toledoblade.com --

Ohio's government can learn from Michigan, which, despite its economic problems, outranks Ohio in state management

BRAGGING rights go to Michigan over Ohio in a recent national study that graded the management effectiveness of state governments over the last three years.

But all is not bleak on the Buckeye State scorecard, and the fact that both states were judged by a panel of state government experts to be making progress despite significant economic difficulties is a positive sign.

Even with the ongoing problems in Michigan's economy and auto industry - not to mention what the report called its "bloody budget deliberations" last year - the Pew Center on the States gave the Wolverine State a B+ in several key areas. They included capital planning and project monitoring, intergovernmental coordination, and training and development.

Although Michigan still struggles, as do many states, with structural balance, or the gap between revenues and expenditures, the Pew report card noted Michigan's surprising strength and suppleness in management with both short-term and long-term outlooks. "Over the years, the state has been a leader in all forms of strategic imagination: workforce planning, information technology planning, capital planning, and others as well," the report said.

Ohio government could learn a bit from its border neighbor. In the fourth of a series of assessments issued by Pew's Government Performance Project, Ohio earned a B-, the national average, and a slight drop from three years ago when the state received a straight B on the Pew grading system.

It ranks four areas of state management with money, people, infrastructure, and information. While Ohio received praise for its bipartisan work on passing a budget, providing online services, and continuing business tax reform, it was criticized for revenue shortfalls and not planning for a deluge of retirements in the next decade.

Pew researchers also took issue with two other areas of Ohio government, the same two departments scrutinized in every state, where budget cuts or lost funding could imperil operations. The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction cut its budget 25 percent despite serious prison crowding, and critical funding disappeared just as the Division of Children and Families was inaugurating its new Web-based child welfare system online.

The nonpartisan think tank did laud Gov. Ted Strickland for his continuing work on new school construction, as well as his Advantage Ohio program, which aims to eliminate duplicative regulations. The point of the rankings is to encourage progress in state management practices and give states objective information about how they can improve their performance.

Government process may not be the sexiest of issues, acknowledged Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, whose state received a B-plus rating. But how a state operates can have a big impact in how efficiently tax dollars are used and how well government services are delivered.

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