As Michigan’s right-to-work law is set to take effect in March, unions — primarily representing public employees — are scrambling to get contract extensions passed that would prevent their members from exercising this new freedom and continue to extract financial support from them as a condition of employment.
Businessman Dick DeVos credited the Mackinac Center, the business community and key legislators for getting a right-to-work law passed in Michigan in a recent speech at the Heritage Foundation, according to The Detroit News.
Among other things, DeVos noted decreasing union membership as one reason why Gov. Rick Snyder and the Legislature pursued “Freedom to Work.”
Just a few weeks ago, Bridge Magazine released a statewide ranking of schools, which took student socioeconomic background into account. Bridge's methodology is almost identical to that used in the Mackinac Center's High School Report Card.
Not surprisingly, the results were similar: Both Bridge and the Mackinac Center identified Star International Academy as the highest-ranked school.
It’s National School Choice Week, an annual reminder of the importance of offering parents freedom in selecting the type of educational experience they deem best for their children. About 7,500 people in Phoenix kicked off the week on Friday night, and there are 3,500 events scheduled around the nation the rest of the week, including a whistle-stop train tour from Los Angeles to New York.
A constant claim by opponents of right-to-work, whether it be from the AFL-CIO, state Democratic legislators or the president, is that income is lower in right-to-work states. But these naysayers are blinded to a paycheck reality: the cost of living.
Having a larger paycheck doesn’t matter much if you can’t purchase as much with it. Adjusting for per-capita personal income — a standard measure of a state’s wealth — the difference between right-to-work and non-right-to-work states disappears.
The state House and Senate finalized their organizational details for the new session this week. There was just one final-passage floor vote on a substantive measure, a gun bill, see roll call information below. This report therefore includes several other newly-introduced firearms-related bills of interest.
(Editor's note: This is an edited version of a commentary that Capitol Affairs Specialist Jack Spencer of Michigan Capitol Confidential writes for daily newspapers in Michigan.)
One thing that can't be said about Gov. Rick Snyder is that he's ducking tough issues. When he ran for office he promised change and reform. Like it or not, no one who has been paying attention can claim he hasn't delivered on that promise.
A new study by Stanford University researchers found that the typical charter public school student made learning gains equivalent to about two additional months of learning compared to their demographically similar peers in conventional public schools. These results are no doubt impressive, but they are even more remarkable considering that charter public schools spend almost 25 percent less per pupil than schools run by school districts.
(Editor's note: This commentary was co-authored by Michael D. LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative at the Mackinac Center, and Kim Crockett, executive director of the Minnesota Free Market Institute at the Center of the American Experiment in Minneapolis, Minn.)
Michael Van Beek, director of education policy, was a guest on “The Tony Conley Show” on WILS AM1320 in Lansing this morning, talking about a new study from Stanford University that shows charter public schools in Michigan are, as he has written, a “smashing success.”
According to polling data and "conversations" held by the Center for Michigan, the general public is less interested in expanding school choice than it is in other policy options.
More than 50 percent of poll respondents said that increasing school choice in Michigan was important, but other options, such as providing "stronger support for educators" or improving "teacher preparation" were more popular.
A Huffington Post article titled “Charter School Growth in Michigan Brings a Cautionary Tale on Quality” goes to great lengths to twist the overwhelmingly positive results of a new study of Michigan’s charter schools by Stanford University into something else.
Bruce Edward Walker, former editor of Michigan Science, writes in Sunday’s Lansing State Journal about the negative environmental and economic impact of ethanol subsidies.
Center analysts have addressed this issue numerous times, including here, here and here.
The Michigan House and Senate are still getting organized for the 2013-2014 legislative session, which among other things requires giving committee assignments to 110 state representatives and 38 state senators. Each legislator serves on three or four of the dozens of policy and appropriations committees, so regular committee meeting times must also be juggled to minimize conflicts.
Senior Legislative Analyst Jack McHugh explains in a Deadline Detroit story today that people across the political spectrum should all be concerned about the “crony capitalism” involved in protectionist auto dealer laws.
“They are in every legislative district. They are an employer in every legislative district,” McHugh said about dealers. “They have the financial depth and geographic breadth.”
Security was tighter than ever as Gov. Rick Snyder made his third "State of the State" address. Though anti-right-to-work demonstrators arrived at the State Capitol two hours earlier hoping to get inside the building, state police blocked all doors except to anyone pre-credentialed.
The results from Stanford University’s brand new study of charter public schools in Michigan are impressive: 42 percent of charter schools bested conventional schools in math achievement gains and 35 percent did the same in reading. Only 2 percent of charters did worse in reading and only 6 percent did worse in math.
Birmingham is the latest district to participate in Michigan's Schools of Choice program. But, according to school board members and Superintendent Daniel Nerad, the move isn't really about letting students who don't live in Birmingham attend a better school — it's about money.
A new study of Michigan charter public schools from Stanford University — the most rigorous one to date — found overwhelming positive academic results for charter school students. Measuring average growth in reading scores, 35 percent of charters did better than conventional public schools, while only 2 percent did worse. In math, 42 percent of charters did better and only 6 percent did worse. These overall findings are impressive, but also promising is the study’s evidence suggesting that the charter school market is working too.
Though electric vehicles may not be attracting much hype at the Detroit Auto Show, their owners do enjoy privileged status in the city of Ann Arbor.
While parking downtown, electric vehicle owners can charge their cars for free. The charging stations are typically located at the front of parking garages, and are reserved for electric vehicles only.
A new study showing the success of charter public schools in Michigan was released yesterday and the response from the media shows the importance of the Mackinac Center’s news website, Michigan Capitol Confidential.
While the report, released by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University, received some attention from media outlets in Michigan, the way it was covered is revealing.
In a letter to The Detroit News, the director of the Wayne County Great Start Collaborative states, “There is no higher return on investment than on money spent on the education and care of children before they reach kindergarten[.]”
This is an abuse of economic analysis. The argument comes from a study arguing that a dollar of spending on early childhood education results in $16 in overall societal gains. These multiplier studies are misleading.
The new study by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes is the most thorough analysis ever done of Michigan’s public charter schools, and the results are almost entirely positive.
Of the 56 different outcomes tested, CREDO found 52 positive results for public charter schools and their students when compared to conventional public schools.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio addressed about 40 people Monday night at a meeting regarding prevailing wages and a proposed new jail in Muskegon County, according to MLive.
“Essentially prevailing wage costs taxpayers and it takes out competition,” he told the group. “And it doesn’t allow as many people to get jobs, because the cost of labor is artificially high.”
With a surplus of middle-tier state universities offering four-year degrees whose value is coming under increasing scrutiny by students and families, Michigan is ripe for a revolution described by an article in the current American Interest online, “The End of the University as We Know It” by Nathan Harden.
