Latest User Comments

This article presents excellent information. As the parent of a child with a disability I advocate for my son. Currently, there is no one to speak for all the children with disabilities in Michigan. There is no transparency of government. The position of State Superintendent is a dictatorship with the power to make all the decisions. As a parent, I cannot voice my concerns by voting.

Ferndale High School in Ferndale, Michigan succeeded in correcting the mistaken reporting of the Johns Hopkins University report that had included it as a "dropout factory" with poor "promoting power." The University researchers have acknowledged that Ferndale High School does not belong in this category and removed the school from the list because of the school district's high outward mobility (more students move out than move in during high school.). The high school has a three-year promoting power ration of 77% rather than the 50% reported in the Associated Press in October 2007, with the Class of 2006 having a 91% promoting power. Please visit Johns Hopkins' website for more clarification to see the "Schools Removed from the List of Weak Promoting Power High Schools: http://web.jhu.edu/CSOS/images/Removed_from_List_5_14_08.pdf .

Also, visit www.ferndaleschools.org for info about the school district.

So you're not going to admit an anti-MESSA bias?

*wink*

The links to the sources used in MED are so that people can read the entire article. MED provides a summary of what the media reports. A "further reading" is then included for those readers who wish to read more on a related topic.

And you don't simply "report" stories in the Education Digest. For example, in this story in question you link directly to a story where MESSA's accused of stonewalling, further bolstering the bias and claim that MESSA is doing something wrong here.

Your coyness is patronizing.

Michigan Education Digest is just that, a digest, which means it is a compilation of what is reported by other media. You may want to contact the Paw Paw newspaper and give them a copy of the questionnaire so they can do a follow-up story on the issue. Please keep us updated on that matter.
- Ed.

What the news article on MESSA conveniently leaves out is the intrusive nature of the questionnaire sent out in the Paw Paw district. It asks for--under threat of not being covered if you don't comply--your name, ss number, all family details, and a specific 14-question section on your medical history.

And there's a 3-page lawyer note attached to the survey that essentially says the company has the right to share this info with anyone they choose to do so.

Where's the ACLU when you need them?

It's a disgrace that a site like this would be so in bed with corporate interests that it would gladly back such an invasion of personal privacy.

And before you ask, yes I have indeed seen the survey. I have a copy of it. Why doesn't your site post THAT?

The article in the Kalamazoo Gazette that you linked to was incredibly biased in its presentation of the KRESA tax. Here's my reaction on our blog:


MORE LIES FROM THE RAG

Readers of the Kalamazoo Gazette have long been accustomed to its shilling for just about every proposed tax hike. In the world view of the Gazette, local governments and school districts are always strapped for cash, mainly because those stingy taxpayers are reluctant to fork over more of their wealth.

Even though readers are aware of this pro-tax bias, two articles in the March 16 paper are simply astonishing in their reckless disregard for the truth. The articles are supposed to be an analysis of how the KRESA enhancement tax has impacted funding for Kalamazoo County's nine local school districts. Remember, we are in the third, and last, year of the KRESA tax, passed by voters in 2005.

So what school funding time period does the articles examine? Get this: the two years before the tax was enacted, plus only the first two years after the tax was enacted. This is equivalent of saying you are going to write a history of the 20th Century, and then writing about the period from 1850 to 1950. Astonishing.

The two years before the tax was enacted were flat funding years for Michigan schools. The per-pupil grant from the state stayed the same for those two years at $6626 per pupil. That was the whole reason why the KRESA "enhancement" millage was put on the ballot by local schools in 2005.

So if you include these two depressed years, prior to the KRESA tax, into an analysis of the KRESA tax revenue increase, of course you're going to end up with a smaller increase of revenue.

Think that's the end of the articles' duplicity? Wrong. "On the revenue side, the Gazette found, increases in the state's per-pupil allocations have been undercut by enrollment declines. On the expense side, districts have faced sharp cost increases, most notably in the mandatory contribution to the school employees' retirement fund."

Yes, some school districts have had their revenue cut because their enrollment has dropped. Welcome to the real world. But guess what. If you have few students to teach, you should have fewer expenses in teaching them! What a concept! Unless, of course, you are the typical government bureaucrat who resists every effort to cut costs and cut unneeded personnel.

And the mandatory contribution to the school employees' retirement fund? We find out, buried later in the article, that the state of Michigan will actually cut what school districts have to pay into the retirement fund next year. Whoops, never mind.

"But fiscal analysts said the rate could increase to more than 20 percent in the near future," wails the article. Don't you love this? Tax apologists present these kinds of increases in retirement costs as something that is beyond our control; an act of God, like a meteor falling out of the sky.

But retirement costs are not beyond our control. If they go up, it's because public officials without a backbone cave in to the public sector unions and their demands for more compensation. Retirement costs do not have to go up--if we have public officials who are willing to grapple with the issue and get it under control

And we haven't even discussed the huge elephant in the room, the unnecessary costs that every school district pays for gold-plated MESSA health insurance.

That's the main frustrating thing about the entire argument by the KRESA tax pushers--who say basically that our costs keep going up, and there's nothing we can do about it, and that's why we have to raid your wallets. But taxpayers are providing plenty of funding for public schools. Now it's time for them to stop whining, and start producing.

--Ray Wilson
Kal. Co. Taxpayers Assoc.
http://www.kaltax.org
stoptaxes@kaltax.org

So are you trying to claim that none of the districts in the Washtenaw ISD currently have MESSA?

Seems that if things were so wonderful with the slush fund, they wouldn't be looking for alternatives.

So Wash is looking into pooling with 10 districts to create a cute mini-pool of savings? Lol...had they been in MESSA they could have been in a much larger pool than that.

lol...

As a school board member outside of Detroit, I am concerned about the lower standards that are created by the poor numbers coming out of southeast Michigan. While the situation in the Detroit area is unfortunate and complicated, the numbers from that area are possibly creating a false sense of accomplishment across the state.

How many times have you heard, "Our MEAP scores are 12% above the state average!" and wondered if that is really a good gauge? If the largest district in the state is only graduating 32% and my district graduates at the state average, then I can assume that my district is perfoming lower than most in the 81 counties outside of Detroit.

If the state released MEAP and graduation statistics that excluded the largest 3 districts and the smallest 30 districts, the numbers would be much higher and a more challenging benchmark for districts to aim for.

I wouldn't call the Argus Press story about the MSBFL (or whatever it is) a "reported" story. It's clear the story is mostly a canned press release from the EAG parent site and in fact contains the exact same quote from Mike Reno as the Gungwer story two weeks ago.

Questionable journalism to say the least for the newspaper to put a reporter's name on it and print is a news story.

PARENTS sue Detroit over school closings? I don't think so. This is purely a BAMN move, and any "parents" involved are just useful idiots being used by this Marxist group.

Readers should know that BAMN is nothing more than a small group of radical Marxists who cynically use the race issue to "stress" the U.S. system of capitalism and pluralistic democracy. Their real goal is to bring about the collapse of our system and replace it with something that looks more like Chavez's Venezuela. I'm being generous in calling them Marxists, actually - I think Stalinist is more accurate.

Many citizens and institutions today have the erroneous notion that our democracy must be responsive in some way to "all viewpoints." That is not true. There are some that we should not seek to satisfy, because doing so makes our system less democratic rather than more so. The Klan is the most notorious example, but BAMN and the "grape thrower" wing of Detroit School activists are also in this category.

The referenced article was in the Freep. It and all mainstream media outlets strive to be responsible organizations that help strengthen democracy, not weaken it. That should determine how they cover stories like this, how they characterize these kinds of groups, and the extent to which they allow themselves to be "used" for anti-democratic ends. They need to be sophisticated and thoughtful about these issues.

The "right to a free public education" does not include to the right to a specific building. Schools need to be closed when the student population is too small or when a replacement facility is built.

Also, it seems appropriate that salary and benefits be negotiated between the teachers and district. I do not like paying more towards my health insurance, but I like being laid off and unemployed even less.

Perks, Perks and more Perks!
To be able to use a public vehicle for private use is ethically wrong. It's different to simply use it to drive to and from work and school related appointments however to use a public vehicle for personal travel or weekend errands which include a full tank of gas is simply wrong.
What a great perk!!