Contents of this issue:
NEA makes membership a higher priority
Cox rules community service not required for Merit Awards
Wise management at Muskegon County charter
Holland education board seeks employee health-care bids
11,000 converge in Lansing for more education funding
NEA MAKES MEMBERSHIP A HIGHER PRIORITY
The National Education Association has stepped up efforts aimed at
recruiting new members to its 2.8-million member organization. In 2004,
membership figures grew by just over 1 percent, down from over 3
percent in 2001. According to a report by Education Week, union
officials are saying that active membership has grown by about 38,000
since last year. Almost 20,000 of those new members are teachers.
Education Week reported that recruitment efforts have been driven by
"the current political climate, in which many of the NEA's allies have
lost power and its enemies have seized on the opportunity to strike
deeper at the union's clout."
NEA efforts are focusing on grassroots movements and capitalizing on
situations in specific states, districts, and schools. Education Week
quotes Tim Dedman, who was sent to Miami as an NEA organizational
specialist: "We changed our entire focus from a centralized service
organization to ... one with a major focus on organizing at the building
site around issues pertinent to that building. ... If we teach (union)
members the skills, we believe not only is that building stronger, we
believe the union becomes stronger."
SOURCE:
Education Week, "NEA Grows More Strategic About Membership,"
June 22, 2005
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2005/06/22/41nea.h24.html
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Michigan Education Association:
Is Michigan's Largest School Employee Union Helping or Hurting
Education?"
https://www.mackinac.org/9399
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Teacher, Inc.: A Private-Practice
Option for Educators," August 1995
https://www.mackinac.org/241
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Michigan Public School Teachers
Launch a Non-Union Revolution," March 4, 2002
https://www.mackinac.org/4097
COX RULES COMMUNITY SERVICE NOT REQUIRED FOR MERIT AWARDS
Attorney General Mike Cox ruled that the $2,500-dollar Michigan Merit
Award cannot be conditional upon the completion of 40 hours of
community service, The Detroit News reported. Cox concluded that the
public board administering the grants overstepped, in the words of The
News, "its authority in ordering public service without an actual
change in the law."
The award, established by the Legislature in 1999, is given to high
school graduates who achieve a certain score on the Michigan Education
Assessment Program test. Gov. Jennifer Granholm has proposed changing
the scholarship so that the total award would be $4,000 and would also
require community service. If her proposal were to be approved by the
legislature, the community service component could take effect with the
class of 2007, the Lansing State Journal reported.
The News quoted a student who took the MEAP this year to be eligible
for an award next year. She said that service is "an opportunity for
the student to give back to their community," although she acknowledged
that "some students would say volunteering should be left to the people
who want to volunteer."
SOURCES:
The Detroit News, "MEAP Volunteer Rule Killed," June 22, 2005
https://www.detroitnews.com/2005/schools/0506/23/A01-223824.htm
Lansing State Journal, "Cox Tosses Merit Award Rule," June 22, 2005
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050622/NEWS04/506220352/1005/ARCHIVES
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Which Educational Achievement Test
is Best for Michigan? A Comparison of the MEAP, SAT-9, and ITBS,"
September 2002
https://www.educationreport.org/4622
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Markets, Not MEAP, Best Way to
Measure School Quality," May 2000
https://www.educationreport.org/2872
WISE MANAGEMENT AT MUSKEGON COUNTY CHARTER
The Tri-Valley Academy of Arts and Academics in Muskegon County
recently earned high marks for its expense management, according to The
Muskegon Chronicle. "I'd like to extend congratulations to the board
for being frugal," said Linda Comer, who is regional vice president for
Leona Group, the management company for the K-8 charter school.
The Chronicle reported that the school had $3.29 million in revenue and
only spent $3.15 million. Not only have school officials disciplined
spending, but they have grown the savings fund that the state advises
districts to maintain for emergencies or periods of tight cash flow.
Comer said that the school "increased (its) fund balance by 13 percent
(of (its) operating budget)." Last year the school added $140,549 to
its $299,087 to bring the fund balance to $439,636, The Chronicle
reported.
SOURCE:
The Muskegon Chronicle, "Charter School Builds Financial Cushion,"
June 23, 2005
https://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1119539795327280.xml
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Six Habits of Fiscally Responsible
Public School Districts," December 2002
https://www.mackinac.org/4891
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Time to Stop Beating Up on Charter
Schools," December 2, 2002
https://www.mackinac.org/4864
Michigan Education Report, "Chartering Change: Michigan's Public School
Academies," November 1998
https://www.educationreport.org/779
HOLLAND EDUCATION BOARD SEEKS EMPLOYEE HEALTH-CARE BIDS
Holland Public Schools will seek competitive bids for employee health
insurance, The Grand Rapids Press reported. In the words of The Holland
Sentinel, the Holland Board of Education last week "declared itself the
designated policyholder for employee healthcare, meaning it will
arrange health insurance coverage for its employees, ... a role
previously filled ... by the Michigan Education Special Services
Association." MESSA is a subsidiary of the Michigan Education
Association, Michigan's largest teachers union.
Though board leaders believe the district could save $550,000 to
$750,000 a year, the decision has generated a mixed response. The
Sentinel reported that state Sen. Wayne Kuipers, chairman of the Senate
Education Committee, called the board a "good steward of taxpayer
dollars." Justin King, executive director of the Michigan Association
of School Boards, told The Sentinel that he commended them "for their
courage," and said they "are showing some real leadership." However,
The Sentinel reported that Rosemary Carey, a communications official
for the MEA, said the decision has made the MEA "very concerned." "This
is something that should be decided on the bargaining table," she said.
Faced with rising health-care costs, other districts have negotiated
settlements that require teachers to contribute to their health-care
premiums, or choose "less comprehensive and cheaper plans offered
throughout [MESSA]," The Grand Rapids Press reported. Though The Press
suggested that Holland "may set a trend," it also noted that "no other
district negotiating contracts has proposed the idea." James Cassis,
assistant superintendent for Godfrey Lee Schools, told The Press, "I
think we're waiting to see what happens. . . . We haven't done anything
to formally consider this."
SOURCES:
The Holland Sentinel, "District Takes on Rising Health Costs,"
June 25, 2005
http://hollandsentinel.com/stories/062505/local_20050625057.shtml
The Grand Rapids Press, "Holland May Set Trend with Teacher Deal,"
June 25, 2005
https://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1119694577210110.xml
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Teachers Deserve Good Benefits;
Schools Deserve to Know What They Cost," July 1998
https://www.mackinac.org/366
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Why School Districts Can't Save on
Health Care," January 2004
https://www.mackinac.org/6053
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Michigan Education Special Services
Association: the MEA'S Money Machine," November 1993
https://www.mackinac.org/8
11,000 CONVERGE IN LANSING FOR MORE EDUCATION FUNDING
An estimated crowd of 11,000 people rallied in Lansing on June 21,
calling for an increase in education funding. They demonstrated in
support of Senate Bill 246 and House Bill 4582, which would "guarantee
yearly state school aid increases of 5 percent or inflation, whichever
is less," according to The Detroit News.
"We're here for the kids. It's tough to get them what they deserve
because of the budget cuts," an eighth-grade teacher told The News.
The News reported that the two bills the crowd was supporting are not
favored by Republicans in the Legislature. The Republicans say they
would like to make education spending a priority, but that the bills in
question are too costly.
House Speaker Craig DeRoche, R-Novi, told The News that "If we're going
to give more to public education, it has to come from somewhere and I
haven't heard a lot of solutions." The price tag given by the Senate
Fiscal Agency for the first year alone is $1.53 billion. On the
television program "Off the Record," reporter Tim Skubick said that
although the bills' supporters would be willing to accept a less costly
version, legislators would still have to find lots of tax revenue to
foot the bill.
SOURCES:
The Detroit News, "Thousands Rally Against Education Cuts,"
June 22, 2005
https://www.detroitnews.com/2005/schools/0506/23/B01-224078.htm
Lansing State Journal, "11,000 Rally for School Funding," June 22, 2005
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050622/NEWS04/506220343/1005/RSS02
WKAR.org, "Off the Record," June 24, 2005
http://wkar.org/offtherecord/archives/program.php?pgmnumber=2005-52
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Rally for the Classroom, Not the
Budget Process," June 2005
https://www.mackinac.org/7141
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Jen and the Art of Education,"
June 2005
https://www.mackinac.org/7144
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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