Pupils watch at opening of new charter school in Grand Rapids nature preserve. (Michigan Radio.org photo) BAY CITY LUCKY? Open Carry Guns, School Reform Tiffs Not Happening Here
March 13, 2013
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Cutting edge social issues are stirring up the citizenry in several Michigan cities -- but so far here -- not so much.
Second Amendment advocates are "packing" at Grand Rapids City Commission meetings.
School reform panels held by the State Board of Education are drawing vociferous crowds on both sides in Ann Arbor and elsewhere and another is scheduled March 20 in Macomb County.
A standing room only crowd of 300 at Ann Arbor Pioneer High last Monday faced off MSU Professor David Arsen, an opponent of Gov. Rick Snyder's school reforms, and his former student Peter Ruddell, attorney and member of the Michigan education finance team rewriting the State School Aid Act.
The "Stop the War on Women" group, seeking gun restrictions, was ejected from a Grand Rapids city meeting.
A man who periodically carries his gun on his hip at Grand Rapids meetings was barred from a recent Republican Party convention at the Lansing Center, according to news reports.
MLive.com has posted a 10-minute video of a confrontation between Phillip Hofmeister, president of Michigan Open Carry Inc., and a Lansing Center security guard and the Republican Party sergeant at arms. http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/02/open_carry_advocate_claims_mic.html
"Turmoil is happening around the state, but so far -- knock on wood - not here in the Bay City, Saginaw, Midland area.
Annarbor.com summarized the school debate: "Ruddell and those carrying out Snyder's mission say fundamentally, what they are trying to do through the Public Education Finance Act is ensure the state's $14 billion annual investment in education produces citizens that are career ready.
"The education finance act is best known as Snyder's "any time, any pace, any way, any place" plan that proposes students can take classes anywhere they want, with the state's per-pupil foundation allowance following the student from one educational institution to the next through a voucher system.
But Arsen said Monday the Public Education Finance Act was a draft and there has yet to be any revisions of it. (The bill is stalled in the Education Committee of the Legislature.)
"It lacks coherence and doesn't have practical provisions for implementing the unbundling (of per-pupil funds) or the voucher-based system," he said, adding it also ignores the fact that special needs students cost more to educate than general education students.
"This needs to be recognized in the way the state distributes money. School choice policies exacerbate the problem (and create) strong incentives to enroll low-cost students."
Hofmeister has attended Grand Rapids City Commission meetings with a gun on his hip in support of a Kentwood man's effort to update an outdated city gun ordinance.
The pair in December were confronted in a City Hall hallway by a resident who later got a "good citizenship" award.
Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell has started a gun-control task force to explore state legislation to ban guns from public meeting places.
Three members of "Stop the War on Women" from Grand Rapids were booted from the commission meeting for brandishing signs calling for a ban on guns in the meeting chambers.
John Austin, state board of education president, has scheduled discussion meetings on school reform in several areas, but none are slated yet in mid-Michigan. The schedule:
Wednesday, March 20, Macomb, 6-8 pm, Macomb Intermediate School District , Room 100,44001 Garfield Rd Clinton Twp, MI, Contact Judy Pritchett, 586-228-3470, jpritchett@misd.net
Monday, April 29, Port Huron, 6-8 Pm, St. Clair Community College , Room 150, Citizens First Michigan Technical Center, Erie St. and Glenwood Avenue, Port Huron. Contact: Shawn M. Starkey.Executive Director of Public Relations, (810) 989-5767, sstarkey@sc4.edu
Monday, May 6, Marquette: Hosted by Marquette Regional Education Service Agency, Location TBD - 1-3 pm K-12 Educators, administrators, teachers representatives 6:30-8:30 Parents, community, civic organizations and education stakeholders
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