EDUCATION - UP OR DOWN? Michigan Governor's Battle Key K-12 School Funding

Economy Depends on Continued "Production" of Quality Students

October 6, 2014
By: Dave Rogers

The niff-naw over state education funding would drive even a CPA batty, but the bottom line, as defined by the authoritative Bridge Magazine, seems to be:

"But the minimum effective foundation allowance has remained relatively flat since Snyder took office in 2011, standing at $7,146 in fiscal 2010-2011 and $7,187 for 2014-2015."

Dueling teacher ads from the campaigns of Gov. Rick Snyder and Democratic challenger Mark Schauer both have been deemed fouls by relatively impartial observers.

Bridge Magazine, a publication of The Center for Michigan, produces independent, nonprofit public affairs journalism and is a partner with MLive.

The Bridge called Snyder's school funding ad a "foul" while Schauer's school ad drew a request from Snyder to television stations to pull the ad, calling it "lies."

Pity the poor voter who must sort out mind-boggling charges and counter-charges to cast an intelligent vote.

In more than 50 years of writing about education as a newspaper reporter and editorial writer, startling trends have emerged: the percentage of families with children in school has dropped dramatically, and the percentage of poor children in school has risen.

This has led inexorably and almost imperceptibly to a lessening of interest among politicians to support public K-12 education. Children, especially poor children, just don't have the attention of lawmakers as was the case, say, in the 1950s.

What this leads to is what we see now -- the dollars flowing more to higher education or to other uses like tax cuts for corporations.

High achieving college students of good character were drawn to become teachers and school administrators because the benefits and security more than made up for the relatively low pay.

Now, shifting demographics (i.e., fewer families with kids in school) have undermined the desire of lawmakers to support K-12 schools.

Only three out of four students in Bay and Saginaw counties graduate from high school on time, near the state average of 76 percent, while Arenac and Midland counties are at about 85 percent.

(See Michigan League for Public Policy, http://datacenter.kidscount.org/)

We cannot fail to educate 15-25 percent of students and expect they will not become a burden on society. Costs of prison and welfare are 10 times higher than education; that is a lesson in basic math that legislators never seem to get.

Also, the more or less experimental charter school movement has drawn support away from the public K-12 system.

The foundation of our democracy, and our economy, is public education. We cannot slice it, dice it, tinker with it and still expect the same outcome.

We cannot pay teachers less and offer less security through undermining their collective bargaining process and expect the results that got us where we are economically today.

Political antipathy for the union movement should not spill over to education where ability and stability of personnel is mandatory.

Of course there are abuses in unions, but destroying the public schools to get rid of unions is not the answer to stabilizing and improving education that is vital to our society.

Ireland took itself, finally, out of the middle ages through its national school system that supported public and parochial schools alike. Now, a nation of serfs who lived in huts burning peat for fuel is a center of high tech economy. Why are U.S. firms moving there? The ability of employees produced in the educational system, obviously.

Germany has just eliminated all tuition for college students, something California had in place for many years. Such a program in the U.S. would surely reduce the student loan crisis.

Since economic development and growth are goals of operatives of all political stripes, shouldn't support public education be unequivocal?

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