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MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST
December 18, 2007

Contents of this issue:
  • Charter school enrollment breaks 100,000
  • Warren schools use radio ads to attract students
  • Brighton teachers' union discusses illegal strike
  • Public school enrollment drops 25,000; state could save $75M
  • DPS put on notice for failing to meet NCLB requirements
  • Comment and win an iPod
NOTE TO SUBSCRIBERS
Michigan Education Digest will not be distributed Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2007, or Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2008.

The first issue of 2008 will be released Jan. 8.

CHARTER SCHOOL ENROLLMENT BREAKS 100,000
LANSING, Mich. — Enrollment in Michigan's charter public schools has topped 100,000 for the first time since the charter school law was passed 13 years ago, according to The Detroit News.

Official numbers from the state Department of Education have not been released, but a survey of the state's 230 charter public schools by the Michigan Association of Public School Academies found an enrollment increase from 99,124 in 2006-2007 to 100,146 this year. The report also states that more than 10,000 students are on waiting lists for charter public schools throughout the state.

Enrollment at 79 charter public schools in the Detroit area increased by 2,122, causing some to argue that these public schools draw funding away from conventional schools, The News reported.

"Charters are OK if they're fulfilling their mission to educate children, but too many of these schools continue to draw funds away from neighborhood schools without meeting the same standards or having the same successes," Michigan Education Association Director of Communications Doug Pratt told The News. Charter public school supporters note the schools' ability to do more with less. The MAPSA survey said that charter public schools average $2,289 less per pupil in state aid than the districts in which they are located and $923 less than the statewide per-pupil allowance, according to The News.

"Not all children are the same, and parents like that each of these schools has an individual approach, whether it be performing arts, or a particular method of learning," Daniel Quisenberry, president of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies, told The News.

SOURCE:
The Detroit News, "Charter enrollment up," Dec. 12, 2007
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071212/SCHOOLS/712120369

FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "Charter Schools: 13 years and Still Growing," May 3, 2005
http://www.educationreport.org/7087

WARREN SCHOOLS USE RADIO ADS TO ATTRACT STUDENTS
WARREN, Mich. — The Warren Consolidated School District is purchasing radio ads to advertise its schools of choice registration window in hopes of attracting more students next semester, according to The Detroit News.

Last year, 236 students left the district, taking with them about $2.25 million in state aid. Because part of the blended student enrollment number used for funding comes from a count day in February, a campaign to attract students is helpful, The News reported.

"The program was set up to help families where if you have a student in a failing school, you should be able to get them out," Wyman Lare, the district's director of pupil/personnel services, told The News. "But in reality, it has created this competition. We have school districts to the south, east and north of us — all of which would be happy to take students away from us."

Other districts, however, have embraced the competition of the schools of choice program.

"In my professional opinion, it's a situation that has forced us to act more business-like," Warren Woods Superintendent Robert Livernois told The News.

SOURCE:
The Detroit News, "Fight for students reaches airwaves," Dec. 12, 2007
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071212/SCHOOLS/712120409/1026

FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Foundation Allowance: General Education," May 31, 2007
http://www.educationreport.org/8628

Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Conclusion: Competition Is Improving Public Schools for Michigan Children," in "The Impact of Limited School Choice on Public School Districts," July 24, 2000
http://www.mackinac.org/2979

BRIGHTON TEACHERS' UNION DISCUSSES ILLEGAL STRIKE
BRIGHTON, Mich. — The Brighton teachers' union may plan an illegal strike after going three months without a contract, according to The Detroit News.

The union has filed an application with the Michigan Education Association for permission to strike, despite the fact it is illegal under Michigan law for teachers to strike, The News reported. The MEA has a $10 million fund to cover legal costs associated with illegal strikes, according to The News.

"We'll use it as a last resort if we really can't get a decent or fair contract any other way," Barry Goode, president of the teachers' union, told The News.

School board Vice President Bill Anderson told The News that striking teachers could lose their jobs.

Brighton Area Schools has been on the MEA's high priority list since October. The 400 teachers have been working under a contract that expired Sept. 1, while the district's service employees' contract expired in June 2006. Teachers recently held a sit-down during contract negotiations. There have also been a sick-out and week-long teacher demonstrations. Anderson said he thinks the issue will be resolved before more extreme measures are taken.

"I think that's within reach," Anderson told The News. "I think that we're closer to settling a contract than we are closer to seeing them strike."

SOURCE:
The Detroit News, "Brighton teachers prep to strike over lack of contract," Dec. 13, 2007
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071213/METRO04/712130340/1026/rss06

FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Teacher's Strikes, Court Orders and Michigan Law," Sept. 11, 2006
http://www.mackinac.org/7922

PUBLIC SCHOOL ENROLLMENT DROPS 25,000; STATE COULD SAVE $75M
LANSING, Mich. — A drop in public school enrollment of about 25,000 students will save the state budget $75 million, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The state has seen enrollment drops for five consecutive years, with total conventional and charter public school enrollment at its lowest since 1994-1995. This is also the longest sustained student loss since public school enrollment fell more than 350,000 students from 1977 through 1986. Experts cite the suffering economy and a decrease in birthrates as reasons for such a drop. According to Kenneth Darga, state demographer, there will be 17 percent fewer students entering kindergarten in 2011 than in 1990, the Free Press reported.

Some parents have decided to take their children from public schools and enroll them in independent ones. Ann Hill, of Grand Blanc, moved her 6-year-old daughter to a Catholic school for first grade because she was concerned about decreased funding for public schools and increasing class sizes.

"We're Catholic, and there are things that the Catholic schools can offer that we appreciated," Hill told the Free Press.

SOURCE:
Detroit Free Press, "State loses 25,000 public school kids," Dec. 14, 2007
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071214/NEWS01/712140393/1001/NEWS

FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Pupil Counts," in "A Michigan School Finance Primer," May 30, 2007
http://www.educationreport.org/8579

DPS PUT ON NOTICE FOR FAILING TO MEET NCLB REQUIREMENTS
DETROIT — The Detroit Public Schools has failed to meet the requirements of federal law because it did not give students in high-poverty and underperforming schools the option to transfer to another school or receive free tutoring services, according to The Detroit News.

Under the No Child Left Behind Act, schools with a large number of students in high-poverty living conditions that also fail to meet Adequate Yearly Progress for two consecutive years are required to allow students to transfer to another school and pay for transportation. If schools still fail to improve, they are required to offer free tutoring to low-income students, The News reported.

Some of the specific issues of non-compliance for the 2006-2007 school year include: not giving adequate time for students to transfer or receive tutoring, not giving enough registration time to ensure that all interested parents could take advantage of transferring or tutoring and the biased promotion of certain tutoring service providers, according to The News.

The specifics of non-compliance for the 2007-2008 school year include: failing to send out notifications to parents identifying the schools' AYP status, notifications about the right to transfer were sent later than the first day of school and parents did not receive the minimum of 30 days to enroll their children in tutoring, The News reported.

Sharon Kelso, a Detroit resident with a granddaughter enrolled in DPS, told The News that she received a packet of information from the district about the right to transfer to another school on Nov. 29, and said the deadline for taking advantage of the option was Dec. 1, according to The News.

If the district fails to take corrective action, it may face financial penalties from the state, The News reported.

SOURCE:
The Detroit News, "State puts Detroit schools on notice," Dec. 14, 2007
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071214/SCHOOLS/712140366

FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "NCLB Falls Short of Helping Parents," Aug. 24, 2007
http://www.mackinac.org/8960

COMMENT AND WIN AN IPOD
MIDLAND, Mich. — Go to http://forum.educationreport.org and post a comment for a chance to win one of three iPods.

MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST is a service of Michigan Education Report (http://www.educationreport.org), a quarterly newspaper published by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy (http://www.mackinac.org), a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational institute.

Contact Managing Editor Sarah Grether at
mailto:med@educationreport.org

To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to
http://www.educationreport.org/pubs/mer/listserver.aspx?Source=MED
Related Topics: Education
Michigan Education Daily
Tue., January 6, 2009
"Increased energy, health care and retirement costs, coupled with declining enrollment and uncertain state funding, have pushed a number of public school districts into the red." >>
Mon., January 5, 2009
"More students will earn high school credit online and off campus in Michigan in 2009 due to a pilot program allowing some school districts to bypass "seat time" requirements." >>
Tue., December 23, 2008
"Southfield Public Schools wants to freeze teacher wages but offer educators lump sum payments if enrollment improves." >>
Mon., December 22, 2008
"Health insurance is a key issue in stalled teacher contract negotiations in dozens of Michigan school districts, with arguments over union-affiliated insurance generating talk of teacher strikes." >>
Sat., December 20, 2008
"School closing discussions are under way in Flint, Pontiac, Bloomfield Hills and Bullock Creek." >>
Thu., December 18, 2008
"Mount Pleasant Public Schools will join other schools in the area to explore forming a health insurance pool." >>
Wed., December 17, 2008
"A work group studying education spending in Michigan will recommend eliminating the Michigan Promise Grant in view of a projected $1.1 billion state budget shortfall by 2012." >>
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Lisa P
For me, either public or private could give good education to students. It really doesn’t matter whether you are in public or private school as long as you are studying and obtaining education, and providing that you can afford the expenses. One of the key ingredients to the success of a modern nation is education. As Americans emerge from the afterglow of the recent presidential elections and president-elect Obama prepares to take the reins of the country, education is a topic on the minds of many. What will he do to improve the lot of students and teachers in America? According to an article at The Apple, Obama’s first order of business when it comes to education will be to look at No Child Left Behind. He doesn’t want to scrap the program, but he does want to reform it, particularly when it comes to standardized testing. He does not support preparing students all year to “fill out bubbles.” Referencing schools, both Obama and vice president-elect Joe Biden support charter schools, as long as they perform up to standard. Teachers at charter schools and others are pleased with Obama's incentives like Teacher Service Scholarships and various pay rewards – this will certainly be a great help. Furthermore, part of the president-elect’s main concern is to boost Early Head Start programs and provide tax credit for college education. The course to repair faith in the American educational system through these ideas and more will definitely lead to the kind of credit repair the country needs. Click to learn more about <a title="What is Credit Repair?" href="http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/what-is-credit-repair/">Credit Repair</a>. >>
johnson
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llsmith
Testing is not the answer. All it does is give the "teacher" a basis for determining a grade. And, we all know that grading and grades are circumspect. Rather, a more true measure of learning is when the learner (i.e., the "student" using traditional and aniquated terminology and stereotyping) wants to know more about a topic or issue. This expression of desire for more is an affirmation that the learner has mastered current concepts and material and now wants to move on. In this scenario no test nor grade is necessary. What should be necessary is for the provider (i.e., the "teacher") to have the next level or dimension of concepts and materials readily available to present and apply once the learner expresses the desire to move on.

What we need is a system that is designed to cater to this basal learning behavior and can be applied in real time. Take a look at the definitive treatment "Education in America -- What's to Be Done?" developed by Trigon-International. This commission report presents an end-to-end solution that is actionable and affordable. >>
samuel
$400 K, try $400 million >>
terrym2442
Thank you to Lorie Shane and Marcie Lipsitt for blowing off the cover, exposing one of Michigan's "dirty secrets."

As the parent of a child with special needs in Michigan, it's been an uphill battle since day one to get the APPROPRIATE services for my child. Sadly, the bar is held too low for our kids. Upon graduating, if the student is not capable of attending college, he/she is warehoused into post-secondary settings where formal academics are not offered. Perhaps if students had gotten proper academics when younger- taught by highly qualified teachers- many would have had the opportunity to move on and continue formal academics like their non-disabled peers, rather than be expected to dust shelves and bag groceries their whole lives.

Michigan's special eduation has and continues to fail our children.

>>
frick@mackinac.org
As a parent I see the value of a teacher with knowledge of both special ed methods and the subject matter. Do enough of them exist to go around? My guess is that many teachers who concentrated their schooling and training on special ed took fewer courses in subject matter (English, Mathematics, Science, etc.). There are limits on course load, number of years in college, and student finance.

As much as we want the best for every person, we are not going to have six teachers each an expert in their subject matter per one pupil. So in this world of limited resources, each person and our society have to decide how to use the resources we have. Hopefully a successful balance of flexibility and accountability can produce the desired results: educated children with the capacity to think and the ability to learn. >>
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drgrenan
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ilifflij
Parents and teachers have not had a voice. The waivers used have allowed administrators of various Michigan schools to plunk in 20 - 25 students in a classroom of students with learning disabilities. As a special education teacher, I find it very difficult to meet the individual learning objectives of that many students. >>