PLEASE NOTE: During July and August, Michigan Education Digest is being
published every other week. We will resume our weekly publication
schedule on Tuesday, Aug. 23. -Ed.
Contents of this issue:
Study: One-third of Michigan districts outsourcing
USDE: Michigan failing in oversight of tutoring, choice
Detroit Schools collected $259 million in illegal taxes
Opinion: Kids will suffer if MEA wins charter school suit
State Department of Education considers high school reform
STUDY: ONE-THIRD OF MICHIGAN DISTRICTS OUTSOURCING
Grand Rapids, Mich. — A study conducted in May and June by the Mackinac
Center for Public Policy, the publisher of this periodical, found that
35.5 percent of Michigan school districts are outsourcing food,
janitorial or busing services, according to The Grand Rapids Press.
That figure is up from 34 percent who were reported in 2003 to be
privatizing services.
Michael LaFaive, the Mackinac Center's director of fiscal policy who
co-authored the study of all 552 public school districts in Michigan,
told The Press that districts "need to come up with ways to balance
their budgets." The Press reported that districts are facing quickly
escalating costs in two areas, health insurance and retirement
pensions. Retirement costs will comprise 16.34 percent of payroll for
school year 2005-2006, according to The Press.
Not everyone welcomed news that districts are outsourcing. The Press
reported that Amy McGlynn, president of the board of education for
Grand Rapids Public Schools, said, "We want employees who are going to
be here long-term and buy into your goals, and that can't happen when
you hire a company. But at the same time you don't want the education
to suffer and you have to pay the bills." Grand Rapids is contracting
with Dean Transportation for 225 employees this year. Similarly,
teachers union leaders fear that districts will come to depend on
companies that will then raise their prices.
Nonetheless, according to The Press, Linda Wacyk of the Michigan
Association of School Administrators believes that, "As long as (districts) are not reducing services to kids, (privatizing) seems like
a reasonable approach."
SOURCES:
The Grand Rapids Press, "1 in 3 districts contract out work, state
study says," Aug. 7, 2005
https://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-24/1123409805307640.xml?grpress?NEG&coll=6
Gongwer News Service, "Mackinac Center: More Schools Outsourcing,"
Aug. 8, 2005
https://www.gongwer.com/programming/news_articledisplay.cfm? article_ID=441520103&newsedition_id=4415201&locid=1&link=news_articledisplay.cfm? article_ID=441520103%26newsedition_id=4415201%26locid=1
(Link requires subscription)
Booth Newspapers, "More school districts privatize food, janitorial,
bus jobs," Aug. 6, 2005
https://www.mlive.com/news/statewide/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1123278001131260.xml&coll=1
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Survey: School Outsourcing Grows,"
August 2005
https://www.mackinac.org/7212
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Contract Out School Services Before
Laying Off Teachers," June 2003
https://www.mackinac.org/5948
USDE: MICHIGAN FAILING IN OVERSIGHT OF TUTORING, CHOICE
Detroit — In an audit released last week, the U.S. Department of
Education found that the Michigan Department of Education failed to
oversee the tutoring services required under the 2002 No Child Left
Behind federal law, according to The Detroit News. The News reported
that the audit also noted the state education department's failure to
notify parents who were eligible for school of choice options; to offer
all such school of choice services; to monitor the effectiveness of
tutoring services; and to release Michigan Educational Assessment
Program test scores in a timely manner.
State Department of Education spokesman Martin Ackley told The News
that the department was not willfully out of compliance with the
federal law. "It's just such an extensive law that education
departments across the country have had to implement it in stages,"
Ackley said. In a letter to the regional inspector general, the state
deputy education superintendent, Jeremy Hughes, said the department is
working to address the auditor's findings, according to The Grand
Rapids Press. Gary Marx, assistant superintendent of the Oak Park
School District, said he did not have "any gripes" with the education
department. "They're asked to do things with resources not geared up to
do what law requires," Marx told The News.
Last year, only 11 percent of the 103,282 students statewide who were
eligible for tutoring received such services, according to The News.
Ackley told the newspaper that a report that compared the MEAP scores
of those who received tutoring with those who had not would be prepared
beginning this school year and released in 2007.
But Kierre Brown, a 36-year-old Detroit mother of three whose children
have been tutored, told The News: "Getting assistance was like pulling
a lion's tooth out of its mouth. If no parent is watching to stand and
fight, they get rolled over."
SOURCES:
The Detroit News, "Michigan fails in oversight of tutoring,"
Aug. 4, 2005
https://www.detroitnews.com/2005/schools/0508/04/B01-269386.htm
The Grand Rapids Press, "Missing a chance for tutors," Aug. 11, 2005
https://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-1/112377165491280.xml&coll=6
FURTHER READING:
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
DETROIT SCHOOLS COLLECTED $259 MILLION IN ILLEGAL TAXES
Detroit — Detroit Public Schools discovered on July 28 that it had
collected $259 million in illegal taxes, The Detroit News reported. The
district immediately disclosed its error to the state treasurer's
office and investors. In a formal statement, DPS Chief Executive
Officer William F. Coleman III said that the district recognizes "the
need for full disclosure to the public and specifically to the
taxpayers of Detroit." A spokesperson for the district said that the
tax collection was an "innocent error."
The $259 million were levied through an 18-mill tax on commercial
property and rental housing that expired after June 2002, according to
Gongwer News Service. To continue receiving the tax, the district would
have had to obtain approval from the voters, as it will be seeking this
November for future collection. The district told The News that it did
not know the reason it had neglected in 2002 to request a renewal of
the 18-mill tax.
According to The News, Fitch Ratings, a credit evaluation agency, has
said that the district may have to give taxpayers a refund of the $259
million. Despite the fact that this amount may be added to a budget
deficit of over $200 million the district was already facing, CEO
Coleman stated that the district is not in danger of going bankrupt.
A suit filed against the city and the district that would have required
the district to repay the amount collected illegally was thrown out
last week by the Michigan Tax Tribunal, suggesting that the schools
might be less likely to be ordered to refund the money. A district
spokesperson told Gongwer on Friday that though the district is pleased
with the tax tribunal judge's action, it is "not out of the woods by
any means."
Many Detroit residents were stunned by the news. One parent, Dana Hart,
who removed her son from a Detroit elementary school because she was
dissatisfied with the district, told The News: "It's somebody's job in
the district to be aware of when the millage was up. ... Apparently
someone's not keeping track." According to The News, Pam Criss,
chairwoman of the Local School and Community Organization of Malcom X
Academy, said, "The public has been fooled."
In an editorial last week, the Detroit Free Press recommended that
"before the Detroit City Council puts (a new millage levy) on the Nov.
8 ballot, it ought to demand a better explanation of what went wrong ...
and a pledge that every alternative to make amends will be explored
before a remedial tax is imposed." An editorial in The Detroit News
called on the outgoing reform school board to "quickly adopt a payback
plan."
SOURCES:
The Detroit News, "Tax error may cost Detroit schools $259 million,"
Aug. 10, 2005
https://www.detroitnews.com/2005/schools/0508/11/B01-276468.htm
The Detroit News, "Illegal property tax stuns residents," Aug. 11, 2005
https://www.detroitnews.com/2005/schools/0508/11/B01-277496.htm
Detroit Free Press, "Overtaxed," Aug. 11, 2005
https://www.freep.com/voices/editorials/edps11e_20050811.htm
The Detroit News, "Detroit taxpayers deserve $259 million school
refund," Aug. 12, 2005
https://www.detroitnews.com/2005/editorial/0508/12/A10-278030.htm
Gongwer News Service, "Detroit Schools wins first round in tax battle,"
Aug. 12, 2005
https://www.gongwer.com/programming/news_articledisplay.cfm? article_ID=441560101&newsedition_id=4415601&locid=1&link=news_articledisplay.cfm? article_ID=441560101%26newsedition_id=4415601%26locid=1
(Link requires subscription)
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Former DPS CEO Grudgingly Testified
to the Benefits of Educational Liberty," August 2005
https://www.mackinac.org/7228
OPINION: KIDS WILL SUFFER IF MEA WINS CHARTER SCHOOL SUIT
Grand Rapids, Mich. — In an op-ed published in The Grand Rapids Press,
Ryan S. Olson said that a lawsuit filed earlier this year by the
Michigan Education Association would hurt children because it seeks to
close down more than 30 charter schools established by Bay Mills
Community College. (Disclosure: Olson is the managing editor of
Michigan Education Digest.)
The MEA's suit contains four allegations. It alleges that a legal
opinion written in 2001 by then-Attorney General Jennifer Granholm
"stated without legal citation" its assertion that Bay Mills Community
College was authorized to establish charter schools in its district and
that the district is defined in the college's official charter. Though
the former attorney general did not state it directly in her opinion,
the college's charter defines its district as the "State of Michigan."
The MEA's suit also alleges that Bay Mills has contracted illegally
with a private firm for oversight functions, that the community college
board members are not publicly elected or appointed by publicly-elected
officials, and that members of the college's board cannot be removed by
the state education superintendent.
Though these allegations may sound serious, the op-ed stated that the
charges should be "taken with a grain of salt" because several state
officials, including the state Legislature and the state Department of
Education, have continued to fund the Bay Mills charter schools.
In his op-ed, Olson wondered how the MEA could "burnish a public image
of caring about kids," when its lawsuit calls for the harshest possible
remedy, closing down more than 30 schools and depriving more than 8,000
children of an education option their parents have chosen. "In the
unlikely event that a technical fault is found (with Bay Mills'
chartering practices), that technicality would require a slight course
correction — not closing the schools altogether," Olson said.
SOURCE:
The Grand Rapids Press, "Kids will suffer if MEA wins scorched-earth
charter school suit," Aug. 6, 2005
https://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1123323313264100.xml&coll=6
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Report, "MEA sues state over Bay Mills charters,"
Summer 2005
https://www.mackinac.org/7233
STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION CONSIDERS HIGH SCHOOL REFORM
Detroit — According to the Detroit Free Press, the Michigan Department
of Education has enlisted Achieve Inc. to help reform Michigan high
school education, with measures including professional development for
teachers and student assessment. Matt Gandal, executive vice president
of Achieve, made a presentation to the state Board of Education on
Tuesday in which he pointed out that Michigan is at or even below the
national high school and college graduation rates, according to
Gongwer. Gandal told the board, "There's a great opportunity to do
something" about high school course and graduation requirements, which
are currently determined by local school boards, Gongwer reported.
Gov. Granholm has suggested that Michigan needs to double the number of
college graduates over the next 10 years. The Detroit Free Press noted
that the high school reform movement is gaining a higher profile
nationally as concern about improving the U.S.'s international
competitiveness grows. "If we were to mine the data ... I think we'd find
we're not doing very well," Howell Public Schools Superintendent Chuck
Breiner told the Free Press regarding national high school student
performance.
Achieve's Gandal said that data indicate few districts or states have
curricular or graduation requirements that are preparing U.S. students
for college or the workforce, Gongwer reported. Gandal said that
Achieve is developing tools to help assess whether students are being
adequately prepared for college, but he praised the concept of the
Michigan Merit Exam. "If the exam is used (by colleges and employers),
students will take it more seriously, (and) parents will take it more
seriously," Gandal told the board. Gongwer reported that the state
education department is already preparing a new merit exam to include a
college entrance test, and it said that Gandal further recommended that
college placement assessments be included.
In addition to these measures, the Free Press suggested that the
success of high school reform may be determined by early models being
adopted by schools around the state, which include changing schedules,
making classes smaller and offering online courses. The effort for high
school reform, state Board of Education President Kathleen Straus said,
"is just beginning."
SOURCES:
Gongwer News Service, "Achieve pushes Michigan high school standards,"
Aug. 10, 2005
https://www.gongwer.com/programming/news_articledisplay.cfm? article_ID=441540105&newsedition_id=4415401&locid=1&link=news_articledisplay.cfm? article_ID=441540105%26newsedition_id=4415401%26locid=1
(Link requires subscription)
Detroit Free Press, "High school reform efforts begin in Michigan,"
Aug. 7, 2005
https://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw119519_20050807.htm
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "State board considers statewide graduation
requirements, reforms," Aug. 2, 2005
https://www.educationreport.org/7220
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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