For decades, individual teacher compensation levels in Michigan public schools have been set with no consideration of “outputs” — concrete measures of whether students actually learned anything. Instead, pay is based on various “inputs” with no proven relationship to student learning — government certifications, number of pedagogy degrees, years on the job, etc.
Background from the first article in this series:
Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
Labor Policy Director Paul Kersey in a Detroit News Op-Ed today questions the legitimacy of public-sector unions' concerns over Public Act 4, given their own history of undemocratic behavior.
Kersey points out that very few government union employees ever get a chance to actually vote for or against their union. He also addresses concerns about the emergency manager law in this recent blog post.
Senior Economist David Littmann appeared this morning on "The Tony Conley Show" on WILS AM1320 in Lansing to discuss his recent commentary on former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain's "9-9-9" tax reform plan.
Numerous papers and wire services are reporting that groups opposed to Public Act 4 have filed petitions containing about 225,000 signatures to have the law repealed, more than enough to see PA 4 placed on the fall election ballot. Like Wisconsin and Ohio, Michigan will now have its own high-stakes election over the power of government unions.
Facing a severe overspending problem, East Detroit Public Schools will try to increase revenue by attracting new students through a schools-of-choice program. The board recently agreed to open its doors to any student who lives nearby — unless, that is, the student lives in Detroit.
Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, was a guest on "The Vic McCarty Show" today on WMKT 1270AM in Traverse City discussing a proposed ballot initiative that seeks to overturn the state's emergency manager law.
Paul Kersey, director of labor policy, also discussed the issue today on "The Tony Conley Show" on WILS 1320AM in Lansing.
Background from the first article in this series:
Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
At a campaign stop on Saturday, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said that if he is elected he will stop federal funding for passenger rail, including Amtrak.
“I like those things, I just think they have to be paid for by private funds, not by funds from China,” he said.
Background from the first article in this series:
Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, is cited in a Utica (N.Y.) Observer-Dispatch column today on why municipalities shouldn’t own golf courses.
“Golf courses are not assets municipalities need to own,” LaFaive said. “It’s the least necessary of the least necessary government services. If you have to choose, I’d say give up the golf course and not the cops.”
Labor Policy Director Paul Kersey was cited a Flint Journal story Sunday about the impact of the UAW on GM’s bankruptcy.
“How is it that a car company’s fate is being decided … by retiree health care programs?” Kersey asked. “Union-negotiated contracts and benefits really played a role” in the bankruptcy.
Background from the first article in this series:
Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
MichiganVotes.org sends a weekly report to newspapers and TV stations around the state showing how state legislators in their service area voted on the most important or interesting bills of the past week.
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
Senate Bill 971, Limit unionization of grad student research assistants: Passed 26 to 12 in the Senate
To establish that state university graduate students who work as research assistants are not considered government employees for purposes of enrolling them into a union, if their work terms do not meet an IRS "20 factor test" for employee status.
Background from the first article in this series:
Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
MLive recently discussed the controversial lawsuit between two Genesee county school districts, whose details remain confidential despite taxpayer money funding the legal fees. Director of Education Policy Michael Van Beek is quoted throughout the piece. "It's clearly tax dollars that are being used for these law suits," says Van Beek,"so any type of agreement or settlement should be open to public scrutiny."
The Feb. 21, 2012 Detroit News features an editorial in support of U-M graduate research assistants, represented by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, who wish to remain independent from a union. The Michigan Senate has introduced a bill, spearheaded by Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, that would protect the students from being labelled employees of the University and thus subject to unionization.
Feb. 1 was the nation's first ever "Digital Learning Day." The Alliance for Excellent Education led this effort to bring attention to how schools are using digital learning and how technology can help improve education. At an event hosted by the Michigan Department of Education at an East Lansing elementary school, we discussed the impact of digital learning with both the 2012 Michigan Teacher of the Year and the 2012 Michigan Online Teacher of the Year.
MichiganVotes.org sends a weekly report to newspapers and TV stations around the state showing how state legislators in their service area voted on the most important or interesting bills of the past week.
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
Senate Bill 752, Ban “stealth conventions” by minor political parties: Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate
Labor Policy Director Paul Kersey is cited in a McClatche Newspapers story that ran in The Miami Herald and The Kansas City Star regarding Indiana becoming the 23rd right-to-work state in the nation.
"It does mean that Indiana is likely to get a lot of business expansion that might otherwise go into Michigan, especially in the western part of the state," he said. "But pretty much the entire state has the potential to be affected by that. Right-to-work is a big draw for employers."
Senior Legislative Analyst Jack McHugh was a guest today on "The Vic McCarty Show" on WMKT AM1270 in Charlevoix, discussing how proposed legislation could saddle Michigan with the highest gas tax in the nation.
Vincent Vernuccio of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, appearing recently on Fox Business, cited the Mackinac Center’s efforts to combat the illegal unionization of both home-based day care providers and home health care aides in Michigan.
The president of the state’s largest government employee union, the Michigan Education Association, recently said the for-profit education management companies that manage online charter public schools here will make “hundreds of millions of Michigan taxpayer dollars” if a bill is passed increasing the arbitrary cap on the number of students allowed to enroll.
In a Feb. 15 column in the Detroit News, Michigan AFL-CIO President Karla Swift simultaneously calls for unity while demonstrating why the undeniably contentious battle over a right-to-work law is indeed necessary.
By exemplifying the union establishment's tendency to wishful thinking, legalistic hairsplitting and hysteria, Swift shows how unions have let many workers down; why workers have lost faith in unions; and why workers shouldn't be forced to pay union dues or fees to keep a job.
