Contents of this issue:
- MEA attempts to reduce health care costs
- School employee benefits divert per-pupil funding
- Independent schools outperform public in Southwest Michigan
- More Michigan schools perform well under NCLB
- Willow Run implements contract
- Comment and enter to win an iPod
MEA ATTEMPTS TO REDUCE HEALTH CARE COSTS
LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Education Association school
employees union is being criticized by its professional staff for
trying to reduce benefits costs, according to several media
reports.
MEA management and the United Staff Organization, a union that
represents about 600 employees who work for the MEA, were
negotiating last week on a new contract, the Detroit Free Press
reported.
MEA management wanted the USO to accept reduced retirement
benefits, which USO President Tom Greene called "hypocritical,"
according to the Michigan Information & Research Service, a
Lansing-based political newsletter.
"I just find that totally horrendous when that is the same issue
that the MEA has been fighting on behalf of MEA membership,"
Greene told MIRS.
MEA management is asking USO union employees to work 20 years in
order to receive retiree health care that is 50 percent employer-paid. Teachers who belong to the MEA get fully paid retiree
health care after 10 years of work.
"We find it completely unacceptable that MEA President Salters
would propose rollbacks that would gut staff's current retirement
plan," Greene told Gongwer News Service, another Lansing-based
political newsletter. "Our bleak future becomes their bleak
future."
SOURCES:
Detroit Free Press, "Teachers union in strike talks,"
Aug. 29, 2007
https://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070829/NEWS05/708290393
Gongwer News Service, "MEA faces possible strike," Aug. 29, 2007
http://www.gongwer.com (subscription required)
MIRS, "MEA employees call MEA 'hypocritical,'" Aug. 28, 2007
http://www.mirsnews.com (subscription required)
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Report, "A 'Total Disconnect;' MEA staff
salaries found to be considerably higher than teachers,"
May 25, 2006
https://www.educationreport.org/7721
Michigan Education Report, "MESSA reports $65 million revenue
gain in one year," May 24, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8493
Michigan Education Report, "Growing number of districts seek
solutions to costly health insurance," Dec. 15, 2005
https://www.educationreport.org/7479
SCHOOL EMPLOYEE BENEFITS DIVERT PER-PUPIL FUNDING
JACKSON, Mich. — More than 25 percent of the money schools
receive to educate children is used to pay for employee benefits
in some districts, according to The Jackson Citizen Patriot.
Vandercook Lake Public Schools spends more than 28 percent of its
budget on health insurance for teachers and other staff. Albion
Public Schools, the lowest in the Jackson area, spends just under
20 percent, The Citizen Patriot reported.
"The reality is that some of these costs are outstripping the
(funding) increases we're getting," William Cole, superintendent
of Jackson Western, told The Citizen Patriot. "It's really out of
our hands."
Proposals in the Michigan Senate would allow school districts to
form regional pools to seek lower health insurance costs. The
Citizen Patriot said the Michigan Education Association school
employees union is opposed to the idea because it says pooling
would require the release of personal information as part of the
claims data districts need to seek competitive insurance bids.
Supporters of the legislation say only aggregate claims data,
which doesn't include personal information, is all that districts
would need for pools to succeed.
Gary Fralick, spokesman for the Michigan Education Special
Services Agency, told The Citizen Patriot that releasing claims
data "is a political issue aimed at destroying MESSA's pools in
an effort to harm both MESSA and the MEA."
The Citizen Patriot reported that MESSA, a third-party
administrator, "pumps millions of dollars into union coffers."
SOURCE:
The Jackson Citizen Patriot, "Are big benefits healthy?"
Aug. 26, 2007
https://www.mlive.com/news/citpat/index.ssf?/base/news-22/1188160507290970.xml&coll=3
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Report, "MESSA reports $65 million revenue
gain in one year," May 24, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8493
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "A Collective Bargaining
Primer for Michigan School Board Members: (1) Association Plans,"
Feb. 28, 2007
https://www.mackinac.org/8304
Michigan Education Report, "Districts look to cut insurance bills
through health savings accounts," Aug. 15, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8827
INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS OUTPERFORM PUBLIC IN SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Students at the three largest independent
schools in the Kalamazoo area scored better on the ACT than the
best performing public school in the area, according to The
Kalamazoo Gazette.
Students from Hackett Catholic Central, Kalamazoo Christian and
Heritage Christian Academy had a mean ACT composite of 23, which
was more than a point higher than Portage Central High School,
The Gazette reported.
"We were very, very happy with the results," Hackett Principal
Tim Eastman told The Gazette. "We're going to be celebrating
those scores."
Martin Ackley, spokesman for the Michigan Department of
Education, said scores from public and private schools shouldn't
be compared.
"You can't do a side-by-side comparison," he told The Gazette.
"One reason is that not all the private schools administer the
tests and the second reason is that, at the schools that do give
them, not all the students take it."
Eastman, however, said Hackett and other independent schools
consider public schools as their competition.
"Internally, we certainly look at how Portage and Mattawan and
Kalamazoo are doing compared to us," he told The Gazette.
Michael Stripp, a retired Comstock teacher whose children attend
Kalamazoo Christian High School, said the media often compares
public schools against each other, even those with large
differences in demographics.
"I would agree that private schools are different from public
schools, no question about it," he told The Gazette. "But the
public schools are different from each other, too. ... If you're
going to tell the story, you should tell the whole story, and I
think private schools are part of it."
SOURCE:
The Kalamazoo Gazette, "Private schools outperform public, but
should scores be compared?" Aug. 26, 2007
https://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-25/118809840475490.xml&coll=7
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "Students perform poorly on Michigan
Merit Exam," Aug. 21, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8906
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Catholic Schools and the
Common Good," June 6, 2005
https://www.mackinac.org/7129
MORE MICHIGAN SCHOOLS PERFORM WELL UNDER NCLB
DETROIT — More elementary and middle schools in Michigan met the
requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind act in 2007
compared to 2006, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Some 177 schools, or 7 percent, failed to meet the goals
established by NCLB, the Free Press reported, meaning 93 percent
did meet the requirements. That is up from 91 percent in 2006.
Schools that do not meet student achievement goals set by NCLB
for more than a year are classified as in need of improvement and
they must offer children assigned to those schools free tutoring
and the option to attend a school that has higher achievement,
the Free Press reported.
Of the schools that did not meet the federal standards, more than
80 are located in the Metro Detroit area, with 55 of them in
Detroit Public Schools, according to the Free Press.
SOURCE:
Detroit Free Press, "Only 7% of Michigan schools falter under
federal requirements," Aug. 31, 2007
https://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070831/NEWS06/70831040/0/BUSINESS01
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "NCLB Falls Short of Helping
Parents," Aug. 24, 2007
https://www.mackinac.org/8960
Michigan Education Report, "A Plus plan would permit states to
opt out of NCLB," Aug. 15, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8813
WILLOW RUN IMPLEMENTS CONTRACT
YPSILANTI, Mich. — Willow Run schools implemented a one-year
contract for its teachers union after two years of negotiations
failed to produce results, according to The Ann Arbor News.
The contract freezes pay and offers no step increases while
requiring teachers to pay a $2,500 deductible for their own
health insurance, The News reported. The district has a $2.6
million deficit.
"This was our last best offer," board President Claudette Braxton
told The News. "The bottom line is we don't have the money. We
have a negative fund balance and we felt we had an obligation to
do what we have to do."
Willow Run teachers earlier in the summer offered concessions
worth about $500,000, according to The News.
SOURCE:
The Ann Arbor News, "Willow Run imposes contract," Aug. 30, 2007
https://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-24/1188484873147160.xml&coll=2
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "A Collective Bargaining
Primer for Michigan School Boards," Feb. 28, 2007
https://www.mackinac.org/8258
Michigan Education Digest, "Ironwood board implements new
contract," July 25, 2006
https://www.educationreport.org/7844
COMMENT AND ENTER TO 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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