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So-called "Cyber Charter Schools" run by for-profit companies reportedly have 20,000 students getting state funding in Michigan.

LAST QUACKS OF 2014: Time Runs Out on Legislature's Education Tinkering

Parents Group Opposes Early Warning Bills as "Excuses for State Takeovers"

December 23, 2014       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

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As the "lame duck" session of the Michigan Legislature quacked to a halt last Friday, several important education bills were adopted while others fell by the wayside.

A controversial "early warning" system for school finances was pushed to 2015. Here's what the Tri-County (Macomb, Oakland, Wayne) Alliance for Public Education has to say about the bills:

"These bills require limitless reporting, do nothing to prevent schools from falling into distress and provide ZERO financial support or resources to help troubled schools. Most concerning is that the school community tried to work in good faith with Senate leadership to improve the bills, but the sponsors were unwilling to compromise and disregarded our suggestions. When these bills were voted on in the Senate they received bipartisan opposition, and we are hopeful with your help we can reach members of the House as well."

To take action and remind your lawmakers that schools need adequate funding and not more excuses for state takeover, please follow this link: http://www.capwiz.com/miparentsforschools/issues/alert/?alertid=6397148

The Tri-County group had issued an "alert" about the bills on Dec. 16:

"These bills escalate the penalties for districts in financial difficulty - and layer on reporting requirements that seem primarily aimed at placing blame on the locals - while completely failing to acknowledge that districts might be in distress because of the actions of the Legislature.

"The bill package continues the neat shift of blame: the Legislature and Governor make the decisions about school funding, but the responsibility for cutting programs and opportunities available to our children is left for local school boards to shoulder.

"At base, there are two competing stories about what is happening to our schools, and one of them is driving these bills forward.

--The Fiction - Bill supporters clearly believe in the story that local public schools are simply another example of wasteful government bureaucracy. That story makes our public schools sound as if they were created to be a jobs program for unionized teachers. Incompetent or politicized school board members and self-interested administrators spent money irresponsibly and then have refused to face the financial consequences.

--The Reality - The true story, in the vast majority of districts, runs more like this: all school districts, especially smaller ones, have worked hard to keep their budgets balanced and maintain a quality education. But state funding that has not kept up with needs, along with enrollment losses (as people left the state, and to charters), have forced districts to cut their budgets year after year. Those cuts have meant the end of arts, career and technical, language and other programs not required under state law. School libraries are only open sporadically (if at all), and school nurses cover many buildings. Most notably, class sizes have continued to increase year after year.

"Because of the way our schools are funded, every child that leaves costs the district more money than it saves from having one less student. So budget cuts cause families to look elsewhere, which drives more budget cuts, which scares off more families, and so on. We call it the "death spiral," and many districts are caught in that bind today. Most others are barely keeping their heads above water.

"Instead of helping those districts, the "deficit early warning" bills would punish them for financial troubles caused largely by the state and then justify having the Treasury Dept. take them over to slash spending and speed up their demise."

The Tri-County Alliance for Public Education is a coalition of education leaders committed to fighting for strong K-12 schools in Michigan. The group's statement of purpose: "We work hand in hand with education leaders across the state to achieve one common goal: Ensuring all Michigan children have access to a quality public education.

"To rebuild Michigan education after years of budget cuts, we urge policymakers to address these three core themes:

"Restoring full and fair funding: The state has cut millions of dollars from our schools since 2010 -- amounting to hundreds of dollars per student. This makes it harder for our kids to compete. It's time to invest it in our future -- our kids -- and restore school funding cuts.

"Tackling child poverty: Half of Michigan's students live in poverty and more than 37,000 are homeless. When kids can't feed themselves, properly stay warm in the winter or even find shelter, they cannot learn. Michigan must take a more aggressive approach to fighting poverty among our schoolchildren and we can no longer afford to ignore this problem.

"Protecting local control: Lansing politicians are meddling in local school issues, making it harder for our teachers to teach and kids to learn. Education policy should be crafted by education experts, teachers, parents and those on the front lines of education."

One last-minute legislative accomplishment was an amendment to Matt's Safe School Law made cyber bullying an official offense under Michigan law.

The House approved Senate Bill 74 65-45 Friday morning. It defines cyber bullying as "any electronic communication intended to harm one or more students by interfering with education opportunities, adversely affecting a student's ability to participate in school or district education programs, having an actual or substantial negative effect on a student's mental or physical health or causing a substantial disruption the operation of the school."

All public school bullying policies must be updated within six months to include cyber bullying once the bill is signed.

As reported by Kyle Feldscher, capitol reporter of mlive.com, education bills that died during the recent "lame duck" session included:

  • Reforms to charter schools proposed by Democrats in October. "Despite the fact that charter school reform is a hot topic in education at the moment, the bills never really got off the ground and died in the House," Feldscher wrote.

  • "Early financial warning system: A package of bills that would have made it easier for the state to appoint an emergency manager to a school district while also providing a framework so districts in financial trouble could be noticed earlier died in the House after passing the Senate."

  • Teacher evaluation reforms:

  • "The expansion of the EAA (Education Achievement Authority): This legislation was passed in one form or another by both the House and Senate but languished on the Senate floor as time ran out.

  • "Third-grade reading: Reforms that could have held back some of Michigan's third graders if they didn't reach a certain level never got out of the House.

  • "More historical instruction on genocide: Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville's bill that would have required more instruction on genocides passed the Senate but died in the House."

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    Dave Rogers

    Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
    respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
    (Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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