Contents of this issue:
- Troubled Michigan schools give themselves A's to avoid
"restructuring" under federal law
- Oakland Intermediate district faces numerous charges
- Bush proposes increase in spending on education
- Former union official sentenced for embezzling
- Hamtramck school chief dismissed
- Court agrees to hear dismissal argument in think tank suit
TROUBLED MICHIGAN SCHOOLS GIVE THEMSELVES A'S TO AVOID
"RESTRUCTURING" UNDER FEDERAL LAW
DETROIT, Mich. — More than three-fourths of Michigan's
chronically failing schools gave themselves A's — which counted
for one-third of each school's grades, recently released to the
public — to avoid the restructuring called for in the federal "No
Child Left Behind" Act.
And even this grade inflation failed to avert the restructuring
requirement for 896 Michigan schools. The federal law requires
schools that consistently fall short of the law's educational
standards to reorganize their administrative structure.
School scores are based on student scores on the Michigan
Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) tests administered
annually. If students do not consistently meet set performance
standards, a school is required to reorganize in at least one of
several ways: turn into a charter school, be taken over by a
private management company or relinquish its power to the state,
among other options.
SOURCES:
Detroit News, "Schools give selves A's, avert failure,"
Feb. 3, 2004
https://www.detroitnews.com/2004/schools/0402/03/a01e-54394.htm
Detroit Free Press, "State report cards show 71 metro schools
must restructure," Jan. 31, 2004
https://www.freep.com/news/education/card31_20040131.htm
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Making the Grade,"
January 2004
https://www.mackinac.org/6113
OAKLAND INTERMEDIATE DISTRICT FACES NUMEROUS CHARGES
WATERFORD, Mich. — A detailed audit outlining several cases of
misspending in the Oakland Intermediate School District has
sparked numerous calls for further inquiry into the district's
past expenditures and the organization itself.
The Farmington Public Education Network (F-PEN), a parents'
advocacy organization based in Farmington, Mich., called on Gov.
Jennifer Granholm to begin a state investigation into the causes
of fiscal abuse by the district. "There has been a tremendous
lack of accountability at the ISD and the local school board
level," Dan Cohen, cochairman of F-PEN, told the Detroit Free
Press.
The Oakland Intermediate district is accused of both misspending
money on items such as lavish travel arrangements and pushing for
a $66 million bond issue while it still retained millions in its
reserve funds. "I don't think there is any question that there is
a loss of confidence" in ISDs, Michigan Senate Majority Leader
Ken Sikkema said. "With the budget challenges we're facing, it is
certainly time for us to look at this, given all these
revelations."
SOURCES:
Detroit Free Press, "District had millions, got voters to OK
more," Jan. 30, 2004
https://www.freep.com/news/education/ois30_20040130.htm
Detroit Free Press, "OAKLAND SCHOOLS SPENDING: Cozy deals fell
short of district goals," Jan. 30, 2004
https://www.freep.com/news/education/bids30_20040130.htm
Detroit Free Press, "Parents call for complete inquiry,"
Jan. 30, 2004
https://www.freep.com/news/education/folo30_20040130.htm
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Eliminate Intermediate School
Districts," August 2003
https://www.mackinac.org/5678
Michigan Education Report, "What Are Intermediate School
Districts?" Winter 2000
https://www.educationreport.org/2709
BUSH PROPOSES INCREASE IN SPENDING ON EDUCATION
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal budget proposal released this week
by President Bush requests an increase in education spending, his
biggest request for spending this year not pertaining to national
security.
The proposal, which will be presented to Congress for debate,
suggests cuts for numerous federal programs. But in education,
the president is calling for increased funding for the "No Child
Left Behind" Act, Title I, block grants, special education and
Pell grants for college students, which brings the total federal
education budget to $57.3 billion.
Education Secretary Rod Paige said the 36 percent increase in his
department's budget since 2001, the largest of any agency,
reflected Mr. Bush's commitment to education.
SOURCES:
New York Times, "Domestic Spending: Gains for Education but Not
Much Else," Feb. 3, 2004
https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/03/politics/03DOME.html
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Money and Red Tape,"
January 2004
https://www.mackinac.org/6094
FORMER UNION OFFICIAL SENTENCED FOR EMBEZZLING
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The former president of the Washington
Teachers' Union was sentenced to prison last week for her
participation in a scheme that embezzled millions of dollars from
the union during her tenure.
Barbara A. Bullock, 65, who faced charges of conspiracy and mail
fraud, was sentenced to nine years in prison plus three years in
a halfway house and 3,000 hours of community service for the
scheme. In addition, Bullock must return $4.6 million and luxury
items such as fur coats, artwork and electronics to the union.
Prosecutors called the scheme, which involved three other people,
"nothing short of brazen greed."
Bullock pleaded guilty to the charges last fall, and asked
forgiveness at her sentencing last Friday. "I stand before you a
broken and changed person," she said. "When I think about what
happened — and I've had a year to do it — I would change things."
Prosecutors said the embezzling took place when Bullock was
president of the union from 1994 to 2000 and was undiscovered
until an audit by the American Federation of Teachers in July
2002.
SOURCES:
Associated Press, "Teachers Union Chief Sentenced in Scandal,"
Jan. 30, 2004
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64479-2004Jan30.html
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Teachers Unions: Helping or
Hurting?"
https://www.mackinac.org/9399
HAMTRAMCK SCHOOL CHIEF DISMISSED
HAMTRAMCK, Mich. — The Hamtramck School Board last week formally
dismissed superintendent Paul Stamatakis after discovering
thousands of dollars misspent on construction projects that
Stamatakis approved.
The board suspended Stamatakis two weeks ago with pay while
investigating the charges. "I hope this puts an end to this,"
Board President Camille Colatosti told the Detroit News. "We've
struggled with the issue of wrongful spending for a long time,
and now it's time for us to get our house in order, straighten
out our books and straighten out our schools."
An audit by former Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor George Ward
found $1 million in cost overruns and incomplete and shoddy work.
After its decision to dismiss Stamatakis, the board named retired
Davenport University Vice President Janet Guggenheim as interim
superintendent.
SOURCE:
Detroit News, "Hamtramck board ousts schools chief,"
Jan. 27, 2004
https://www.detroitnews.com/2004/schools/0401/28/c08-47314.htm
COURT TO HEAR DISMISSAL ARGUMENT IN MEA'S FREE-SPEECH SUIT
LANSING, Mich. — Michigan's Court of Appeals will hear arguments
on Feb. 5 to dismiss a lawsuit filed in 2002 by the Michigan
Education Association against a Michigan policy research
institute.
The union, the state's largest, filed the lawsuit against the
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a free-market think tank,
because the Mackinac Center quoted, in one of its fundraising
newsletters, MEA president Luigi Battaglieri saying at an open
press conference that "Frankly, I admire what they [the Mackinac
Center] have done." The MEA alleged that this use was "a
misappropriation of Battaglieri's likeness."
After a lower court decided the case should go to trial, the
Mackinac Center filed a motion to dismiss with the Court of
Appeals.
MEA spokeswoman Margaret Trimer-Hartley claims the use of
Battaglieri's quote is not an issue of free speech because it was
used in a fundraising letter. "We believe they improperly used
our president's name and likeness and the MEA's name and
likeness," she said.
Mackinac Center Executive Vice President Joseph Lehman said, "Of
course you can quote what someone says at his own news
conference. Nothing the MEA does now changes the fact that its
president told a room full of reporters that he admires what the
Mackinac Center has done."
The Mackinac Center is the publisher of
Michigan Education Report
and
Michigan Education Digest.
SOURCES:
MLive.com, "Court schedules arguments in Mackinac Center appeal
to dismiss MEA suit," Jan. 28, 2004
https://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/news-11/
1075329543104591.xml
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Union President Praises
Institute, Then Files 'Don't Quote Me' Lawsuit," Jan. 30, 2004
https://www.mackinac.org/6150
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Michigan Education
Association Sues Mackinac Center for Public Policy for Quoting
the Union's President," January 2004
https://www.mackinac.org/4356
MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST is a service of Michigan Education
Report (
https://www.educationreport.org), a quarterly newspaper
with a circulation of 130,000 published by the Mackinac Center
for Public Policy (
https://www.mackinac.org), a private,
nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational institute.
Font size:
