Contents of this issue:
- State budget debate leaves schools with funding questions
- Saginaw public charter school working to open on time
- Portage-area students win MichiganScience essay contest
- Union concessions halt contracting plans
- Teacher salaries raise questions
- Comment and win an iPod
STATE BUDGET DEBATE LEAVES SCHOOLS WITH FUNDING QUESTIONS
HANCOCK, Mich. — Political rancor over Michigan's 2008 fiscal
year budget is causing problems for public school districts,
according to The Daily Mining Gazette.
"Inter-party fighting is playing a real part here," Hancock
Superintendent John Vaara recently told his board of education,
The Gazette reported. "It's a political football with neither
side willing to take a stand before they really have to."
Legislators have until the end of September to agree on a budget
that will run from Oct. 1, 2007 through Sept. 30, 2008, including
how much state aid public schools will receive for each pupil
assigned to them. Hancock begins classes Sept. 4, The Gazette
reported.
"Not knowing how much we're going to get is a tough thing to
handle," Vaara said, according to The Gazette.
SOURCE:
The Daily Mining Gazette, "Local schools in holding pattern on
state funding," Aug. 22, 2007
http://www.mininggazette.com/stories/articles.asp?articleID=8289
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Report, "Show me the money: Mackinac Center
book explains how Michigan pays for K-12 public schools,"
Aug. 15, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8823
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "A Michigan School Money
Primer for Policymakers, School Officials, Media and Residents:
State Budget Process," May 30, 2007
https://www.mackinac.org/8554
Michigan Education Digest, "Michigan ranks 16th in nation for
school funding," June 5, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8635
SAGINAW PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL WORKING TO OPEN ON TIME
SAGINAW, Mich. — Work crews are busy refurbishing an old building
as administrators finalize staff size and enrollment at a new
charter public school in Saginaw County, according to The Saginaw
News.
International Academy of Saginaw, the county's fourth charter
public school, is scheduled to open Sept. 4 with about 250
students' parents choosing to send their children there, The News
reported. The school originally anticipated having 300 students.
Dan Quisenberry, director of the Michigan Association of Public
School Academies, told The News it usually does not take long for
charter public schools to reach enrollment projections,
especially considering that two-thirds of them statewide have
student waiting lists.
"They may not even know what they're really looking at yet,"
Quisenberry told The News. "All of that kind of shakes out over
September."
SOURCE:
The Saginaw News, "First day looms for charter school,"
Aug. 20, 2007
https://www.mlive.com/news/saginawnews/index.ssf?/base/news-23/1187619747280040.xml&coll=9
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "Saginaw County schools face
competition from new charter," July 24, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8806
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "A School Money Primer for
Policymakers, School Officials, Media and Residents: The
Foundation Allowance — General Education: Charter Schools,"
May 30, 2007
https://www.mackinac.org/8628#charters
PORTAGE-AREA STUDENTS WIN MICHIGANSCIENCE ESSAY CONTEST
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Three Portage-area students took first, second
and third places in an essay contest called "Scientific or Not?"
sponsored by MichiganScience, according to The Kalamazoo Gazette.
MichiganScience is a quarterly publication of the Mackinac Center
for Public Policy. The contest for students in grades 6 through
12 required them to analyze in 500 words or less a scientific
fact or fallacy from pop culture.
Genna Greenberger, from Portage Central, won first place and a
$500 scholarship for her essay about Disney's "The Little
Mermaid." Greenberger wrote that because water pressure is
heavier than air pressure, the characters in the movie could not
survive at the bottom of the ocean.
Second place went to Alisha Kamboj, from Portage Northern, who
pointed out scientific errors in the movie "The Day After
Tomorrow," The Gazette reported. Phoebe Huberty of Portage
Central won third place for analyzing the Fizzy Lifting Drink
from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."
"You have to drink more and more because of the added weight of
the drink," Huberty told The Gazette.
SOURCE:
The Kalamazoo Gazette, "Scientific or not? Ask a Portage
student," Aug. 22, 2007
https://www.mlive.com/features/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/features-1/1187794398188490.xml&coll=7
FURTHER READING:
MichiganScience, "Contest winner takes on Disney," Aug. 8, 2007
https://www.mackinac.org/8870
Michigan Education Digest, "U.S. won't participate in
international math and science test," Aug. 21, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8880
UNION CONCESSIONS HALT CONTRACTING PLANS
JACKSON, Mich. — The custodians union in the Hanover-Horton
school district agreed to $160,000 in concessions to avoid the
district contracting for the service with a private firm,
according to The Jackson Citizen Patriot.
The district received bids from four contractors to provide
janitorial services for the coming school year, the lowest being
$295,525, The Citizen Patriot reported. The union concessions
bring the cost of keeping the work in-house down to just more
than $300,000.
Custodians agreed to contribute money toward the cost of their
own health insurance, and two vacant positions will not be
filled, according to The Citizen Patriot. The district also is
considering new cleaning equipment and techniques that could save
more money.
"We know they're capable of rising to the challenge,"
Superintendent Linda Brian told The Citizen Patriot.
SOURCE:
The Jackson Citizen Patriot, "Board opts to pass on privatizing
custodians," Aug. 21, 2007
https://www.mlive.com/news/citpat/index.ssf?/base/news-22/118770512092870.xml&coll=3
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "A School Privatization Primer
for Michigan School Officials, Media and Residents,"
June 26, 2007
https://www.mackinac.org/8691
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Survey 2007: More Growth in
School Support Service Privatization," Aug. 16, 2007
https://www.mackinac.org/8881
TEACHER SALARIES RAISE QUESTIONS
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Annual pay for more than 1,100 teachers in
Washtenaw and Livingston counties is over $75,000, according to
The Ann Arbor News.
Overall, more than 1,450 school employees topped $75,000 in
earnings for 2006, an income matched by fewer than half the
households in those counties, The News reported. "Teachers should be well compensated," Nancy Brenton, deputy
superintendent for Saline Area Schools, told The News. "Good
teachers should be particularly well compensated."
Not all feel that way.
"I think teachers here in Ann Arbor are a bit overpaid," parent
Rick Calivito told The News. "If they are going to get paid as
much as they do, then they should give up some more in terms of
benefits. I know lots of people who make as much as the top
teachers, but don't have all the vacation time teachers do."
National Education Association statistics show Michigan teachers
average $58,482 a year, which is fourth highest in the country,
according to The News.
Vernon Polite, dean of the College of Education at Eastern
Michigan University, told The News he doesn't believe that paying
teachers more will increase student performance.
"That's the biggest question in education," he said. "I don't
think pay is the mitigating factor. I think there's a collection
of factors, and pay's not really in the picture. Some of the
highest paid teachers are in school districts that are not
showing high achievement."
SOURCE:
The Ann Arbor News, "How much pay for teachers?" Aug. 26, 2007
https://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-24/1188110557216110.xml&coll=2
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "NEA: Michigan teachers paid above
national average," Dec. 20, 2005
https://www.mackinac.org/7495
Michigan Education Report, "Teacher Pay and Teacher Quality: How
Do They Relate?" April 16, 1999
https://www.educationreport.org/1681
Michigan Education Report, "Increase teachers' pay the right
way," Sept. 13, 2000
https://www.educationreport.org/3084
COMMENT AND WIN AN IPOD
MIDLAND, Mich. — Go to
https://educationreport.org and post a comment for a chance to win one of three iPods.
MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST is a service of Michigan Education
Report (
https://www.educationreport.org),
a quarterly newspaper
published by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy
(
https://www.mackinac.org),
a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan
research and educational institute.
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