Contents of this issue:
- DPS loses fewer students
- Hartland "very" pleased with contract custodians
- Police stations inside Detroit schools
- Legislation attempts to ease health care costs
- Catholic school offers guarantee
- Comment and enter to win an iPod
DPS LOSES FEWER STUDENTS
DETROIT — Detroit Public Schools estimates its enrollment is
about 1,000 students lower than 2006, according to The Detroit
News.
DPS enrollment had been dropping by about 10,000 students a year
for several years, The News reported. The 2007 estimate is based
on registration data provided by each building principal.
"That has been higher than anticipated," Superintendent Connie
Calloway told The News. "Every principal says it has been higher.
We are very happy about that."
DPS estimates about 115,000 students are enrolled, according to
The News.
"We do need to stay above 100,000 in order to have a choice about
whether charter schools can establish themselves," Calloway told
The News.
SOURCE:
The Detroit News, "Superintendent: More students than expected
enrolled in Detroit schools this year," Sept. 4, 2007
https://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070904/UPDATE/709040398
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Report, "DPS enrollment down by thousands,"
Feb. 23, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8237
Michigan Education Digest, "Detroit school board votes to close
34 schools," April 10, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8373
HARTLAND "VERY" PLEASED WITH CONTRACT CUSTODIANS
HARTLAND, Mich. — Hartland Consolidated Schools expects to save
more than $3 million over three years with a private custodial
firm, according to the Livingston Daily Press & Argus.
Hartland saved $580,000 last year, and expects to save $877,000
this year and $1.6 million next year, the Press & Argus reported.
The district contracts for custodial services with Grand Rapids
Building Services Inc. This means the district realized an
effective funding increase of about $103 per full-time-equivalent
pupil last year, and it likely will see an effective funding
increase of $156 per pupil this year and $285 per pupil next
year.
GRBS also recently was hired by Howell Public Schools, which
projects saving $1.7 million over three years, according to the
Press & Argus. This is an effective funding increase of about
$165 per pupil.
Those who are opposed to privatization, such as the Michigan
Education Association school employees union, claim that
contracting with a private firm can lead to low standards and a
loss of control by the school district, the Press & Argus
reported.
"It's absolutely not true that our facilities have spiraled
downward," Hartland Superintendent Janet Sifferman told the Press
& Argus. "We are very pleased with what has occurred with GRBS.
Any requests we have made, they have complied with. They are very
easy to work with."
SOURCES:
Livingston Daily Press & Argus, "Privatization on upswing in
schools," Sept. 4, 2007
http://www.dailypressandargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070904/NEWS01/709040315
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Effective Funding Increase
from Competitive Contracting in Selected Michigan School
Districts," Sept. 10, 2007
https://www.mackinac.org/8222
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Privatization Report, "Custodial privatization comes to
Hartland," July 26, 2006
https://www.mackinac.org/7836
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
POLICE STATIONS INSIDE DETROIT SCHOOLS
DETROIT — Five police "mini-stations" will be located in Detroit
Public Schools, primarily due to the merging of students from
several high schools on the city's west side, according to the
Detroit Free Press.
Armed police officers from the district's Office of Public Safety
will patrol the hallways of high schools where students who used
to be assigned to rival schools are now enrolled, the Free Press
reported. There were 39,318 disciplinary referrals and 5,500
crime reports — not including truancy or property damage — in DPS
buildings during the 2005-2006 school year, according to the Free
Press.
The Free Press said that Kimberly Bishop's daughter, Meshia,
cited Ford High School's main problems as "gangs, gambling and
marijuana trafficking."
"It's a shame when you have to put a police station in a school,"
Bishop told the Free Press. "But now we're going to see just how
far these DPS police are going to go to keep our children safe so
they can get an education."
Student safety concerns have expanded outside the classroom, too.
Deputies from the Wayne County Sheriff's Office are riding on
city buses that transport students to and from school, according
to The Detroit News. The Detroit Department of Transportation has
a three-year contract with the county that includes uniformed and
undercover deputies riding on buses.
"One of the most important aspects of our new DDOT bus patrol
will be keeping an eye on the children to make sure they have
safe passage to and from school every day," Sheriff Warren Evans
told The News. "Children can be exposed to a lot of different
types of people on public buses than they are on a yellow school
bus, so it's important to have some additional sets of eyes to
look out for them."
SOURCES:
Detroit Free Press, "Keeping students safe: Police mini-stations
put in some schools," Sept. 1, 2007
https://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070901/NEWS01/709010372
The Detroit News, "Wayne County deputies protect students on
Detroit buses," Sept. 11, 2007
https://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070911/METRO01/709110304/1006
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "Detroit school janitor shot,"
Feb. 28, 2006
https://www.educationreport.org/7606
Michigan Education Digest, "Detroit seeks school security
volunteers," Feb. 21, 2006
https://www.educationreport.org/7597
Michigan Education Digest, "DPS still seeking solutions to school
violence," Jan. 24, 2006
https://www.educationreport.org/7564
Michigan Education Digest, "Two students stabbed at Detroit high
school; shots fired," Jan. 17, 2006
https://www.educationreport.org/7551
LEGISLATION ATTEMPTS TO EASE HEALTH CARE COSTS
LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Senate recently approved bills that
would allow school districts and local units of government to
pool employee health insurance, according to Booth Newspapers.
Senate Bills 419, 420 and 421 would allow for health insurance
pooling and require public employers to seek competitive bids for
health insurance, according to Michigan Votes. Booth reported
that such a change could save taxpayers millions of dollars, but
is opposed by the Michigan Education Association school employee
union. The Michigan Education Special Services Association, which
privately contracts for health benefits and then acts as a third
`party to administrate them to school districts, does not want to
release claims data that districts usually would need in order to
seek bids, according to Booth.
An editorial in The Grand Rapids Press said a 2004 Standard and
Poor's analysis found school employee benefits in Michigan are 42
percent higher than the national average.
Booth reported that the Senate Fiscal Agency found that almost
one-quarter of the money schools receive to educate students goes
toward employee benefits.
SOURCES:
Booth Newspapers, "Senate approves changes aimed at saving school
health costs," Sept. 4, 2007
https://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/business-13/118895274 8270700.xml&storylist=newsmichigan
The Grand Rapids Press, "Serious about reform?" Sept. 9, 2007
https://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1189322859113880.xml&coll=6
Michigan Votes, "2007 Senate Bill 419"
https://www.michiganvotes.org/2007-SB-419
Michigan Votes, "2007 Senate Bill 420"
https://www.michiganvotes.org/2007-SB-420
Michigan Votes, "2007 Senate Bill 421"
https://www.michiganvotes.org/2007-SB-421
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "School employee benefits divert per
pupil funding," Sept. 4, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8988
Michigan Education Report, "MESSA reports $65 million revenue
gain in one year," May 24, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8493
Michigan Education Report, "School districts report saving money
in insurance pool," Feb. 23, 2007
https://www.mackinac.org/8239
CATHOLIC SCHOOL OFFERS GUARANTEE
BERKLEY, Mich. — Our Lady of La Sallette Catholic School is
offering parents of first graders a money-back guarantee if their
children are not reading at a second-grade level by next spring,
according to the Royal Oak Daily Tribune.
Tuition at the K-8 school is $5,080 a year, the Daily Tribune
reported. Principal Carol Smith said she got the idea after
seeing a billboard offering a guarantee for home mortgages.
"I guess I was a little nervous at first, or hesitant about how
we were going to put it out there," first-grade teacher Ann
Kolley told the Daily Tribune. "I feel very confident in the way
I teach reading. I think with smaller classes it's easier for me
to give kids the one-on-one attention they need."
Tresa Zumsteg, deputy superintendent for Oakland Schools, said
she doesn't think public schools will do the same.
"Our guarantee is ... making sure kids make annual yearly
progress," she told the Daily Tribune. "Obviously we can't
guarantee a tuition refund, but there are sanctions if we don't
make AYP."
SOURCE:
Royal Oak Daily Tribune, "School offers money-back guarantee,"
Sept. 10, 2007
https://www.dailytribune.com/stories/091007/loc_20070910002.shtml
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Report, "Kent County ISD to "guarantee"
diplomas," March 7, 2006
https://www.educationreport.org/7622
Michigan Education Report, "Catholic schools and the common
good," April 16, 2005
https://www.educationreport.org/7251
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.
Font size:
