By Jack McHugh
House Bill 4228, Final 2013-14 state education budget: Passed 25 to 12 in the Senate
The final House-Senate compromise version of the K-12 school aid, community college and university budgets for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, 2013. This authorizes $13.361 billion for K-12 public schools (a record high in nominal terms), compared to $12.944 billion the previous year; $1.430 billion will go to state universities, compared to $1.399 billion the previous year; and $335 million to community colleges, up from $294 million. Of these amounts, $1.861 billion is federal money.
Some highlights include: A $30 per pupil "foundation allowance" increase for school districts, and $60 for ones whose spending is at the lower end. Spending on preschool programs will increase by $65.0 million to $174.6 million. Students in grades 5 to 12 will be allowed to take up to two online courses per term. Universities would get less money if they raise tuition more than 3.75 percent.
Senior Investigative Analyst Anne Schieber was a guest on “The Tony Conley Show” on WILS AM-1320 in Lansing this morning, discussing her story and video about cities adopting “cost recovery” ordinances in an effort to squeeze extra money out of law breakers by charged extra fees, particularly on cases involving drunk driving.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio writes in today’s Washington Times that unions should sacrifice some of their massive wealth to help shore up underfunded pension funds instead of seeking to reduce retiree benefits.
New data released by the Michigan Department of Education shows that the average public school teacher salary in Michigan increased slightly for the 2011-2012 school year to $62,631.
This was up 1.7 percent from 2010-2011 year, but 0.6 percent less than the all-time high of $63,024 reported by the MDE for 2009-2010.
“A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” ~James Madison
Seems you don't want to be the guy who tells the Detroit Institute of Arts that its treasures are in jeopardy if the city winds up in bankruptcy.
In typical shoot-the-messenger style, the DIA is spinning a story that Detroit Emergency Financial Manager Kevyn Orr actually wants to sell the city-owned artwork to settle a portion of the Motor City's $15 billion debt.
A group of bureaucrats and legislators expressed disdain for parents being able to choose what sort of school best fits their children at a recent “townhall” meeting, according to C & G News.
Oakland Schools Superintendent Vickie Markavitch told the crowd that “competition in education” is “the wrong path to improving student performance.”
This past fall, The Leona Group, a for-profit charter management company, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix up Highland Park schools.
The schools were filthy — toilets had to be replaced, ceilings had to be repaired, and exterminators had to be hired. After these repairs, one student told me he had never seen a classroom look so clean.
Middle school students at Corpus Christi Catholic School in Holland, Mich., extensively studied the Holocaust this spring. I was pleased to give them the outstanding documentary “The Power of Good” and also Lawrence Reed’s monograph, which relate the story of Sir Nicholas Winton and the rescue of 669 children from Prague in 1939. My visits with Nicky and with three of those saved “children” have made his story very personal to me.
Oliver Porter, who led the creation of the country’s first contract city, is interviewed in the latest edition of The Freeman, a publication of the Foundation for Economic Education. Porter will speak at a June 5 Issues & Ideas forum in Lansing hosted by the Mackinac Center and FEE. Porter will discuss how privatization and contracting can help financially distressed cities in Michigan, including Detroit.
In almost every profession, workers are compensated based on how much value their employers think they bring to the company. Of course, the workers generally want more money and the employers want to pay less, but something of equilibrium is reached, which is how the market determines wages.
Senior Legislative Analyst Jack McHugh was a guest recently on “Current State” on WKAR public radio in East Lansing, discussing why Michigan should not expand Medicaid under Obamacare.
By Jack McHugh
Senate Bill 163, Revise wetland use permit details: Passed 25 to 12 in the Senate
To expand certain exemptions to a state wetland permit mandate, increase some wetland permit fees and reduce others, require permit denials to document their rationale and authority, authorize grants to local governments to create “wetland mitigation banks,” slightly reduce wetland regulatory burdens imposed on county drain commission projects, slightly increase the state's burden to justify restrictions on an owner's use of his or her property, prohibit the Department of Environmental Quality from imposing regulations that are beyond the scope those required by federal law, and make other changes to these land use restrictions.
FBI officials raided the office of the Indianapolis Land Bank on May 28 after a months-long investigation revealed evidence its officials were receiving kickbacks for selling properties to favored nonprofit groups.
The land bank's director, Reginald Walton, has been charged.
Imagine a world where you could have anything you desired and could jettison those things you don’t. For example, I recently purchased a CD box set of the band 10cc, and I could do without the majority of songs recorded after Lol Crème and Kevin Godley departed the group. Likewise, I’d love it if 1964’s “Beatles for Sale” didn’t include the song “Mr. Moonlight,” which I humbly consider the nadir of the Fab Four’s entire body of work.
On the “Craig Fahle Show,” on WDET last Thursday, Oakland Schools Superintendent Vickie Markavitch joined Tri-County Alliance Executive Director Mark Burton to talk about a range of educational issues. Unfortunately, the program was misleading in many ways.
Critics of policies enabling parents to choose what type of public school their children attend often claim that these policies will increase racial segregation in public education. But support for this claim is largely based on poorly designed or flawed studies. Matt Chingos of the Brookings Institute examined this issue as it relates to charter schools, and found no evidence that allowing parents to choose charter public schools increases racial segregation.
With a push from Gov. Snyder, the business community, public employee unions and most of the significant lobbying groups in the state, both branches of the Legislature have proposed budgets that significantly expand spending on early childhood education.
Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek’s Op-Ed about recent data showing the success of Michigan’s charter public schools appeared in the “Cross Country” column of Saturday’s Wall Street Journal.
James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy, is cited in the Lansing State Journal and by WZZM-TV13 in Grand Rapids about data showing state employees in Michigan having higher average compensation than their peers in other states.
“I would hope they have a conversation about this,” Hohman said. This is primarily why state government costs more every year.”
By Jack McHugh
Senate Bill 198, Amendment to accept federal health care law Medicaid expansion: Failed 13 to 25 in the Senate
To accept $1.53 billion in federal money to expand Medicaid eligibility under the terms of the federal health care law ("Obamacare"). The amendment offered by Democratic Sen. Vincent Gregory would also shift $181 million in current state health care spending onto the federal budget, making those funds available for other purposes in the short-term, but the terms of the expansion would require more money from State of Michigan taxpayers in a few years. Republican Sen. Roger Kahn joined all Democrats in voting "yes." This vote is not necessarily the final answer on this issue.
Michigan taxpayers will be providing corporate welfare to a production company outside the state for a film shot entirely in another country, according to an article on MLive.
The article reported that the documentary, “Original Bethlehem,” was awarded $65,270 in subsidies for $217,566 spent in Michigan.
There's an amusing story that demonstrates how focusing too much on one aspect of a situation can obliterate one's view of the bigger picture.
Once there was a lonely magician who went to a pet shop seeking a companion.
“You're in luck,” the shop clerk said. “We have a parrot for sale that is so smart he can carry on conversations. Just be careful what you teach the parrot in the first few weeks. Parrots are very intelligent, but they have one-track minds. Once the parrot locks in on what you want him to do, he'll never change.”
The financial challenges faced in the Buena Vista and Pontiac school districts have been a hot topic for many weeks now, with several commenters trying to use these districts’ issues to make a case for giving schools more money.
But school districts do not simply find themselves one day without any cash on hand. It takes years of financial (not to mention academic) mismanagement to get to the point where the Buena Vista and Pontiac school districts have placed themselves.
