The House and Senate are in the midst of a summer break, so rather than votes, this report instead contains several newly introduced bills of interest.
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
Senate Bill 1198: Authorize unemployment benefits while earning self-employment money
Introduced by Sen. Vincent Gregory (D), to exempt unemployment benefit recipients from the duty to seek and accept employment if the person participates in government-approved “self-employment assistance activities,” including “entrepreneurial training, business counseling, and technical assistance.” The bill would also allow a person to earn self-employment income and still collect unemployment benefits. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.
HOLLAND — Several weeks after a city zoning officer shut down his hot dog business, 13-year-old Nathan Duszynski and his parents are homeless.
The family was hoping Nathan’s hot dog cart could help them through a difficult time. Nathan’s mother, Lynette Johnson, suffers from epilepsy and his stepfather, Doug Johnson, has multiple sclerosis. Their illnesses have restricted them from finding permanent, full-time work.
Excerpt from a Charles Murray essay, “Why Capitalism Has an Image Problem”:
. . . What government can do to help is establish the rule of law so that informed and voluntary trades can take place. More formally, government can vigorously enforce laws against the use of force, fraud and criminal collusion, and use tort law to hold people liable for harm they cause others.
Everything else the government does inherently restricts economic freedom to act in pursuit of earned success. . . Every intervention that erects barriers to starting a business, makes it expensive to hire or fire employees, restricts entry into vocations, prescribes work conditions and facilities, or confiscates profits interferes with economic liberty and usually makes it more difficult for both employers and employees to earn success.
There’s something rotten in the state of Detroit Water and Sewage Department operations.
A new report by the independent firm EMA out of St. Paul, Minn., shows massive overspending and recommends that four out of every five jobs be outsourced or eliminated.
The Mackinac Center's new "Context and Performance" High School Report Card factors student socioeconomic status into four years of standardized test scores for nearly 600 public high schools in Michigan and ranks the schools accordingly.
Below is a list of the top 10 Michigan counties with the highest-scoring high schools. In order to avoid having counties with a single high school skew the results, counties with only one high school were not included in this list.
The Detroit Free Press today reports on a consultant’s report suggesting that staffing levels at the city of Detroit’s water (and sewerage) department could be slashed by 80 percent. In December 2000, Center analysts suggested that the city could sell its water system or contract out for management, thereby removing 100 percent of its employees from the city payroll. The city should still consider that option.
Michael Van Beek, director of education policy, was a guest on “The Frank Beckmann Show” on WJR AM760 today, discussing why schools — not parents — are required to provide supplies for students.
A few weeks after the release of the Mackinac Center's high school report card, the Michigan Department of Education released its revised school ratings, with a new focus on the academic achievement gap among high-performing and low-performing students.
In a recent post here titled “Lansing Builds a ‘Scaffolding for Plunder,” I wrote about House Bill 5667 sponsored by Rep. Joe Haveman, R-Holland, which would authorize “neighborhood enhancement” authorities with the power to impose higher property taxes (called “special assessments”) for various government spending projects including “pavilions,” sidewalk improvements, etc.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy's new "Context and Peformance" Report Card factors student poverty levels into four years of standardized test scores for nearly 600 public high schools in Michigan and ranks the schools accordingly.
Here's a list of the top 10 charter public high schools.
Our new "Context and Performance" Report Card factors student poverty levels into four years of standardized test scores for nearly 600 public high schools in Michigan and ranks the schools accordingly. Here's a list of the top 10 conventional high schools — that is, district-run schools that are neither charter schools nor selective-admissions schools.
Dr. Paul McCracken, a long-time member of the Mackinac Center’s Board of Scholars, passed away at the age of 96 Friday in Ann Arbor, according to Carpe Diem, a blog written by Dr. Mark J. Perry, another member of the Center’s Board of Scholars.
McCracken was a Ph.D. economist who was on the faculty of the University of Michigan’s School of Business Administration. He served on the President’s Council of Economic Advisors during both the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations, and was a member of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board.
Recent news reports indicate that a private Michigan state fair (now called “Great Lakes State Fair”) will operate from Aug. 31 to Sept. 3 in the city of Novi. The official, government-supported state fair that had been located in Detroit closed in 2009 for lack of taxpayer subsidies.
Tearing a page out of the Occupy Wall Street playbook, concerned Grand Traverse County residents are employing a similar strategy this weekend. The residents initiated “Occupy the Boardman” at the Brown Bridge Dam on Friday, Aug. 3, in order to raise awareness of the environmental and ecological damage initiated by the drawdown of impounded water between three of the Boardman River dams.
The House and Senate are in the midst of a summer break, so rather than votes, this report instead contains several newly introduced bills of interest.
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
Senate Bill 1182: Repeal mandatory expulsion of violent students
Introduced by Sen. Mike Kowall (R), to repeal the law that requires public schools to expel a student who makes a school bomb threat or commits a physical assault against a school employee or other student. The bill changes the law to say “may expel” instead of “shall expel.” Referred to committee, no further action at this time.
No one likes to see a building sit vacant. Vacant buildings deteriorate, can invite vandalism and discourage those considering moving to a neighborhood.
If a building is tax delinquent for a number of years, it can be taken by county government, which then takes up the expensive task of maintaining the property until someone purchases it.
Our new "Context and Peformance" Report Card factors student poverty levels into four years of standardized test scores for nearly 600 public high schools in Michigan and ranks the schools accordingly. Here's a list of the top 10 rural high schools.
To see more comparisons like these, download the full report card here.
The Oakland Press in a story Thursday about the strain of government employee pension benefits on taxpayers cites Mackinac Center research on the matter. Our analysis shows that closing the defined-benefit pension plan to new state employees in 1997 has saved taxpayers up to $4.3 billion in unfunded liabilities.
It’s that time of year again: Back-to-school deal hunting season.
Hoping to give their kids every possible advantage, millions of Michigan parents will flock to nearby retailers for new school supplies. But before loading up on notebooks, pencils and crayons, parents should remember that their local public school is required by law to supply these necessities to every student free of charge.
The details are laid out in a 2011 Michigan Department of Education memo listing specifically what supplies schools must provide, including pencils, paper, crayons, scissors and glue sticks. In addition, school districts may not charge for registration or any course fees, even for elective courses.
Yet many parents remain unaware that the tax dollars tendered by themselves and their neighbors have already paid for these school supplies. Some school districts improperly suggest that parents are responsible for these supplies. According to the 2012 Huntington Backpack Index, parents will spend between $548 and $1,117 on school supplies and fees for each student on average.
Our new "Context and Peformance" Report Card factors student poverty levels into four years of standardized test scores for nearly 600 public high schools in Michigan and ranks the schools accordingly. Here's a list of the top 10 town high schools.
To see more comparisons like these, download the full report card here.
Henry Payne, editorial cartoonist for The Detroit News and editor of The Michigan View, was the guest speaker at an event honoring Milton Friedman Tuesday at Northwood University, according to the Midland Daily News. The event, held on the 100th anniversary of Friedman’s birth, was co-sponsored by the Mackinac Center.
The Manhattan Institute last year commissioned polls in a number of states on public attitudes regarding government workers. One of the questions dealt directly with an issue the Michigan Legislature will face during a one-day session scheduled for Aug. 15: closing the school pension system to new employees, and instead giving them generous 401(k) contributions.
Health Savings Accounts are becoming ever more popular and widespread even as Obamacare threatens to effectively prohibit them. Health policy expert Greg Scandlen reports that the number of Americans covered by HSAs grew 18 percent last year, from 11.4 million in January 2011 to 13.5 million in January 2012.
A decreasing property tax base gives municipal officials a chance to “engage in innovations and efficiencies that will improve city government,” a Mackinac Center expert told the Dearborn Press and Guide.
Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, suggested that cities and counties “give up the specialty items,” such as golf courses and wave pools, if there is a concern about revenue and providing core services.
Despite student and parent protests, Detroit Public Schools closed Southwestern High School this year because of its poor academic and attendance track record.
The Mackinac Center's new high school report card, which attempts to account for socioeconomic factors as well as student academic performance, supports the closure decision: Southwestern High School received an 'F' on the high school report card, and was the 20th lowest-scoring high school in the entire state of Michigan.
