March 29, 2024

Florida Close-Up: Benchmarks

John F. Berry | 2/1/1996
Nobody likes to have facts get in the way of personal prejudices and perceptions, least of all politicians. "Practical politics," wrote Henry Adams, "consists in ignoring facts."

But there are still those who believe that it is actually possible for government to make rational decisions based on accurate information. That's the idea behind a new report called Florida Benchmarks. It's a three-year effort by the Florida Commission on Government Accountability to the People, known as the GAP commission, chaired by W.D. (Bill) Frederick, Jr., the highly respected former mayor of Orlando.

By definition, a benchmark is a standard or point of reference to measure or judge quality or value. Believing government decision-making should be based on benchmarking, the GAP commission gathered data in seven broad categories: "Our Families and Communities," "Our Learning," "Our Environment," "Our Health," "Our Safety," "Our Government" and "Our Economy."

Sounds pretty rudimentary, a little like the chapter titles of a grammar school textbook. And, indeed, the Benchmarks Report does deal with the mundane acts of daily life and death in Florida.

So, for example, we learn from the report that the percentage of babies born to teenagers (ages 15-19) was 18% in 1980, 14% in 1985, 14% in 1990 and 13% in 1994. That violent crime has risen from 982 per 100,000 in 1980 to 1,137 in 1994. That tourism has risen from 20 million a year in 1980 to 41 million in 1990 to 39.9 million in 1993. That teenage unemployment (ages 16-19) was 13% among whites and 43% among blacks in 1980; 17% and 38% respectively in 1993. That the percentage of high school seniors who took SAT exams for college rose from 31% in 1983 to 45% in 1995.

The project grew out of Lawton Chiles' first gubernatorial campaign when he became enamored of the ideas of policy wonk David Osborne. Osborne, who would turn his theories into the best-selling book,"Reinventing Government," teamed up with Frederick for what would later become the GAP ? which also stands for the distance between where Florida is today and where it should be.

Osborne was involved in a benchmarking project in Oregon, and Frederick, with the support of the powerful business group, Council of 100, launched a similar project in Florida. Frederick spells out his motives in the introduction of the study: "Perhaps the time has arrived to provide facts about our state that will help citizens make informed decisions about public policy."

Of course, a great idea in theory can still be executed poorly. Much of the data, like that cited above, while interesting seems oddly irrelevant to the stated purpose of the report. The stats in the report generally are generic and broad, and they do not measure the performance of specific government programs. The reader is left to ponder how these statistics apply to actual government policies.

Another disappointing aspect of the report is the number of data boxes marked "not available." Assuming that the report was rigorously researched, this means that state agencies haven't the foggiest notion of the effects of many of their actions.

But the GAP commission's effort makes an important point. It's much more dramatic - and requires less work - for a state senator simply to call for a 25% across-the-board budget cut than to gather actual data to determine which programs work and which don't. It's easier to build more prisons and put chains on prisoners than it is to consider the broader question of what prisons do to people and what happens after they get out.

In this regard, the report notes that there is no data on the achievement levels of juvenile offenders entering and leaving prison. Again, the data missing from the report is often more telling than that presented. "We don't know," says Karen A. Stanford, the commission's executive director, "whether it makes any difference if a person completes his education in prison or if he spends his time breaking big rocks into little rocks."

Osborne says that the benchmarking needs time to take hold. "If it's like Oregon, it will take five years to get all the data," he says, reflecting Frederick's opinion that the Florida study is "just a first cut."

The idea is to get local communities and interest groups involved in creating and enhancing benchmarks. In Oregon, for instance, benchmarking led to efforts to seek reasons and remedies for low birth weight babies. The Florida GAP commission has begun meeting with state agencies to review its data with them.

For his part, Frederick doesn't expect his project to be embraced among the Tallahassee power groups. "It's not so much a liberal or a conservative game as it is a power game," he says. "Some top staffers see it as an encroachment, as do people who push pet projects without concern for long-range interests of the state."

It's difficult to predict how this will play out. Certainly, the report isn't the most compelling reading material. The analysis seems purposely low-key, perhaps in deference to certain political sensibilities; then, too, the amount of data that's "not available," while validating the need for the study also undermines its impact. Finally, the Florida version, unlike the Oregon one, as yet sets no goals; again, one suspects politics. Stanford says it's up to the citizens to set the goals. "This could die now," she says a bit grimly. "Our audience is the people of Florida. It's done for the citizens to use in their communities."

Perhaps the most ominous indicator of the study's prospects is the project's financial struggles. According to Stanford, the committee ran short of funds after the Legislature cut GAP's annual budget from $280,000 to $225,000. Members literally had to beg for paper from state departments on which to print the report. And it took the generosity of a couple of corporate commission members to pay the balance of printing and distribution costs.

Those are troubling benchmarks.

Tags: Florida Small Business, Politics & Law, Business Florida

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