Contents of this issue:
- DPS loses 12,000 students, $90 million in revenue
- GRPS union claims administrators hide school violence problems
- Northville schools examines contracting
- Holly schools seeking bids for food service contractors
- Lincoln parents concerned about schools of choice
- Schools crunch test data to drive improvement
- Comment and win an iPod
DPS LOSES 12,000 STUDENTS, $90 MILLION IN REVENUE
DETROIT — The Detroit Public Schools lost about 12,000 students
in the past year, taking with them about $90 million in state
aid, according to The Detroit News.
DPS will receive state funding for 106,485 students, a 10.1
percent drop from last year. The district has lost about one-third of its students since a state takeover in 2000. The trend
in declining enrollment is predicted to bring in fewer than
100,000 students next year, which could allow for the
establishment of more charter schools in the city. Community
colleges are currently prohibited from establishing charters
within the city because of the district's status as a First
Class school district — the only one in the state. There is
currently an attempt in the Legislature to lower the number of
students needed to qualify as a First Class district to 75,000,
The News reported.
"We would encourage the state to look at a way of defining the
largest school district in the state so that there isn't some
number that triggers things to happen," DPS spokesperson Steve
Wasko told The News. "There needs to be a much more rational way
of defining what a First Class district is. Just picking a
number doesn't seem to be the most rational way."
But parents are more interested in quality educational options.
"There have been promises made for years, and parents have been
waiting for quality schools for years, and enrollment has been
dropping. How much more time is needed?" LaMont Corbin, chairman
of the Detroit Parent Network, told The News.
SOURCE:
The Detroit News, "10% drop in students will cost DPS $90M,"
April 19, 2008
https://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080419/SCHOOLS/
804190378
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Community colleges: 'Wait
and see' on Detroit charter schools," April 7, 2008
https://www.mackinac.org/9361
GRPS UNION CLAIMS ADMINISTRATORS HIDE SCHOOL VIOLENCE PROBLEMS
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Union officials are claiming that Grand
Rapids Public Schools administrators are deliberately hiding the
number of violent and drug-related incident reports within the
schools, according to The Grand Rapids Press.
The Grand Rapids Education Association argues that schools are
unsafe and that administrators cover up violent weapon incidents
by categorizing them as "disorderly conduct" or "contraband,"
which undermines the severity of the problems. The union
examined two of 10 boxes of incident reports and found 178
documents that mentioned weapons, as opposed to the 113 the
district reported for the 2006-2007 school year, The Press
reported.
"It's very clear that the district has misclassified and
underclassified these reports," GREA President Paul Helder said,
according to The Press. "There is no way their data is accurate.
They need to stop trying to hide the truth from the voters."
Grand Rapids Superintendent Bernard Taylor believes the union is
using the school safety issue to get an upper hand in contract
negotiations.
"I am sick and tired of these people portraying our students as
savage animals, because that is just not the case," Taylor told
The Press. "Maybe the problem isn't unsafe schools. Maybe the
problem is unmanaged classrooms."
The reports can be filed by any staff member and include space
to list the type of incident being reported and a narrative
description of the problem. The bottom of the form includes an
"offense code" which is added afterward by Larry Johnson, the
district's public safety chief. The "offense code" is used for
state and federal reports, and the union claims there is a
difference between what the code represents and what is actually
written in the incident reports, according to The Press.
"I've got 30 years of experience in this field. I don't go into
their classrooms and tell them how to teach. They shouldn't tell
me how to file reports," Johnson told The Press.
SOURCE:
The Grand Rapids Press, "Union: Grand Rapids school reports are
misclassified to hide problems," April 18, 2008
https://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/04/
union_grand_rapids_school_viol.html
FURTHER READING:
Michigan School Databases, "Agreement between the Board of
Education of the Grand Rapids Public Schools and the Grand
Rapids Education Association 2006-2007"
https://www.mackinac.org/archives/epi/contracts/41/41010_2007-08-20_GREA_E_X.PDF
NORTHVILLE SCHOOLS EXAMINES CONTRACTING
NORTHVILLE, Mich. — Northville Public Schools is reviewing bids
for custodial and transportation contracts while also planning
to accept bids from food service providers, according to The
Detroit News.
School officials estimate savings of $400,000 to $1 million by
contracting within the three departments. The current budget for
these services is about $7 million. The district has already
trimmed its budget in other areas, including textbooks,
operations and support positions, The News reported.
"We may have to implement some drastic measures to maintain the
level and quality of our services. This concept has been out
there looming ... options aren't as great in number as they were
a few years ago," David Bolitho, assistant superintendent for
administrative services, told The News. "Every community
agonizes over this, especially if you do have a good work force.
This is a tough one."
The district's consideration of competitive contracting follows
other metro Detroit school districts such as Southfield, Howell,
Pinckney and Birmingham, which have considered or hired
contractors, according to The News.
SOURCE:
The Detroit News, "Northville schools assess privatization,"
April 17, 2008
https://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080417/SCHOOLS/
804170364/1026
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Report, "Beyond brooms, burgers and buses,"
Nov. 21, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8032
HOLLY SCHOOLS SEEKING BIDS FOR FOOD SERVICE CONTRACTORS
HOLLY, Mich. — The Holly school district is accepting bids for a
food service provider in hopes of alleviating part of an
estimated $225,000 deficit in the district's fiscal 2009 budget,
according to The Flint Journal.
Holly hopes to save $60,000 by contracting for 20 food service
jobs. Assistant Superintendent Steve Lenar said he believes the
district could save even more, The Journal reported.
If the district does decide to contract for food service,
current employees will automatically be granted an interview.
The board voted to contract for custodial services around this
time last year, according to The Journal.
SOURCE:
The Flint Journal, "Holly School District looks to privatize
food service to address $225,000 deficit," April 14, 2008
http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/newsnow/2008/04/
holly_school_district_looks_to.html
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Food Service Contracting,"
in "A School Privatization Primer," June 26, 2007
https://www.mackinac.org/8708
LINCOLN PARENTS CONCERNED ABOUT SCHOOLS OF CHOICE
YPSILANTI, Mich. — The Lincoln Consolidated School District is
considering participating in the schools of choice program in
hopes of making up for decreasing enrollment, according to The
Ann Arbor News.
The district has lost 104 students since September. By opening
its enrollment and attracting nonassigned students, the district
would earn the per-pupil funding allotment that follows them.
Some parents told the board of education they are concerned
about traffic problems caused by having more students being
driven to school, and about nonassigned students overcrowding
school buses. Superintendent Lynn Cleary clarified that a
schools of choice district is not responsible for the
transportation of choice students, The News reported.
Parent Maria Heningburg was concerned about an influx of
students with disciplinary problems. However, a schools of
choice district is allowed to refuse students who have been
expelled from school or who have been suspended within two years
prior to applying, according to The News.
"I don't think (schools of choice) is bad, if our board can do
it appropriately," Heningburg said, according to The News. "...I
hope (the board) follows the standards of discipline. I don't
want money to be their primary reason for overlooking things
like discipline."
SOURCE:
The Ann Arbor News, "Parents list concerns on Schools of
Choice," April 17, 2008
https://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-27/
1208443229112790.xml&coll=2
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Foundation Allowance:
General Education," in "A Michigan School Money Primer,"
May 30, 2007
https://www.mackinac.org/8628#nonassign
SCHOOLS CRUNCH TEST DATA TO DRIVE IMPROVEMENT
OLIVET, Mich. — When Olivet Middle School math teacher Jennifer
Ball posed this question on a recent test — "How many 10,000s
are there in 200,000?" — she knew not every fourth-grader would
answer correctly. But she also knew that wrong answers had the
potential to tell her as much as right ones.
So, as educators across Michigan are increasingly doing, Ball
used a computer program to tell her which wrong answer was the
most popular for that question and others. Using the same
program, she also can compare her students' answers with similar
questions on state assessment tests as well as to tests given by
other math teachers.
When teachers get together to analyze assessment tests in
detail, it can lead to insight and academic improvement,
teachers and administrators in both conventional public schools
and public charter schools told Michigan Education Report for an
article about data-driven decision making in Michigan schools.
SOURCE:
Michigan Education Report, "Data-driven in Michigan: Schools
crunch data to drive improvement," April 22, 2008
https://www.mackinac.org/9395
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Edmonton Public Schools
Story: Superintendent Angus McBeath Chronicles His District's
Successes and Failures," October 10, 2007
https://www.mackinac.org/9042
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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