Last spring, proposed teacher layoffs in Michigan made national headlines.
“Teacher layoffs in Michigan reaching an epidemic level,” said the Daily Kos on April 15.
“Layoff notices go out to 338 Chippewa Valley teachers.” said the Macomb Daily on May 10.
But now that school has started, many of those districts in the news have little to report in terms of actual layoffs.
In fact, Chippewa Valley Schools has seven more teachers than last year and didn’t lay off any teachers, according to a Freedom of Information Act request. The district had 799 teachers when the headline last spring warned of potential layoffs of 42 percent of the teachers’ workforce. That workforce is up to 806 teachers this year.
Michael Van Beek, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy's education policy director, said many union contracts state that teachers have to be notified if they are going to be laid off. Van Beek said many districts notify more teachers than they intend on laying off, calling it a common practice. He added that the media often reports on the layoff notifications, but seldom reports when most teachers are hired back.
The Monroe School District made headlines when it sent pink slips to all of its 343 teachers.
In reality, Monroe laid off 14 teachers and called back 2.5 full time teaching positions.
Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget cuts set off the series teacher layoff stories. Gov. Snyder originally proposed a $300 per pupil cut for school districts. The actual cuts ended up being between $100 and $200 per pupil, depending on if the districts met certain “best practices.”
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See also:
Coverage of School District Claiming Cuts
Helpful Facts About Michigan's Public Sector
Five Easy Questions to Ask School Officials
Tight security locked out dozens of anti-right-to-work protesters from the State Capitol as Governor Snyder was delivering his "State of the State" address. Protesters tried to disrupt the speech by banging and chanting outside the building.
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FROM MICHIGAN HOME HELP PROGRAM PROVIDERS — OFTEN FAMILY MEMBERS
ATTORNEY GENERAL ORDERED THE STATE TO STOP TAKING MONEY ON MAY 25, 2012
opinion May 25, 2012
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) "organized” Michigan's self-employed Home Help Program providers for the purpose of skimming dues from their ailing and disabled clients' Medicaid subsidy checks. The majority of these providers are relatives or friends taking care of loved ones. It’s been estimated that less than 25 percent of the providers are hired in an employment setting.
The first counter tallies SEIU dues skimmed since the union and state officials first launched this scheme in late 2006. The second shows the amount skimmed since June 9, 2011, when the Michigan House passed and sent to the Senate a bill to ban this and all similar “stealth unionization” efforts. The third counter shows the dues skimmed since the Governor signed the bill into law on April 10, 2012. The fourth counter shows the amount skimmed since May 25, 2012, when the Attorney General opinion was announced.
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