Contents of this issue:
MEA member fights against dues used for politics
EDITORIAL: MEA needs reform, not increased dues
Future of district's laptop plan rests on school board politics
MEAP scores increase in 7 of 10 subjects, decrease race gap
Teachers go back to school to meet federal standards
Many high school freshmen fail and repeat 9th grade
Order may close Kansas' public school system
MEA MEMBER FIGHTS AGAINST UNION DUES USED FOR POLITICS
SARANAC, Mich. — A part-time
secretary for the Saranac Community
School District is fighting to keep
her union dues from being
spent on political causes trumpeted
by the Michigan and National
Education Associations.
Federal anti-discrimination laws
guarantee union members that
right, but the MEA has not accepted
Shawn Austin's argument that
she objects on a religious basis
their financial support of
causes with which she disagrees. For
two years, Austin has
requested that her dues be given to a
charity rather than be
spent on support for groups that
support political and social
causes that violate her personal
beliefs.
In order to legally qualify for
status as a religious objector,
Austin must face a review board to
analyze her beliefs. "The
Michigan Education Association is
among the worst," said Bruce N. Cameron, a lawyer for the
Springfield-based National Right to
Work Legal Defense Foundation who is
advising Mrs. Austin. "They
require the religious objector to go
through an inquisition
before they will accommodate you.
They are the only [NEA
affiliate] who does that."
Though Saranac school officials have
supported Austin's right to
claim religious objection, the local
union still is hindering her
ability to do so.
SOURCES:
Washington Times, "Teachers battle NEA over politics," Apr. 27, 2004
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20040426-102743-4447r.htm
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Teachers: You Don't Have to Pay for Union Political Spending," January 2000
https://www.mackinac.org/4098
EDITORIAL: MEA NEEDS REFORM, NOT INCREASED DUES
PONTIAC, Mich. — An Oakland Press
editorial yesterday called for
reform within the Michigan Education
Association (MEA) in
response to that organization's
planned fee increase for each
member of $10 per year for 20 years,
a $1 million per year
windfall for the union.
According to the Press, the increase
would be spent on the
union's political interests. "By and
large, that means the status
quo, which is under external pressure
from such relative
newcomers in local education as
charter schools that compete with
school districts for taxpayer
dollars," wrote the Press.
Proposal "A," the massive school
funding reform approved in 1994
by voters statewide, was one of
several reforms that now prevent
the union from using strikes to force
tax increases. "We learned
higher taxes were for higher pay, not
better schools, and [with
Proposal 'A,'] agreed to cap tax
rates and effectively ban the
MEA-led strikes," said the Press.
The union needs to focus on lowering
its compulsory dues and
reduce the cost of benefits such as
health care in order to make
schools more affordable to taxpayers,
said the Press. "The
union's quest for more dollars for
its defense is not a good
sign." Union members have until June
1 to opt out of the dues
increase.
SOURCES:
Oakland Press, "MEA should change its ways, not raise its dues," May 17, 2004
https://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/051704/opi_051748.shtml
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "100,000 Public School Employees Near Deadline to Save $200 Each," May 2004
https://www.mackinac.org/6629
Michigan Education Association memo, April 30, 2004
https://www.mackinac.org/media/images/2004/meamember.pdf
FUTURE OF DISTRICT'S LAPTOP PLAN RESTS ON SCHOOL BOARD POLITICS
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The
superintendent of the Grand Rapids
School District cancelled a planned
program to lease laptop
computers for seventh-grade students
at a middle school after a
school board candidate focused his
re-election campaign on
rejecting the plan.
The laptop plan would have been
funded by a ballot-approved tax
increase. Superintendent Bert Bleke
said that the tax increase
plan should not be at risk of voter
disapproval because of its
necessity for other district
projects. "I told the board members
I'm doing it because this has ceased
to be an educational issue
and instead has become a political
issue," Bleke told the Grand
Rapids Press.
Steinport said he is fighting against
the plan because it would
be a poor fiscal decision and a waste
of taxpayer dollars. "It's
been an educational issue for me all
along," Steinport said. "But
that has nothing to do with my
campaign. It's due to poor timing
and the dubious educational benefits
of the laptops." Sixth-graders at the middle school already
have laptops as a part of
the program.
Grand Rapids voters will decide next
month on two ballot measures
that would raise a total of $165
million for the district.
SOURCES:
Grand Rapids Press, "Politics scuttles part of plan for school
laptops," May 17, 2004
https://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-14/
108480534179100.xml
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Giving Laptops to Sixth
Graders Won't Improve Their Education," July 2003
https://www.mackinac.org/5572
MEAP SCORES INCREASE IN 7 OF 10 SUBJECTS, DECREASE RACE GAP
LANSING, Mich. — After scores for
this year's Michigan
Educational Assessment Program (MEAP)
tests were released this
month, state officials announced that
test scores increased in
seven out of 10 test areas and the
achievement gap between white
and African-American students
narrowed in math, reading and
writing.
Math and reading experienced the
greatest improvements. In math,
eighth-graders that met or exceeded
standards jumped from 52
percent in 2003 to 65 percent this
year. Fourth-graders meeting
math standards increased from 65
percent last year to 73 percent.
Declines were experienced in
seventh-grade writing, where only 47
percent met or exceeded standards
this year, down from 56 percent
last year. Eighth-graders scoring
proficiently in social studies
declined to just 29 percent this
year, down from 33 percent last
year.
African-American students in the
fourth grade achieved a 10
percent increase in math this year,
to 53 percent proficient,
while white fourth-grade students
gained six percent, to 79
percent proficient.
SOURCES:
Booth Newspapers, "Statewide MEAP scores up in most subjects," May 11, 2004
https://www.mlive.com/news/statewide/index.ssf?/base/news-4/
1084284602317200.xml
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "What Can't Brown Do for You?"
May 2004
https://www.mackinac.org/6633
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "How Does the MEAP Measure Up?" December 2001
https://www.mackinac.org/3919
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "POLICY BRIEF: Which Educational Achievement Test is Best for Michigan?" May 2002
https://www.mackinac.org/4382
TEACHERS GO BACK TO SCHOOL TO MEET FEDERAL STANDARDS
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Many of Michigan's
100,000 teachers will be
attending classes during summer
vacation to take courses required
by federal law to be "highly
qualified" educators.
The standards for highly qualified
teachers are a part of the "No
Child Left Behind" Act, signed into
law by President Bush in
2002. In addition to achievement
standards for all public school
students, the law requires that all
teachers meet the "highly
qualified" definition by the end of
the 2005-6 school year.
Some complain that the law is too
stringent and penalizes
experienced teachers who have been
teaching for a long time, and
would require taking postgraduate
classes that cost extra money.
"If you want to provide additional
training for your teachers,
that's a financial matter mostly,"
said Tony Derezinski, director
of government affairs for the
Michigan Association of School
Boards. "Where's the money going to
come from?"
SOURCES:
Booth Newspapers, "Law has more teachers going back to school
this summer," May 16, 2004
https://www.mlive.com/news/statewide/index.ssf?/base/news-4/
108444302164360.xml
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Time to Take Another Look at
Teacher Certification" April 2004
https://www.educationreport.org/6470
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Must Teachers Be Certified to Be Qualified?" February 1999
https://www.mackinac.org/1651
Michigan Education Report, "Michigan
lagging in teacher quality says federal agency,"
Early Fall 2002
https://www.educationreport.org/4603
MANY HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN FAIL AND REPEAT 9TH GRADE
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Many students
across the country are
chronically failing the ninth grade,
forcing them to repeat their
freshman year two or even three
times.
Statistics show that 22 percent of
ninth-graders in Prince
George's County, Md. failed that
grade last school year.
According to the Washington Post,
those statistics were
consistent with several other states
as well. Andri Hornsby,
Prince George's superintendent, says
those failing the ninth
grade were passed from one grade to
the next since elementary
school, whether or not they were
sufficiently educated, a
practice known as social promotion.
Walter Haney, a professor at the
Lynch School of Education at
Boston College, said that his
research shows a tripling in the
rate of U.S. students failing to pass
the ninth grade.
SOURCES:
Detroit News, "Many high school freshmen have to repeat 9th
grade," May 15, 2004
https://www.detroitnews.com/2004/schools/0405/15/schools-153691.htm
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Cost of Remedial Education," August 2000
https://www.mackinac.org/3025
ORDER MAY CLOSE KANSAS' PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM
TOPEKA, Kan. — A Kansas district
judge ordered that state's
entire public school system to close
while the legislature
prepares a fix to funding flaws that
he called unconstitutional.
The order comes after a decision last
December in a case filed
against the state of Kansas, which
alleged that the funding
inequalities between districts were
unfair and violated the
state's constitution. In his order to
shut down schools, Shawnee
County District Judge Terry Bullock
wrote, "This action by the
court will terminate all spending
functions under the
unconstitutional funding provisions,
effectively putting our
school system on 'pause' until the
unconstitutional funding
defects are remedied by the
legislative and executive branches of
our government."
State education officials have
appealed to the Kansas Supreme
Court to block the order in the hopes
that a fix can be supplied
while schools remain active. Also,
some state legislators hope to
resolve the issue before the order
takes effect on June 30. "We
may want to look at that with some
new eyes, and say, 'OK, here's
a chance to make a difference and
show a good-faith effort,'"
said Kansas Senate Majority Leader
Lana Oleen.
SOURCES:
KMBC-TV, "Judge Orders Kansas' Public Schools Closed," May 11, 2004
http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/3292093/detail.html
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Six Habits of Fiscally
Responsible School Districts," December 2002
https://www.mackinac.org/4891
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "School Funding: Lack of Money
or Lack of Money Management?" August 2001
https://www.mackinac.org/3683
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "'Proposal A,' 10 Years Later,"
February 2004
https://www.mackinac.org/6112
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "School Finance Reform Lessons
from Michigan,"
October 12, 2001
https://www.mackinac.org/3802
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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