Contents of this issue:
- Detroit school board votes down school closure plan
- Birmingham offers volunteer-taught elective classes
- Spring Lake board, union at impasse over health benefits
- Jackson schools extend contract with cleaning service
- Many Muskegon-area districts adopting trimesters
- Win an iPod; Map: Does your district competitively contract?
DETROIT SCHOOL BOARD VOTES DOWN SCHOOL CLOSURE PLAN
DETROIT — The Detroit board of education voted 6-5 to reject a
school-closing plan that would have saved the district $16.9
million a year, according to The Detroit News.
The plan called for the closing of 33 underutilized schools by
the fall of 2007 and 10 more in the fall of 2008 unless they met
certain enrollment or academic targets. Board members who voted
against the plan said the district did not take academic
achievement and enrollment losses into consideration when
developing the school closure list, The News reported.
Board President Jimmy Womack said the board's rejection of the
plan may lead to 1,800 layoffs, the outsourcing of services and
an inability to fund repairs for buildings. Board Vice President
Joyce Hayes-Giles said she believes the members who voted
against the measure didn't understand the severity of the
problem.
"We really could go into receivership," she said, according to
The News, "We aren't going to have enough money to pay off our
debt. This is a very sad day for DPS."
SOURCE:
The Detroit News, "DPS Board kills Detroit schools closure
plan," March 24, 2007
https://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070324/SCHOOLS/703240402/1026
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Report, "DPS enrollment down by thousands,"
Feb. 23, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8237
Michigan Education Digest, "Detroit Public Schools announces
school closings," Jan. 9, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8167
Michigan Education Digest, "Detroit Public Schools enrollment
drops again," Nov. 29, 2005
https://www.educationreport.org/7448
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Six Habits of Fiscally
Responsible Public School Districts," Dec. 3, 2002
https://www.mackinac.org/4891
BIRMINGHAM OFFERS VOLUNTEER-TAUGHT ELECTIVE CLASSES
DETROIT — Following a decision last year to switch from a seven
to six period day, Birmingham's middle schools are offering
weekly volunteer-taught classes that provide teachers use the
time for preparation, according to television station WZZM.
Cutting an hour from the day saved $1.3 million, but meant that
teachers would lose some preparation time and students would
only be allowed to take one elective class. So, the district
decided to offer classes in acting, scrapbooking, Sign Language,
finances and digital photography. These courses are taught by
professionals from the community and only cost the district
$8,000 for supplies, WZZM reported.
The classes are less rigorous than regular electives, but have
received praise from parents, students and school officials,
according to WZZM.
"This is a time in their life when they're trying new things,
new skills they're going to use the rest of their life," program
coordinator and Derby Middle School Assistant Principal David
Simpson told WZZM.
Parent Dave Force is among the volunteers.
"They're so academically pushed that just to have a little break
is exciting for them," he told WZZM.
SOURCE:
WZZM13, "Creativity thrives as schools cut back — Volunteer-taught classes enrich kids and save money," March 21, 2007
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=72823
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Report, "Michigan lags behind some states:
Alternative teacher certification," Nov. 21, 2006
https://www.educationreport.org/8017
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Does Teacher Certification
Matter?" Sept. 14, 2004
https://www.mackinac.org/6831
SPRING LAKE BOARD, UNION AT IMPASSE OVER HEALTH BENEFITS
Spring Lake, Mich. — The Spring Lake Board of Education is
expecting budget deficits of $450,000 this year and more than $1
million next year if the district cannot reach a contract with
the Spring Lake Education Association, according to the Grand
Haven Tribune.
The board and union have been at odds over health insurance and
salary increases since last June. Superintendent Larry Mason
released a statement last week explaining the district's budget
problems and negotiation details, the Tribune reported. The most
recent board proposal will grant a 1.5 percent salary increase
with no health insurance changes for the 2006-2007 school year.
Next year, teachers would receive a 1.75 percent pay increase
and would contribute to the cost of their own prescriptions, the
Tribune reported. Teachers' co-pay on generic prescriptions
would increase from $5 to $10 and from $10 to $20 for name brand
drugs. However, teachers would be reimbursed by the district for
the band name increase, according to the Tribune.
The district currently spends $16,498 per teacher each year by
purchasing health benefits through the Michigan Education
Special Services Association. Every group except the district's
teaching staff has switched insurance to save money, according
to the Tribune. MESSA is a third-party administrator affiliated
with the Michigan Education Association school employee union.
The Spring Lake union's proposal is similar, but would grant a
2.9 percent pay increase for the 2007-2008 school year. Mason
said in his statement that the union's proposal would increase
the district's deficit to $1.2 million next year, the Tribune
reported.
Mason was surprised at the union's position.
"We have been fortunate that our financial situation has allowed
us to provide good contracts with the teachers in the past,"
Mason said in his prepared statement. "When those settlements
were announced, I always said they were fair and we could afford
them. I also said that if times became difficult I was confident
our association representatives would work with us. I was
wrong."
SOURCE:
Grand Haven Tribune, "SL teacher talks at impasse,"
March 21, 2007
http://www.grandhaventribune.com/paid/310934533726575.bsp
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "Howell board stands behind decision
to leave MESSA," March 20, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8357
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "A Collective Bargaining
Primer For Michigan School Board Members," Feb. 28, 2007
https://www.mackinac.org/8258
Michigan Education Report, "Growing number of districts seek
solutions to costly health insurance," Dec. 15, 2005
https://www.educationreport.org/7479
JACKSON SCHOOLS EXTEND CONTRACT WITH CLEANING SERVICE
JACKSON, Mich. — The Jackson school board extended its contract
with Enviro-Clean Services Inc. until June 2010 and will
continue to see per-pupil savings of $179 a year, according to
The Jackson Citizen Patriot.
The current contract, which began in December 2004, was set to
expire in June 2008, but the company was granted an early two-year extension by the board, The Citizen Patriot reported.
The move to contract out for custodial services provides about
$1.2 million per year for instructional services, according to
The Citizen Patriot.
SOURCE:
The Jackson Citizen Patriot, "Cleaning contract at JPS extended:
Private service has deal through 2010," March 16, 2007
https://www.mlive.com/news/jacitpat/index.ssf?/base/news-20/1174059398112920.xml&coll=3
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Report, "Map: School contracting continues to
grow," Feb. 23, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/archives/2007/mer2007-01maps.pdf
Michigan Education Digest, "Competitive contracting popular in
Port Huron area," March 20, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8357
Michigan Education Report, "Profit has a role in public
schools," Feb. 23, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8250
MANY MUSKEGON-AREA DISTRICTS ADOPTING TRIMESTERS
MUSKEGON, Mich. — Eight of the 12 Muskegon County high schools
are planning to implement trimesters for the 2007-2008 school
year, while two more plan to make the switch for the 2008-2009
school year, according to The Muskegon Chronicle.
Under the trimester system, students take five 70-minute classes
per day for 12 weeks. Under the traditional semester schedule,
students usually take six classes for 18 weeks. The switch to
trimesters allows students to take up to 15 classes a year,
instead of 12, The Chronicle reported.
The move to trimesters has been a popular one because it gives
students more options while meeting the new state graduation
requirements, The Chronicle said.
"We've been studying it for months now, looking at different
types of schedules to increase opportunities for students to
take classes and fulfill the new graduation requirements,"
Fruitport High School Principal Jeff Haase told The Chronicle.
"We felt the best thing for us was to go to a trimester schedule
because it allows for more classes and it's easier to remediate
a failed class in the same school year."
SOURCE:
The Muskegon Chronicle, "Many area high schools switching to
trimesters," March 25, 2007
https://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1174817790148250.xml&coll=8
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "Grand Rapids area schools move to
trimesters," Jan. 16, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8174
Michigan Education Digest, "Lapeer may switch to trimester
system," Nov. 28, 2006
https://www.educationreport.org/8085
Michigan Education Report, "Hope in state graduation standards
misplaced," Mar. 7, 2006
https://www.educationreport.org/7633
WIN AN IPOD; MAP: DOES YOUR DISTRICT COMPETITIVELY CONTRACT?
MIDLAND, Mich. — The spring issue of Michigan Education Report
offers a map illustrating which districts have taken advantage
of competitive contracting. It can be accessed here:
https://www.educationreport.org/archives/2007/mer2007-01maps.pdf
Michigan Education Report is offering readers a chance to win an
iPod when they comment on articles in its spring 2007 issue.
Comments can be made via e-mail about stories on the U.S. House
Fellows program (
https://www.educationreport.org/8238),
school
district health benefits savings
(
https://www.educationreport.org/8239),
whether private employees
in public schools provide the same quality of service as public
employees in public schools (
https://educationreport.org/8254
and
https://www.educationreport.org/8255), a community college
cooperating with home-school students
(
https://www.educationreport.org/8228)
and the role of profit in
public schools (
https://www.educationreport.org/8250).
Please
visit
https://www.educationreport.org/8332 for more information.
MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST is a service of Michigan Education
Report (
https://www.educationreport.org),
a quarterly newspaper
with a circulation of approximately 150,000 published by the
Mackinac Center for Public Policy (
https://www.mackinac.org),
a
private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational
institute.
Font size:
