Michigan taxpayers are spending approximately $3 million a year to allow union officials time to work on union business rather than teach students.
Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s Jarrett Skorup wrote about the privilege known as union release time in a recent op-ed published in The Detroit News. Taxpayers are on the hook not only for the often six-figure salaries of these union employees, but also for the replacement teachers who must be paid to take their place in the classroom.
By Jack McHugh
The Legislature has adjourned for a summer recess. Due to the number of bills considered in the final week, some votes will be reported next week's Roll Call Report.
House Bill 5383, Detroit Public Schools bailout: Passed 20 to 17 in the Senate
To concur with the House-passed version of the Detroit school district bailout bill (see description at bottom of this report), with two minor clarifications. The bill does not contain provisions previously passed by the Senate that would give a mayoral commission the power to ration charter schools in Detroit.
First, Uber transformed the way people think about transportation; now it may be doing the same to unions.
In an op-ed published by The Huffington Post, Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s Director of Labor Policy F. Vincent Vernuccio explains Uber is working to create a model that could pull the antiquated union model into the 21st Century. In May, Uber and the International Association of Machinists District 15 announced the formation of the Independent Drivers Guild for New York City drivers to allow members meetings with management, create an appeals process for disciplinary action and offer benefit programs.
Four years after Michigan passed right-to-work, it’s time for the Michigan Education Association to allow teachers to exercise their freedom.
That is one of the reasons the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation is representing an Ann Arbor science teacher in his suit against the Michigan Education Association and its local the Ann Arbor Education Association, which is illegally preventing him from exercising his right not to belong to the union. MLive wrote about the case this week, explaining plaintiff Ronald Robinson is being billed for fees to a union he does not wish to be part of.
Uber has long suggested that the introduction of its service correlates with a decrease in drunk driving arrests. In Seattle, for example, DUI arrests dropped by 10 percent after Uber launched. But the company acknowledged that a more detailed analysis would be necessary to show causation.
By Ben DeGrow
The Michigan House narrowly passed a revised plan to aid the financially distressed and academically disastrous Detroit Public Schools, agreeing to send much more money to the reconstituted school district but drawing the line to defend parental choice. Former Gov. John Engler weighing in against a “morally wrong” Detroit Education Commission proposal may have helped make the difference.
Michigan will collect more taxes next year, but not as much as predicted a few months ago, leaving members of the Legislature looking at a sizable gap between what they want to spend and the money available to pay for it. The most constructive and efficient way to balance the budget is to eliminate the state’s corporate welfare programs and supporting bureaucracy.
As lawmakers in Lansing consider the best way to deal with the insolvent Detroit Public Schools, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s Director of Education Policy Ben DeGrow has urged them to preserve and expand school choice.
In an op-ed published in The Detroit News, DeGrow explains why limiting charter schools in the city — as the Senate’s plan would effectively do — is the wrong answer for students and parents.
Right now, if a Michigan citizen goes to get a car repaired, it is fairly simple for the owner of the vehicle and a mechanic to decide what kind of parts to use to provide the fix. Unless a bill that has passed the Michigan Legislature is vetoed by Gov. Snyder, that process is about to get a lot more complicated.
By Jack McHugh
Note: Due to a House session that ran late, this report does not include votes from Thursday. These will be reported in the next Roll Call Report.
House Bill 4578, Authorize school recreation taxes: Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate
To add school districts to a law that lets several local governments organize a recreational authority with the power to levy up to one-mill of property tax for swimming pools, recreation centers, public auditoriums, public conference centers and parks. The law is silent on whether the recreational facilities could be school facilities if the bill becomes law, but does require them to be open to the public. It also requires voters in each municipality to approve one of these tax levies.
There are rumors on Mackinac Island that there is an attempt to create a new state venture capital fund. It seems like these ideas pop up every couple of years. The results, though, have been expensive and underwhelming.
A 2003 program, the Venture Michigan Fund, is coming back to bite state taxpayers right now. The state issued a bunch of tax vouchers that would zap the budget if the deals behind them didn’t work out. Some did not, and the state was on the hook for an expected $140 million. Worse, the program may end up costing another $310 million. If the program was successful in creating jobs, the results were unreported. There are bills to wind this program down.
In Bridge Magazine, former state House Fiscal Agency director Mitch Bean writes:
In addition to property tax cuts, changes to the sales tax base have reduced constitutional revenue sharing payments to cities, villages and townships (CVT) by $27.3 million in FY 2014 and by $181.2 million cumulatively since Proposal A in 1994.
The stated purpose of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy is to improve the quality of life for all Michigan citizens by advancing the principles of a free-market economy, limited government and respect for private property. To many people, these seem like abstractions, and to those who believe in a larger and more intrusive state, they are obstacles to be overcome.
By Jack McHugh
House Bill 4787, Authorize enhanced penalties for abortion coercion: Passed 26 to 11 in the Senate
To authorize enhanced penalties for threatening or committing a “stalking” or assaultive crime with the intent to coerce a pregnant female to have an abortion, or taking other coercive actions with that goal. The bill authorizes additional fines of $5,000 to $10,000 on top of penalties imposed for the underlying crimes.
The best research on school choice in Detroit shows that it leads to better results at a much lower cost to taxpayers. As Mackinac Center’s Director of Education Policy Ben DeGrow writes in The Detroit News:
The best study on charter schools in Michigan is from the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University. This study paired individual students in charter schools with their “virtual twins” in district-run schools, based on their gender, race, grade level, family income, and academic ability as measured by standardized tests. It then compared the gains that these students in charter schools made compared to their “control group,” students just like them enrolled in district-run schools.
By Ben DeGrow
Those anticipating the release of Michigan’s education adequacy study learned this week that, once again, they will have to wait a little longer. While the precise detailed findings are unknown, the embargoed report’s general conclusions should not remain a matter of mystery.
Days after the Detroit Free Press published an op-ed he authored on the same topic, Mackinac Center Executive Vice President Michael Reitz was interviewed on Michigan Radio’s “Stateside” program about the need for more transparency in the executive and legislative branches.
The following is an edited version of the remarks and slides presented by Thomas A. Shull, an adjunct scholar with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, at The Cato Institute’s May 16 celebration of the life of Andrew J. Coulson. Coulson, who died of a brain tumor in February 2016, was a Cato Institute senior fellow at the time of his death and a former senior fellow in education policy at the Mackinac Center. Coulson was also the author of the groundbreaking book “Market Education: The Unknown History.” He was 48 years old at the time of his death.
I took this photo at 10:30 p.m. earlier this week at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. It’s the taxi stand outside Terminal B, where dozens of tired travelers were waiting in line for cabs to take them to their destinations.
A minute and a half after I snapped this shot, I was in a Mazda driven by a very pleasant man named Alireza, en route to my hotel thanks to the Uber app on my smartphone. Just three taxis had arrived in the interim to take away the long-suffering residents of the DCA cabstand.
For over a decade, local governments in Michigan have been complaining they need more money from state taxpayers. A recent push by Wayne County Executive Warren Evans is only the most recent example.
That is what they say, but how they act suggests their fiscal complaints are exaggerated. For example, providing post-retirement health care benefits to employees is an expense that should be the first to go if there is a real financial problem.
By Jack McHugh
House Bill 4344, Mandate auto repair shops use vehicle maker's own parts: Passed 33 to 4 in the Senate
To codify into law a comprehensive regulatory regime that is currently imposed on vehicle repair facilities through administrative regulations, including a state registration mandate. Among other things, the bill would prohibit a repair shop from replacing a major part on a newer vehicle with one not made by the vehicle's maker, which has been criticized as protectionism benefiting the Big Three and other car makers.
A ridesharing entrepreneur who recently participated in a panel discussion at a Mackinac Center Issues and Ideas Forum in Lansing shared his story with Lansing State Journal readers in a recent op-ed.
Tim VanDongen began driving for Uber and Lyft as a way to make extra money, but eventually was earning enough to leave his primary job and make a career out of driving. Now, he has started a company, Ryde Media, which puts advertisements in Uber and Lyft vehicles.
Sports writer and commentator Bill Simmons is transitioning from ESPN to a new show on HBO. In his promotional, “I Believe,” the never-gun-shy Simmons lays out some of his positions.
His last statement is the most notable: “I believe billionaires should pay for their own [expletive] stadiums.”
Michigan’s success in contracting non-instructional services to keep money in the classroom was highlighted in a recent op-ed arguing the benefits of allowing districts to use private companies for janitorial, busing and food services.
The Chicago Daily Herald op-ed, co-authored by Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative at the Mackinac Center, and Kristina Rasmussen, executive vice president of the Illinois Policy Institute, explains why an Illinois law that makes it difficult for schools to use contractors for non-instructional services hurts children:
It is a common trope in Michigan and elsewhere that the path to state prosperity is to have high taxes and quality services, with Minnesota pointed to as the paragon. Yet high taxes do not guarantee quality services, as Detroit can attest.
Detroit has the highest effective property taxes in the country, according to the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence’s 2014 property tax study. For commercial property at all different values, Detroit is No. 1 in the nation. For homesteaded property, only Bridgeport, Connecticut surpasses Detroit. Detroit also has the highest property taxes for most values of industrial property. Only New York City has higher property taxes on apartments than Detroit. All of these rates are higher than those in Minneapolis. The one saving grace for property taxpayers in Detroit is that the net tax burden has decreased with the collapse in real estate values in the city.
