 262 at grade 8 reached the Basic achievement level, which denotes partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work at the grade assessed. One percent or fewer of fourth- and eighth-grade students in Puerto Rico scored at or above the Proficient level.
NOTE: The NAEP mathematics scale ranges from 0–500.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2011 and 2013 Mathematics Assessments.
Many of Puerto Rico's fourth- and eighth-grade public school students are falling short in mathematics achievement, according to The Nation's Report Card: 2013 Mathematics Assessment in Puerto Rico. The results in 2011 and 2013 come from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which measures the mathematics knowledge and skill of students in Puerto Rico. The assessment provides educators in Puerto Rico with information to gauge the achievement of their students compared to that of U.S. students and over time.
The 2013 Spanish-language mathematics assessment marks the first time that Puerto Rico has been able to use NAEP results to establish a valid comparison to the last assessment in 2011. Prior to 2011, the assessment was carefully redesigned to ensure an accurate assessment of students in Puerto Rico. Results from assessments in Puerto Rico in 2003, 2005 and 2007 cannot be compared, in part because of the larger-than-expected number of questions that students either didn't answer or answered incorrectly, making it difficult to precisely measure student knowledge and skills. The National Center for Education Statistics, which conducts NAEP, administered the NAEP mathematics assessment in 2011. But those results have not been available until now, as it was necessary to replicate the assessment in 2013 to ensure that valid comparisons could be made.
"The ability to accurately measure student performance is essential for improving education," said Terry Mazany, chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees NAEP. "With the support and encouragement of education officials in Puerto Rico, this assessment achieves that goal. This is a great accomplishment and an important step forward for Puerto Rico's schools and students."
NAEP assessments report performance using average scores and percentages of students at or above three achievement levels: Basic, Proficient and Advanced. The 2013 assessment results showed that 11 percent of fourth-graders in Puerto Rico and 5 percent of eighth-graders in public schools performed at or above the Basic level; conversely, 89 percent of fourth-graders and 95 percent of eighth-graders scored below that level. The Basic level denotes partial mastery of the knowledge and skills needed for grade-appropriate work. One percent or fewer of students in either grade scored at or above the Proficient level, which denotes solid academic performance. Only a few students scored at the Advanced level.
The 2013 report showed no significant changes from 2011 in average scores or achievement levels at either grade level. The average fourth-grade score was 182, which was 32 points shy of the 214 needed to be designated as Basic; the average eighth-grade score of 218 was 44 points short of Basic's 262-point cutoff. Students in Puerto Rico also scored lower than U.S. students overall and also U.S. students eligible for the National School Lunch Program, which provides free or reduced-price lunches to students from low-income families. In Puerto Rico, 100 percent of public school students are eligible for the lunch program, compared with about 50 percent of public school students in the United States. The 2013 assessment was administered to representative samples constituting about 4,600 fourth-grade students from 150 public schools and 5,200 eighth-grade students from 120 public schools in Puerto Rico. NAEP administers assessments only to public school students in Puerto Rico, just as it includes only public school student results in its state-by-state reporting of NAEP results. In Puerto Rico, about 23 percent of students in kindergarten through 12th grade attended private schools as of the 2011-2012 school year, compared with 10 percent in the United States. Puerto Rico results are not part of the results reported for the NAEP national sample.
Responses to teacher questionnaires accompanying the assessment also found differences in the classrooms for fourth- and eighth-grade students in Puerto Rico compared with those of the U.S. For example, in 2013 students in Puerto Rico were less likely than their U.S. public school peers to be assigned to mathematics classes by ability: 2 percent in Puerto Rico versus 21 percent in the U.S. for fourth-graders, and 15 percent versus 63 percent for eighth-graders. In addition, many of Puerto Rico's fourth-graders receive less time in mathematics instruction — 3 percent received seven or more hours of mathematics instruction per week, compared with 36 percent in the U.S. public schools.
Also, teachers at both grade levels in Puerto Rico were more likely to report that their school systems did not provide or provided only some of the materials and resources needed for mathematics instruction. In Puerto Rico, 80 percent of fourth-grade teachers and 87 percent of eighth-grade teachers reported that, compared with 28 percent at both grade levels in the United States.
The technical enhancements to the 2011 and 2013 Puerto Rico assessments included adding special sections of mathematics questions — administered in both Puerto Rico and the nation — to more precisely and reliably measure student achievement at the lower end of the assessment's scoring scale. The No Child Left Behind Act requires Puerto Rico to participate in the NAEP mathematics assessment at grades 4 and 8 as a condition of receiving Title I funds. With the improved, valid assessment, Puerto Rico could be included as soon as 2015 in NAEP's broader report on mathematics, which now covers all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and U.S. Department of Defense schools.
Puerto Rico did not participate in the NAEP reading assessment due to the NAEP requirement to measure reading in English. Spanish is the primary language of instruction in Puerto Rico.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress is a continuing and nationally representative measure of trends in academic achievement of U.S. elementary and secondary students in various subjects. Since 1969, NAEP assessments have been conducted periodically in reading, mathematics, science, writing, U.S. history, civics, geography, and other subjects at grades 4, 8, and 12. Through The Nation's Report Card, NAEP informs the public about what American students know and can do in various subject areas and compares achievement among states, large urban districts, and various student demographic groups. NAEP is a congressionally authorized project of the National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education. The Commissioner of Education Statistics is responsible for carrying out the NAEP project. The National Assessment Governing Board oversees and sets policy for NAEP.
The National Assessment Governing Board is an independent, nonpartisan board whose members include governors, state legislators, local and state school officials, educators, business representatives, and members of the general public. Congress created the 26-member Governing Board in 1988 to set policy for NAEP.
SOURCE National Assessment Governing Board
New assessment establishes baseline for measuring improvement
Presents total quantity and value of commodities shipped between the United States, Puerto Rico, and U.S. possessions. Data on shipments are shown by all methods of transportation combined, with separate data showing the amount of trade transported by vessel and by air, the methods of transportation by which the bulk of merchandise moves between the United States, Puerto Rico, and U.S. possessions.
