On the “Craig Fahle Show,” on WDET last Thursday, Oakland Schools Superintendent Vickie Markavitch joined Tri-County Alliance Executive Director Mark Burton to talk about a range of educational issues. Unfortunately, the program was misleading in many ways.
Critics of policies enabling parents to choose what type of public school their children attend often claim that these policies will increase racial segregation in public education. But support for this claim is largely based on poorly designed or flawed studies. Matt Chingos of the Brookings Institute examined this issue as it relates to charter schools, and found no evidence that allowing parents to choose charter public schools increases racial segregation.
With a push from Gov. Snyder, the business community, public employee unions and most of the significant lobbying groups in the state, both branches of the Legislature have proposed budgets that significantly expand spending on early childhood education.
Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek’s Op-Ed about recent data showing the success of Michigan’s charter public schools appeared in the “Cross Country” column of Saturday’s Wall Street Journal.
James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy, is cited in the Lansing State Journal and by WZZM-TV13 in Grand Rapids about data showing state employees in Michigan having higher average compensation than their peers in other states.
“I would hope they have a conversation about this,” Hohman said. This is primarily why state government costs more every year.”
By Jack McHugh
Senate Bill 198, Amendment to accept federal health care law Medicaid expansion: Failed 13 to 25 in the Senate
To accept $1.53 billion in federal money to expand Medicaid eligibility under the terms of the federal health care law ("Obamacare"). The amendment offered by Democratic Sen. Vincent Gregory would also shift $181 million in current state health care spending onto the federal budget, making those funds available for other purposes in the short-term, but the terms of the expansion would require more money from State of Michigan taxpayers in a few years. Republican Sen. Roger Kahn joined all Democrats in voting "yes." This vote is not necessarily the final answer on this issue.
Michigan taxpayers will be providing corporate welfare to a production company outside the state for a film shot entirely in another country, according to an article on MLive.
The article reported that the documentary, “Original Bethlehem,” was awarded $65,270 in subsidies for $217,566 spent in Michigan.
There's an amusing story that demonstrates how focusing too much on one aspect of a situation can obliterate one's view of the bigger picture.
Once there was a lonely magician who went to a pet shop seeking a companion.
“You're in luck,” the shop clerk said. “We have a parrot for sale that is so smart he can carry on conversations. Just be careful what you teach the parrot in the first few weeks. Parrots are very intelligent, but they have one-track minds. Once the parrot locks in on what you want him to do, he'll never change.”
The financial challenges faced in the Buena Vista and Pontiac school districts have been a hot topic for many weeks now, with several commenters trying to use these districts’ issues to make a case for giving schools more money.
But school districts do not simply find themselves one day without any cash on hand. It takes years of financial (not to mention academic) mismanagement to get to the point where the Buena Vista and Pontiac school districts have placed themselves.
Michael LaFaive, director of the Center’s Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, was a guest on “The Tony Conley Show” on WILS AM1320 discussing taxes and road funding. His Viewpoint on the issue also appeared as an Op-Ed in the Port Huron Times-Herald.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio writes in the Detroit Free Press today that as Michigan moves forward as a right-to-work state, not only should workers not be forced into unwanted union representation, but unions also shouldn’t have to represent those workers who exercise their RTW freedoms.
Audrey Spalding was a guest on “The Tony Conley Show” on WILS AM1320 in Lansing today, discussing her work on land bank policy.
You can read more of her work on that topic here, here and here.
Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek told The Jackson Citizen Patriot that it’s “for the greater good” when a school districts shuts down or a district closes a building.
“Our ultimate goal should not be keeping what we have now,” Van Beek said. “Our ultimate goal should be having parents sending their children to districts where they feel they’re getting them the best education.”
A couple of Michigan charter public schools are facing the harsh realities of being held accountable for performance.
The Academy of Flint and Lansing's Learn, Live, and Lead Entrepreneurial Academy are being shut down, because their authorizers determined they are failing to meet their contractual obligations. The schools are closing for different reasons, but both highlight the extra level of accountability built-in to Michigan's public charter schools.
Two Mackinac Center experts were cited in The Oakland Press and The Macomb Daily in stories about a recent court ruling that prohibits school districts from spending public money to collect dues for private unions.
“As a result of this decision, a school district does not have to collect dues or fees for any collective bargaining agreement that was entered into, extended or renewed after March 20, 2012,” said Patrick J. Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation.
Perhaps the best thing state legislators could do for Michigan moms would be to allow more educational options for children — at least according to the latest poll from the Friedman Foundation.
Mothers polled supported all varieties of school choice, including providing students with resources to attend public, private or religious schools.
Gary Wolfram, a Hillsdale College economics professor and adjunct scholar with the Mackinac Center, writes in the Lansing State Journal that Michigan’s auto insurance laws should allow the market to influence the level of coverage drivers prefer to purchase.
House Bill 4254, Exempt “electric carriages” from motor vehicle regulations: Passed 35 to 0 in the Senate
To exempt “electric carriages” from regulations and taxes authorized under the Michigan vehicle code. These are defined as “a horse-drawn carriage that has been retrofitted to be propelled by an electric motor instead of by a horse and that is used to provide taxi service.” The bill would benefit a Detroit operation called "Andre's Carriage Tours" by letting it operate statewide.
It’s a popular saying for many: "Tax cuts don’t create jobs." Google it, and there are more than 100,000 results for that specific claim.
At this point, it is a truism for liberal politicians and commentators that tax cuts are ineffective.
But if lower taxes and more money for businesses to spend do not create jobs, how can the left support these tax breaks and subsidies?
The Detroit News reports that 15,600 students in the Walled Lake School District didn't have school Wednesday because bus drivers called in sick.
The Walled Lake school board last week voted to contract out for busing to save money. Walled Lake Superintendent Kenneth Gutman told The News that contracting will save the district $1.4 million a year.
By Jack McHugh
The Wall Street Journal reports that the part-time Florida Legislature has adjourned for the year without approving the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, which Gov. Rick Scott famously flip-flopped into supporting earlier this year.
Here's how the Journal's editorial described the outcome:
The Mackinac Center and Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio are cited in a package of stories by Bridge Magazine about the financial difficulties of the Michigan Education Association and the dissatisfaction the union’s members have expressed recently.
MLive Monday cited a February Michigan Capitol Confidential story showing teachers in Michigan have the second-highest average pay in the country in a story about U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s visit to Michigan and his belief that teachers should be paid more.
The Michigan Capitol Confidential article about a leaked document from the Service Employees International Union on how the union hopes to continue its "dues skim" against home-based caregivers is interesting, but more significant is how the union explains the whole unionization scheme.
