The average teacher salary in Charlotte Public Schools was $52,408 in 2009, and most teachers paid less than 2 percent of the cost of their health insurance premium. The district also pays between $300 and $500 per month to employees for simply not enrolling in the school health insurance plan. These are among the highlights in the current collective bargaining agreement negotiated between the district and the local arm of the Michigan Education Association union.
Detroit's current "light rail" system has been called a "Horizontal Elevator to Nowhere" and the "least cost-effective transit project in the last 20 years." So what's the response to this epic disaster of central planning from the political class? To build more, of course.
The National Taxpayer's Union has just released a 2010 election guide called "The Taxpayer's Perspective" that lists every local millage election in the states by county. Each is given a "plus" or "minus" sign rating based on whether it "could lower taxes or control government" or "raise taxes or expand government." The report is online here; scroll to "Michigan."
On Wednesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it will allow an increase from 10 percent to 15 percent in the amount of ethanol blend in gasoline. The catch: The 15 percent blend is only for light passenger vehicles manufactured in 2007 or later. This is certainly good news for mechanics, who can expect more engine repair work when confused motorists inadvertently pump E15 fuel into older cars that are not designed to handle fuel with this much ethanol. Ethanol is more corrosive than gasoline, and a higher blend of the corn-derived fuel is likely to damage older engines. It is unclear that even motorists with newer vehicles will want to use E15, since it would void their warranties unless their vehicle is E85 capable. One can only imagine how many lawsuits will be filed by angry drivers.
The average teacher salary in Forest Hills Public Schools was $64,460 in 2009, and teachers contributed nothing towards the cost of their health insurance (the state average is about 20 percent). The district also pays $41 per month to teachers who do not enroll in the school health insurance plan. These are among the highlights in the current collective bargaining agreement negotiated between the district and the local arm of the Michigan Education Association union.
By now the main themes of 'Waiting for Superman' should all be familiar to Mackinac Center’s readers: the overwhelming bureaucracy one inevitably finds in any large government operation, the perverse incentives – disincentives really – created by tenure, the pitfalls of monopolization, and above all the brooding omnipresence of teachers unions. Director Davis Guggenheim adds some new examples and a few details that are worth the time, but the really interesting thing about Superman is the implications for progressives, who appear to be approaching a time for making painful decisions.
The city of Pontiac has announced it intends to disband its own police force in favor of contracting out with the Oakland County Sheriff, an idea first recommended by the Mackinac Center in 2006.
The Detroit News today is reporting today that the transition to Oakland County policing could occur as early as December. The city is expected to save $2 million annually. This is far from the first instance of a municipality contracting with a county Sheriff for police services. Several cities in Oakland County already do, and the Macomb city of Mt. Clemens told the Mackinac Center that doing so kept the city from dire financial straits.
The total compensation for 165 teachers in the Garden City Public Schools exceeded $100,000 in 2009, and employees make zero contribution to the health insurance provided them by the district, which for a family plan runs about $18,400. These are among the highlights in the current collective bargaining agreement negotiated between the district and the local arm of the Michigan Education Association union.
Michigan and local taxpayers provided the West Bloomfield School District with more than $13,500 per student in 2008-2009, yet it still faces a $1.7 million deficit this year and $3.8 million next year. Employee compensation makes up 85 percent of the budget, so the district has asked teachers to help close the gap with revisions to their union contract. Their response was to picket, which they did Monday night.
The Washington Examiner and San Jose Mercury News both recently cited Mike LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, about the need for transparency within government-run economic development programs.
LaFaive has addressed this issue before, including in a policy brief titled "MEGA, the MEDC and the Loss of Sunshine." Other Center analysts have written about the problem, including here and here.
Voters who favor Proposal 1, calling for a constitutional convention, on the November ballot as a way to solve Michigan's problems are misdirecting their anger, according to a Mackinac Center analyst.
"(Michigan's) problems aren't caused by the constitution, nor can they be fixed by it," Jack McHugh, senior legislative analyst, told MLive.com. "The desire to rearrange the institutional furniture is a cry of frustration, not a plausible means of fixing the underlying problems."
Gongwer News Service (subscription required) reports that Gov. Jennifer Granholm is unhappy that a new economic forecast estimates that Michigan will start adding jobs next year. It reports:
"The bummer for me is that date," she said, noting the job growth would begin the year after she leaves office. The state has seen only net job losses during her term.
The headline of a story in today's Detroit Free Press characterizes Gov. Jennifer Granholm's understanding of the state film production subsidies: "Goal of film tax credit is jobs, not more revenue."
There's a story from the 1960s about the late economist Milton Friedman visiting a large public works project in a third world country that was funded by U.S. foreign aid. Given the substantial investment, the famous economist was surprised to see thousands of men with shovels moving dirt one spadeful at a time. He asked his host, "Why don't they use bulldozers?"
After a successful run at the Sundance Film Festival and openings in New York and Los Angeles, the documentary “Waiting for Superman” makes its Detroit-area debut this weekend at the Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak. The film, which documents the failings of public school systems throughout the country, is apparently less than complimentary towards teacher unions. (Yours truly will have a review early next week.)
When most people talk about the government redistributing wealth, it involves money being taken from those who have more and being given to those who have less, such as with entitlement programs.
That has taken a new twist that few would have predicted with lavish government subsidies for purchasing electric vehicles. The New York Times reports that 20,000 people have reserved a Nissan Leaf, a new all-electric vehicle. Nissan expects the typical Leaf buyer to be affluent, college-educated consumers in their mid-40s. The Feds are granting a $7,500 tax credit as well as $3,000 home-charging unit provided free of cost. On top of this Tennessee, where the Leaf is built, is offering free public charging stations along its freeway system and $2,500 cash rebates. Legislation has been introduced in Michigan that would also provide perks for electric car owners.
The Flint Journal reports that members of a newly formed group called Flint Area Congregations Together (FACT) recently traveled to California, Virginia and New York looking for successful schools in areas with demographics similar Flint. While the aim is noble, the group could learn from a number of high-performing schools right at home in Flint.
The Lansing State Journal reports that a "Sonic" restaurant chain outlet that was promised $90,000 in taxpayer-funded corporate welfare subsidies and tax breaks won't be opening after all in south Lansing. Sharp-eyed corporate welfare officials keeping close tabs on the situation realized this when they noticed that there were "for sale" signs posted on the favored parcel.
In an Op-Ed in the St. Louis Beacon, Christine Harbin of the Missouri-based Show-Me Institute argued that "Tax credit programs are not as effective as advertised" and used Mackinac Center research to help make the case:
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Michigan released a study in which it compared job estimates made by Michigan's economic development agency accompanying tax credit awards to the actual outcomes of those programs. Mackinac found that only 7.9 percent of projects were completed on time and produced the number of jobs promised. Missouri cannot afford this failure rate.
Growing up in America during the Cold War, most of us thought the biggest threat to our freedom was from communist Russia seeking to forcibly impose their totalitarian way of life on us. Turns out we were mistaken: The biggest threat to freedom in America is from within — the modern day green movement. The ruling class has decided that Americans left to their own devices will not do the right things to save the planet and therefore the force of government must be used to control almost all aspects of American life.
Whenever faced with the possibility of lower revenue, Michigan's public school establishment perennially cries that it's already been "cut to the bone." Many people find the claim plausible given the state's "lost decade," so they may be surprised to discover how many school districts have consistently cut costs in recent years:
Governors often use their official State of the State addresses to do a little bragging, and Gov. Jennifer Granholm's February, 2010 outing was no exception. Unfortunately, what was intended as an "economic development" victory lap — citing companies expected to create jobs thanks to selective tax breaks and subsidies provided by her administration — has become a series of embarrassing blunders including Hangar42 studios (Grand Rapids), GlobalWatt, Inc. (Saginaw), and Unity Studios (Allen Park).
A Corpus Christi Caller-Times article confirms the results of a Mackinac Center investigation into solar energy company GlobalWatt's questionable application for economic development tax credits from the state of Michigan.
The Caller-Times reports that a Michigan Economic Development Corp. official told the paper that the agency "didn't check the company's claims" on the application about "upfront cash" incentives with the state of Texas and Corpus Christi. The official went on to say, "We're going to give them (GlobalWatt) the best deal we can regardless of what was offered in Texas."
(Editor's note: This is a guest post by Jay Schalin, a senior writer with the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy in North Carolina, a nonprofit institute dedicated to improving higher education in North Carolina and the nation.)
In his recent column, Nolan Finley argues that Michigan can turn around by emulating North Carolina. "The states that have passed us on the prosperity list get it. North Carolina, for example, has sacrificed to pour more money into its colleges and universities," he writes.
Horse racetrack owners complain that the state is schizophrenic about their industry, erecting statutory and bureaucratic barriers to it operating profitably while throwing special favors at particular tracks in the form of subsidies and selective tax breaks (see "'Schizophrenic' State Planning"and related stories in Michigan Capitol Confidential). Further, they say it's unfair that they must compete for gambling customers against a government lottery with sales outlets in every convenience store.
Taxpayers and students won a small but potentially very important victory Friday when Administrative Law Judge David M. Peltz found that the Legislature did not give unions the authority to sidetrack privatization of non-instructional services by school districts. The decision came in the first round of what may still prove to be a lengthy administrative and legal battle over the meaning of amendments to the state collective bargaining law that the Legislature passed last year as part of the "Race to the Top" reform package. Nonetheless, the decision improves the chances that school districts will retain the right to privatize services, and strengthens the hand of school boards in dealing with inflexible unions.
