Contents of this issue:
Kentwood contract talks remain stagnant for over a year
Detroit power outage closes dozens of schools
State Senate bill would allow high schoolers longer work hours
Benefits of calculator use doubted
University of Michigan admits fewer minorities in next incoming
class
KENTWOOD CONTRACT TALKS REMAIN
STAGNANT FOR OVER A YEAR
KENTWOOD, Mich. — An eight-hour
mediation session last week
between Kentwood district officials
and union representatives did
little to relieve tensions between
the two sides, leaving
district employees without a contract
and prolonging a battle
over health insurance.
At issue is a disagreement over
health insurance plans in a new
contract. Kentwood board members have
offered teachers two
options using plans provided by the
Michigan Education Special
Services Association (MESSA) or an
HMO-style plan through
Priority Health.
The teachers' union's counter-offer
is "based on the model used
in Rockford and Caledonia," according
to union president Jane
McDaniels. That model provides salary
increases for teachers
while switching to a lower-cost MESSA
plan, called Choices II,
which is fully funded by the
district. In those districts,
teachers can keep their current plan
but must pay the difference.
MESSA's own rules specify that
districts cannot offer a non-MESSA
plan if MESSA is the designated
policy holder, which precludes
teachers from choosing the Kentwood
board's HMO-style plan if any
MESSA plan is offered simultaneously.
That limits options for the
district and for teachers, a problem
that has stalled contract
talks. "I don't believe we can settle
for a one-size-fits-all
solution," Kentwood Assistant
Superintendent Scott Palczewski
told the Grand Rapids Press.
The board announced last month it
would give teachers only a few
weeks to negotiate with the district
until it imposes a contract.
SOURCES:
Grand Rapids Press, "Neither side
budges on school pact," May 25, 2004
https://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-14/
1085496532154650.xml
State of Michigan Department of
Consumer and Industry Services, "Report of the Fact Finder,"
Mar. 12, 2004
http://www.kentwoodps.org/pdf/facts3_15_04.pdf
Mackinac Center for Public Policy,
"MEA Abuses Public School Health Care Funds,"
Aug. 7, 2001
https://www.mackinac.org/9404
Mackinac Center for Public Policy,
"Michigan Education Special Services Association: The MEA's Money Machine,"
November 1993
https://www.mackinac.org/8
Michigan Privatization Report,
"Ensuring Insurance Competition," September 1998
https://www.mackinac.org/667
DETROIT POWER OUTAGE CLOSES DOZENS OF
SCHOOLS
DETROIT, Mich. — A power failure by
Detroit's city-owned plant
forced dozens of Detroit schools to
close for several days last
week, sending many students home
early in the day.
Recent storms caused power outages at
35 schools last Monday, 46
on Tuesday, and 19 were still without
power on Wednesday. Eight
of those schools were without power
for over 2 1/2 days. Some
schools lost power after school
began, forcing administrators to
send students home mid-day. The
city's electricity provider
"Should be treating the schools
second only to hospitals,"
District spokesman Mario Morrow told
the Detroit News.
Power in Detroit is provided by the
city-owned Detroit Public
Lighting Department, which costs
Detroit taxpayers millions of
dollars per year for sub-par service.
A Detroit Free Press
Editorial last week suggested that
the city sell the Department
to a private contractor, which "could
do the job more efficiently
and for less money, and provide the
necessary investment to
upgrade equipment."
SOURCES:
Detroit News, "Power loss shuts 19
schools," May 27, 2004
https://www.detroitnews.com/2004/metro/0405/27/c09-165490.htm
Detroit Free Press, "Power Switch,"
May 28, 2004
https://www.freep.com/voices/editorials/elight28_20040528.htm
Michigan Privatization Report, "The
Power to Privatize," Winter 2001
https://www.mackinac.org/3160
Michigan Privatization Report, "In
the Dark about Sale of Detroit's Public Lighting Department," Spring 2001
https://www.mackinac.org/3373
STATE SENATE BILL WOULD ALLOW HIGH
SCHOOLERS LONGER WORK HOURS
LANSING, Mich. — A bill passed by the
state Senate last month
allows high schoolers to work more
hours during the school year.
The demand for student labor has
increased since the last
standard was set in 1978.
That law, the Youth Employment
Standards Act, restricted 16- and
17-year-olds to a total combined work
and school week of 48
hours. The new bill, Senate Bill 320,
introduced by Sen. Tony
Stamas, R-Midland, would amend that
total to 52 hours per week,
allowing students to work up to 22
hours outside of school. "I
talked to small-business folks and
they wanted this," Stamas told
the Gaylord Herald Times.
Critics of the bill include the
Michigan Department of Labor and
Economic Growth, which expressed
fears that increased work hours
for high schoolers could take away
work from unemployed adults.
Stamas' original bill allowed 24 work
hours per week, but a
compromise among several groups,
including unions, lowered that
to 22 hours.
The bill is currently in committee in
the Michigan House of
Representatives.
SOURCES:
Gaylord Herald-Times, "Longer work
hours for high schoolers under Stamas bill,"
May 26, 2004
http://www.gaylordheraldtimes.com/articles/2004/05/26/news/
top_stories/top_stories02.txt
MichiganVotes.org, Senate Bill 320,
Mar. 19, 2003
https://www.michiganvotes.org/2003-SB-0320
BENEFITS OF CALCULATOR USE DOUBTED
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The use of
calculators by elementary students
on standardized tests may be skewing
the students' proficiency
measures on basic arithmetic,
according to a new study.
Average math scores on the National
Assessment of Educational
Progress (NAEP), the country's
standardized test for measuring
student progress nationwide,
increased during the 1980s and
1990s. However, a study published by
the Washington-based
Brookings Institution found that
scores for fourth-graders using
calculators on basic math problems
were substantially higher than
those not allowed the use of
calculators.
The achievement difference between
students using calculators and
those not using the devices is large
for subtraction,
multiplication and division,
according to study author Tom
Loveless. Using calculators on
multiplication problems, for
instance, more than doubled scores,
from 42.5 percent correct to
87.9 percent. ""Calculators change
everything," Loveless told USA
Today. "For a large number of
9-year-olds, when calculators ...
are not available, they get wrong
answers."
SOURCES:
Detroit News, "Calculator use in
schools questioned," May 26, 2004
https://www.detroitnews.com/2004/schools/0405/26/d06-164049.htm
Brookings Institution, "Computation
Skills, Calculators, and Achievement Gaps: An Analysis of NAEP Items," Apr. 15,
2004
http://www.brookings.org/views/papers/20040415loveless.htm
Mackinac Center for Public Policy,
"Giving Laptops to Sixth Graders Won't Improve Their Education," July 2003
https://www.mackinac.org/5572
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ADMITS FEWER
MINORITIES IN NEXT INCOMING
CLASS
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — This fall's
incoming class at the University
of Michigan will likely have more
white students and fewer
African-American students than last
year's class, according to
statistics released last week.
Applicants' pledges to enroll show
that the number of white
students planning to attend the
university is up 8 percent, while
the number of black students planning
to attend is down 13
percent. University of Michigan
officials say that much of the
decline is attributed to confusion
over last year's Supreme Court
decision striking down the use of a
points system for race-based
admission to the institution.
The new application requires students
to submit a 26-page
application that includes more
essays, a new system implemented
following the Supreme Court's ruling.
"I don't think interest has
changed, but because of the essays
there's a little more
apprehension," said Lucille Burkey, a
counselor at King High
School in Detroit. "I think the
essays have a deterrent effect."
Curt Levey, a lawyer for the
plaintiffs that sued the university
over the points-based system of
admission, told the Detroit Free
Press that, "These numbers appear to
indicate a shift from their
obsession with racial diversity to
broader diversity."
SOURCE:
Detroit Free Press, "U-M's next class
looks whiter; why is debated," May 28, 2004
https://www.freep.com/news/education/um28_20040528.htm
MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST is a
service of Michigan Education
Report (
https://www.educationreport.org),
a quarterly newspaper
with a circulation of 130,000
published by the Mackinac Center
for Public Policy (
https://www.mackinac.org),
a private,
nonprofit, nonpartisan research and
educational institute.
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