Contents of this issue:
Judge strikes down Texas' school-funding system
Bay City schools to require MEAP testing for all students
United States slipping in worldwide education ranking
Study: College affordability grades fall in Michigan, nation
Home-schooling popular option in Upper Peninsula
Florida Appeals Court decides to reconsider school-choice case
JUDGE STRIKES DOWN TEXAS' SCHOOL-FUNDING SYSTEM
DALLAS — A Texas judge last week found the state's school-finance system to be unconstitutional, which may force legislators to revamp the way schools receive state and local money.
In the ruling, Judge John Dietz concluded that the current system forces some districts to tax local property at unacceptably high rates.
Even at maximum tax rates, poorer districts are still $1,000 behind wealthier districts in per-pupil funding. "The key to changing our future is to close the gap in academic achievement between the haves and have-nots," said Dietz, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Attorney General Greg Abbott, who defended the state in the case, said he would appeal the decision to the Texas Supreme Court. "The current system for providing education for the state of Texas fully satisfies all the standards required by the constitution," he said. That system was implemented in 1993 after a similar case forced the state to revise its school-funding system.
SOURCES:
Dallas Morning News, "Judge finds Texas school finance system unconstitutional," Sept. 15, 2004
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/
091604dntexschoolfinance.cd36c.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
BAY CITY SCHOOLS TO REQUIRE MEAP TESTING FOR ALL STUDENTS
BAY CITY, Mich. — The Bay City Board
of Education decided last week to
require all students to take the
standardized Michigan Educational
Assessment Program tests. The
requirement will help the district comply
with the federal No Child Left Behind
Act, which requires 95 percent of
all students to take a statewide
proficiency test, such as the MEAP
exam.
The board voted 5-1 on the
requirement. Board trustee Don Gibson voted
against the measure, saying that
standardized tests are not the best
way to measure students'
intelligence. "Teachers know more about a
student's ability than the tests do,"
said Gibson, according to the Bay
City Times.
But Board Trustee Barbara Stamiris
said that the new requirement would
be beneficial for the district and
its students. "Taking the test will
allow us to pass some of the
requirements of No Child Left Behind, and
it will give us a snapshot at how our
school district is doing," she
said.
This January, the board will decide
whether to make a passing grade on
the MEAP test a graduation
requirement for the district's high school
students.
SOURCES:
Bay City Times, "Bay City Public
Schools to test more students on MEAP," Sept. 15, 2004
https://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-4/
1095261364265120.xml
Michigan Education Report, "No Child Left Behind law demands 'adequate yearly progress' and offers school choice options for parents," Fall 2002
https://www.educationreport.org/4846
Michigan Education Report, "President signs 'No Child Left Behind Act,'" Winter 2002
https://www.educationreport.org/4082
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
UNITED STATES SLIPPING IN WORLDWIDE EDUCATION RANKING
DETROIT — An annual study that
compares the education level of 30
countries worldwide found that the
United States ranks 10th in the
percentage of adults age 25 to 34 who
have completed high school.
The 450-page study, published by the
Paris-based Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and
Development, compares a number of statistics
for industrialized nations, including
high school and college
completion rates.
Though the United States ranks first
in the percentage of adults age 35
to 44 who have completed high school,
the lower ranking of its younger
population shows a negative trend in
the number of educated citizens in
America. "They're catching up with
you in the proportion that finish
school (and) the proportion that go
to college," said OECD Director
Barry McGaw, according to The Detroit
News. In addition, the United
States, at $10,871 per student,
spends more per pupil in all levels of
education than any other country in
the world.
The United States ranks second only
to Canada in the total percentage
of adults with a college degree and
second only to Norway in the
percentage of adults age 25 to 34 who
have earned a college degree. But
other countries are closing that gap,
which means that America could
slip in the next several years, said
the study. "If we are less
competitive educationally, we will
soon become less competitive
economically," Education Secretary
Rod Paige said. "That's just a cruel
fact."
SOURCES:
Detroit News, "Report: U.S. slips in education ratings," Sept. 14, 2004
https://www.detroitnews.com/2004/schools/0409/17/a08-273177.htm
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, "Education at a Glance 2004," September 2004
http://www.oecd.org/document/7/
0,2340,en_2649_201185_33712135_1_1_1_1,00.html
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Will More Money Improve Student Performance?" June 1998
https://www.mackinac.org/527
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "More Spending Not the Solution to School Woes," December 1993
https://www.mackinac.org/137
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Cost of Remedial Education," August 2000
https://www.mackinac.org/3025
STUDY: COLLEGE AFFORDABILITY GRADES FALL IN MICHIGAN, NATION
DETROIT — A biennial study of college
costs by an independent nonprofit
organization has given failing grades
to Michigan and to the nation for
overall college affordability,
according to the Detroit Free Press.
In 2002, the National Center for
Public Policy and Higher Education
assigned the United States an
affordability grade of D, now lowered to
an F. Michigan earned a grade of
D-minus two years ago, but also
dropped to an F this year. The grades
included measures of overall cost
and of average family income, among
other assessments.
But skeptics of the findings say that
the study contradicts many
current indicators that show that
although college costs may be rising,
the total amount of scholarship and
aid awards has been increasing to
keep up with the amplified costs.
A Detroit News commentary by George
C. Leef responded to the failing
grade by saying that one reason
college costs have been on the rise is
the increase in government subsidies
to institutions, which has
artificially raised the cost of
attendance. Recently, Michigan lowered
its subsidies to public universities,
which, Leef argued, is sound
policy, because it makes tuition
better reflect the true cost of
educating each student.
SOURCES:
Detroit Free Press, "U.S. colleges get F in affordability," Sept. 15, 2004
https://www.freep.com/news/education/grades15e_20040915.htm
Detroit News, "Michigan fails test for college cost," Sept. 15, 2004
https://www.detroitnews.com/2004/schools/0409/17/c01-274157.htm
Detroit News, "State follows right path on college affordability," Sept. 19, 2004
https://www.detroitnews.com/2004/schools/0409/19/a17-277418.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
HOME-SCHOOLING POPULAR OPTION IN UPPER PENINSULA
MARQUETTE, Mich. — Support groups for
home-schooling families in the
Upper Peninsula say the option is
becoming more popular than ever,
thanks to increased visibility and
popular acceptance of the practice.
The National Center for Education
Statistics estimates that 1.1 million
children in the United States are
home-schooled, up nearly 29 percent
since 1999. Lonnie Janofski, who runs
a home-schooling support group
called the Upper Michigan Christian
Home Education Group, said home-
schooling has been on the rise in the
Upper Peninsula, mirroring the
large national increase in
home-schooled children. "We have about 200
families on our mailing list, which
started out much smaller than
that," Janofski told The Mining
Journal. "It [has] been a growing
movement."
Many parents that home-school their
children choose to do so for moral
or religious reasons; 31 percent say
they are concerned about the
safety of their children in public
schools, according to the NCES.
Colleges and universities around
Michigan are beginning to actively
recruit home-schoolers. "We have lots
of colleges contacting us. We get
a lot of literature," said Janofski.
"They heavily recruit home-schooled students because they
usually test in the upper levels of
testing brackets."
SOURCES:
The Mining Journal, "Homeschooling
option is popular locally," Sept. 19, 2004
http://www.miningjournal.net/news/story/0919202004_new04-n0919.asp
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Home Schoolers Make Case for School Choice," May 2002
https://www.mackinac.org/4364
Michigan Education Report, "Home
schooling works, study finds," Aug. 15, 1999
https://www.educationreport.org/2212
FLORIDA APPEALS COURT DECIDES TO RECONSIDER SCHOOL-CHOICE CASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Institute for
Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based
public interest law firm, reported
last week that the full 1st District
Court of Appeals in Florida will
reconsider last month's decision to
strike down that state's Opportunity
Scholarships program.
The Opportunity Scholarships were
originally instituted by the state
Department of Education to allow
students with limited economic means
to attend the public or private
school of their choice. But a legal
challenge to that program led two
members of a three-member panel of
the court of appeals to decide
against the program, saying it violated
Florida's Blaine Amendment, which
prohibits direct state funding to
religious institutions, such as
parochial schools.
But the state government requested a
full Court of Appeals panel to
reconsider the case because the
implications of last month's decision
reach a wide range of state programs
that allow citizens to choose
religious institutions for child care
and college scholarships. "This
case has tremendous implications not
only for the hundreds of students
for whom Opportunity Scholarships are
the last hope for a good
education, but also for the hundreds
of thousands of Floridians who
benefit from a wide array of state
aid programs in which people have
always been allowed to select
religious options," said IJ Senior
Attorney Clark Neily.
SOURCES:
Institute for Justice, "Full Florida Court of Appeal Will Reconsider School Choice Case," Sept. 17, 2004
http://www.ij.org/media/school_choice/florida/9_17_04pr.shtml
Michigan Education Report, "Education Reform, School Choice, and Tax Credits," Spring 2002
https://www.educationreport.org/4372
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Friedman Says Vouchers and Tax Credits Useful Route to Greater School Choice," March 2002
https://www.mackinac.org/4117
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Case for Choice in Schooling: Restoring Parental Control of Education," January 2001
https://www.mackinac.org/3236
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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