Michigan State University professor David Arsen recently appeared on public radio to discuss the findings of his new research into the causes of school district financial distress.
Arsen’s research lays most of the blame for growing deficits and shrinking fund balances at the feet of state policymakers. In an accompanying article he co-authored with two other education professors and an economist, he argues that these policies exacerbate the declining enrollment trend experienced widely across Michigan and “reinforce a fierce downward spiral,” particularly in high-minority urban districts.
In a critique of our recently published study on the relationship between school spending and academic achievement, Bruce Baker, a professor at Rutgers University, raises technical concerns that lead him to question our empirical methodology and qualitative conclusions. The nature of his comments suggests that a select group of previous research, which stand in contrast to our research in both empirical approach and qualitative findings, are methodologically superior and show a positive relationship between spending per pupil and student achievement. We address both the general and technical concerns Baker raises and describe why our research improves over the earlier papers by Papke and Roy.
In a recent Detroit News op-ed I wrote about a practice called “release time,” where union officials are kept on government payrolls and allowed to do union work on the taxpayer’s time. This happens in many school districts across the state.
Detroit Public Schools provides release time for union officials, but the union reimburses most of these expenses, an important point that I did not clarify but should have. In a letter to the editor, Judge Stephen Rhodes called out this oversight and he is correct.
The New York Times has a good write-up on occupational licensing laws across the United States. Many of these laws are needless and make it more difficult for individuals to find gainful employment. But there is some bipartisan work being done to reform them. From the story:
When the Michigan Legislature passes a bill by wide margins, it is usually signed into law, regardless of how good the actual policy is. But a bill that would have discriminated against certain auto parts and added red tape for consumers and businesses was recently vetoed by Gov. Snyder.
Unlike Washington D.C., Michigan’s state government is constitutionally prohibited from spending more than it takes in each year and borrowing to make up the difference. Yet state taxpayers are still liable for large amounts of state debt, for purposes both practical and problematic.
By Jack McHugh
House Bill 5641, Authorize PPOs to let protected individual keep phone number: Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate
To allow an individual under a personal protection order to get control of a cell phone number from the person against whom the protection order is required. Courts would be authorized to order the phone company to make it so.
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.
