Contents of this issue:
- School districts to fight over Granholm education budget
- Nationwide increase in college, university enrollments not reflected in Michigan
- STUDY: Tuition program helps low-income families
- Oakland ISD officials subpoenaed
- District and union finalize deal to link pay to students' progress
- Few schools choose to drop cell phone ban
SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO FIGHT OVER GRANHOLM EDUCATION BUDGET
LANSING, Mich. — A number of school districts have expressed
concern over Gov. Jennifer Granholm's education budget plan,
which may pit urban and suburban school districts against each
other.
The plan, introduced by Granholm last Thursday, would restore a
$74 per pupil cut in December, except to districts that spend
more than $9,000 per student each year. In addition, the plan
would shift state funding from growing districts to those with
shrinking enrollments. The changes would save the state an
estimated $43 million.
Several large, suburban districts voiced complaints against the
plan, saying they would sustain heavy cuts. "We have the same
[financial] problems, if not worse, as everybody else,"
Birmingham Public Schools Deputy Superintendent Richard Perry
told the Detroit Free Press. "They're forcing us to tear apart
the kinds of programs they're trying to get everyone else to
aspire to."
SOURCES:
Detroit Free Press, "School funding fight looms," Feb. 13, 2004
https://www.freep.com/news/mich/skul13_20040213.htm
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Money and Red Tape,"
January 2004
https://www.mackinac.org/6094
NATIONWIDE INCREASE IN COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY ENROLLMENTS NOT
REFLECTED IN MICHIGAN
DETROIT, Mich. — Enrollment in colleges nationwide reached a
record 15 million this school year, and a new study expects this
number to increase 10 percent over the next 10 years.
In Michigan, however, enrollment is down 18 percent at the
University of Michigan and 15 percent at Michigan State
University. The lower enrollment figures may be due to several
factors, including greater competition among applicants and a
lagging economy.
The study, released by the Alexandria, Va.-based National
Association of College Admission Counseling, surveyed 600
colleges for enrollment figures over the last four years.
"There is a lot of concern about cost," MSU admissions director
Pam Horne said. "Tuition went up about 10 percent last fall at
MSU, and the economy has not bounced back in Michigan like the
rest of the nation. More students and families are considering
community colleges for the first two years and then transferring
to MSU."
SOURCES:
Detroit Free Press, "Enrollments rise in U.S. colleges,"
Feb. 11, 2004
https://www.freep.com/news/education/enrol11_20040211.htm
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Private Prepaid Tuition
Programs Can Help Make College Affordable," September 2001
https://www.mackinac.org/3685
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Competition among Professors
Would Help Parents Afford College," August 1999
https://www.mackinac.org/2105
STUDY: TUITION PROGRAM HELPS LOW-INCOME FAMILIES
DETROIT, Mich. — School choice policies in Arizona benefit the
education of students from low-income families, according to a
study issued last December by the Goldwater Institute.
The study included a survey of parents whose children currently
receive school choice scholarships and those on the waiting list,
which found that those parents with incomes below $30,000 are
generally more satisfied with their children's education than are
those whose children are not currently receiving the scholarship.
The scholarship program, established in 1993, gives 574 students
scholarships to attend the school of their choice, public or
private. According to the Goldwater Institute survey, 89 percent
of parents using the scholarship to send their children to
private schools gave their schools an "A," compared to 15 percent
of parents on the waiting list currently sending their children
to public schools.
SOURCES:
National Center for Policy Analysis, "Arizona Tuition Program
Benefits Low-Income Families," Feb. 9, 2004
http://www.ncpa.org/iss/edu/2004/pd020904e.html
Goldwater Institute, "The Impact of Tuition Scholarships on Low-
Income Families: A Survey of Arizona School Choice Trust
Parents," Dec. 11, 2003
http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/article.php/392.html
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Universal Tuition Tax
Credit: A Proposal to Advance Parental Choice in Education,"
November 1997
https://www.mackinac.org/362
OAKLAND ISD OFFICIALS SUBPOENAED
WATERFORD, Mich. — Members of the House education subcommittee
ordered subpoenas last week for the investigation of alleged
corruption in the Oakland Intermediate School District (ISD).
Officials in the Oakland district requested that the committee
not issue subpoenas because they are already fully cooperating
with the investigation. "It's an unnecessary use of coercive
government power," interim superintendent William Keane said. "I
don't need a subpoena to do something I'm already doing."
The representatives that ordered the subpoenas say they are
necessary to uncover details in the investigation into the
alleged misallocation of millions of dollars. "We need to get the
information to find out what happened, so we can get the money to
kids and not scams, shams and mismanagements," Rep. Ruth Johnson,
R-Holly, said. "ISD whistleblowers have been under a lot of
pressure in the past, pressure of being fired. This takes away
all of that. They are the ones who need to be protected."
SOURCES:
Detroit News, "Oakland school officials subpoenaed,"
Feb. 13, 2004
https://www.detroitnews.com/2004/schools/0402/13/d01-63004.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
Michigan Education Report, "Group files complaints against
districts," Spring 2000
https://www.educationreport.org/2882
DISTRICT AND UNION FINALIZE DEAL TO LINK PAY TO STUDENTS' PROGRESS
DENVER, Colo. — A new plan to base teacher salaries in part on
student performance may go into effect in Denver, according to an
agreement between the Denver Public Schools and the Denver
Classroom Teachers Association union.
The agreement would inject $25 million into a system to give
teachers salary increases based upon improvement in their
students' performance on state tests. "We encourage teachers to
vote for this system," union President Becky Wissink said. "It is
good for the students of Denver because it will attract and
retain the most effective teachers to schools where needs are
greatest."
A final vote by the union's members will take place on Feb. 19
and must be approved by the citizens of Denver by popular vote in
November 2005.
SOURCES:
Denver Post, "DPS, union link teachers' pay to student progress,"
Feb. 11, 2004
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~1948539,00.html
Michigan Education Report, "Incentives for Teacher Performance in
Government Schools: An Idea Whose Time Has Come," Spring 2002
https://www.educationreport.org/4373
FEW SCHOOLS CHOOSE TO DROP CELL PHONE BAN
LANSING, Mich. — Many schools still maintain a ban against
student use of cell phones on campus even though a statewide ban
was lifted last year.
The lifting of the ban, which goes into effect fully next school
year, will require that schools still wishing to keep cell phones
out of school ban the technology with specific rules. The state's
ban against mobile technology was established in 1988, when
pagers were associated with drug dealing.
Today, many families use cell phones for communicating with their
children and for emergency and safety reasons. According to
Boston-based Yankee Group, one in three children ages 11 to 17
own a cell phone. Currently, school policies range from complete
bans to restricted use outside of school hours.
SOURCE:
Lansing State Journal, "Law lets schools OK cell phones, but few
drop ban," Feb. 9, 2004
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/news/schools/040209_cellphones_1a-5a.html
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.
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