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MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST
September 4, 2007

Contents of this issue:
  • MEA attempts to reduce health care costs
  • School employee benefits divert per-pupil funding
  • Independent schools outperform public in Southwest Michigan
  • More Michigan schools perform well under NCLB
  • Willow Run implements contract
  • Comment and enter to win an iPod
MEA ATTEMPTS TO REDUCE HEALTH CARE COSTS
LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Education Association school employees union is being criticized by its professional staff for trying to reduce benefits costs, according to several media reports.

MEA management and the United Staff Organization, a union that represents about 600 employees who work for the MEA, were negotiating last week on a new contract, the Detroit Free Press reported.

MEA management wanted the USO to accept reduced retirement benefits, which USO President Tom Greene called "hypocritical," according to the Michigan Information & Research Service, a Lansing-based political newsletter.

"I just find that totally horrendous when that is the same issue that the MEA has been fighting on behalf of MEA membership," Greene told MIRS.

MEA management is asking USO union employees to work 20 years in order to receive retiree health care that is 50 percent employer-paid. Teachers who belong to the MEA get fully paid retiree health care after 10 years of work.

"We find it completely unacceptable that MEA President Salters would propose rollbacks that would gut staff's current retirement plan," Greene told Gongwer News Service, another Lansing-based political newsletter. "Our bleak future becomes their bleak future."

SOURCES:
Detroit Free Press, "Teachers union in strike talks," Aug. 29, 2007
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070829/NEWS05/708290393

Gongwer News Service, "MEA faces possible strike," Aug. 29, 2007
http://www.gongwer.com
(subscription required)

MIRS, "MEA employees call MEA 'hypocritical,'" Aug. 28, 2007
http://www.mirsnews.com
(subscription required)

FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Report, "A 'Total Disconnect;' MEA staff salaries found to be considerably higher than teachers," May 25, 2006
http://www.educationreport.org/7721

Michigan Education Report, "MESSA reports $65 million revenue gain in one year," May 24, 2007
http://www.educationreport.org/8493

Michigan Education Report, "Growing number of districts seek solutions to costly health insurance," Dec. 15, 2005
http://www.educationreport.org/7479

SCHOOL EMPLOYEE BENEFITS DIVERT PER-PUPIL FUNDING
JACKSON, Mich. — More than 25 percent of the money schools receive to educate children is used to pay for employee benefits in some districts, according to The Jackson Citizen Patriot.

Vandercook Lake Public Schools spends more than 28 percent of its budget on health insurance for teachers and other staff. Albion Public Schools, the lowest in the Jackson area, spends just under 20 percent, The Citizen Patriot reported.

"The reality is that some of these costs are outstripping the (funding) increases we're getting," William Cole, superintendent of Jackson Western, told The Citizen Patriot. "It's really out of our hands."

Proposals in the Michigan Senate would allow school districts to form regional pools to seek lower health insurance costs. The Citizen Patriot said the Michigan Education Association school employees union is opposed to the idea because it says pooling would require the release of personal information as part of the claims data districts need to seek competitive insurance bids. Supporters of the legislation say only aggregate claims data, which doesn't include personal information, is all that districts would need for pools to succeed.

Gary Fralick, spokesman for the Michigan Education Special Services Agency, told The Citizen Patriot that releasing claims data "is a political issue aimed at destroying MESSA's pools in an effort to harm both MESSA and the MEA."

The Citizen Patriot reported that MESSA, a third-party administrator, "pumps millions of dollars into union coffers."

SOURCE:
The Jackson Citizen Patriot, "Are big benefits healthy?" Aug. 26, 2007
http://www.mlive.com/news/citpat/index.ssf?/base/news-22/1188160507290970.xml&coll=3

FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Report, "MESSA reports $65 million revenue gain in one year," May 24, 2007
http://www.educationreport.org/8493

Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "A Collective Bargaining Primer for Michigan School Board Members: (1) Association Plans," Feb. 28, 2007
http://www.mackinac.org/8304

Michigan Education Report, "Districts look to cut insurance bills through health savings accounts," Aug. 15, 2007
http://www.educationreport.org/8827

INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS OUTPERFORM PUBLIC IN SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Students at the three largest independent schools in the Kalamazoo area scored better on the ACT than the best performing public school in the area, according to The Kalamazoo Gazette.

Students from Hackett Catholic Central, Kalamazoo Christian and Heritage Christian Academy had a mean ACT composite of 23, which was more than a point higher than Portage Central High School, The Gazette reported.

"We were very, very happy with the results," Hackett Principal Tim Eastman told The Gazette. "We're going to be celebrating those scores."

Martin Ackley, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Education, said scores from public and private schools shouldn't be compared.

"You can't do a side-by-side comparison," he told The Gazette. "One reason is that not all the private schools administer the tests and the second reason is that, at the schools that do give them, not all the students take it."

Eastman, however, said Hackett and other independent schools consider public schools as their competition.

"Internally, we certainly look at how Portage and Mattawan and Kalamazoo are doing compared to us," he told The Gazette.

Michael Stripp, a retired Comstock teacher whose children attend Kalamazoo Christian High School, said the media often compares public schools against each other, even those with large differences in demographics.

"I would agree that private schools are different from public schools, no question about it," he told The Gazette. "But the public schools are different from each other, too. ... If you're going to tell the story, you should tell the whole story, and I think private schools are part of it."

SOURCE:
The Kalamazoo Gazette, "Private schools outperform public, but should scores be compared?" Aug. 26, 2007
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-25/118809840475490.xml&coll=7

FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "Students perform poorly on Michigan Merit Exam," Aug. 21, 2007
http://www.educationreport.org/8906

Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Catholic Schools and the Common Good," June 6, 2005
http://www.mackinac.org/7129

MORE MICHIGAN SCHOOLS PERFORM WELL UNDER NCLB
DETROIT — More elementary and middle schools in Michigan met the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind act in 2007 compared to 2006, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Some 177 schools, or 7 percent, failed to meet the goals established by NCLB, the Free Press reported, meaning 93 percent did meet the requirements. That is up from 91 percent in 2006.

Schools that do not meet student achievement goals set by NCLB for more than a year are classified as in need of improvement and they must offer children assigned to those schools free tutoring and the option to attend a school that has higher achievement, the Free Press reported.

Of the schools that did not meet the federal standards, more than 80 are located in the Metro Detroit area, with 55 of them in Detroit Public Schools, according to the Free Press.

SOURCE:
Detroit Free Press, "Only 7% of Michigan schools falter under federal requirements," Aug. 31, 2007
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070831/NEWS06/70831040/0/BUSINESS01

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

Michigan Education Report, "A Plus plan would permit states to opt out of NCLB," Aug. 15, 2007
http://www.educationreport.org/8813

WILLOW RUN IMPLEMENTS CONTRACT
YPSILANTI, Mich. — Willow Run schools implemented a one-year contract for its teachers union after two years of negotiations failed to produce results, according to The Ann Arbor News.

The contract freezes pay and offers no step increases while requiring teachers to pay a $2,500 deductible for their own health insurance, The News reported. The district has a $2.6 million deficit.

"This was our last best offer," board President Claudette Braxton told The News. "The bottom line is we don't have the money. We have a negative fund balance and we felt we had an obligation to do what we have to do."

Willow Run teachers earlier in the summer offered concessions worth about $500,000, according to The News.

SOURCE:
The Ann Arbor News, "Willow Run imposes contract," Aug. 30, 2007
http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-24/1188484873147160.xml&coll=2

FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "A Collective Bargaining Primer for Michigan School Boards," Feb. 28, 2007
http://www.mackinac.org/8258

Michigan Education Digest, "Ironwood board implements new contract," July 25, 2006
http://www.educationreport.org/7844

COMMENT AND ENTER TO 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=wwwMED
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User Comments
carol peterson
education is an all around development for a child
he should be mentally and physically strong


<a href="http://rescueyoursavings.com" rel="dofollow">Savings</a> >>
carol peterson
education is an all around development for a child
he should be mentally and physically strong >>
johnstfu
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Aarowman
Public servants like Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Senators, Congressmen, Judges, Secretaries of Various Departments and the like should be first to be compensated for performance.
The idea that the playing field for students is level everywhere is as Quixotic as thinking all politicians are honest and competent.
There are neighborhoods where only Portugese or gang sign language is spoken, where the parents both work two jobs to pay rent, where getting to school and back is more dangerous than Iraq and Afghanastan.
This Secretary of Education has to remove the silver spoon, roll up his sleeves and take his superior intellect attitude into the trenches and show the poor slobs that are taking their teachers jobs for granted how he would do it. Just because his mommy used to help out in Chicago doesn't give him the Congression Medal of Honor. Actually he's a stuffed shirt pretending to know it all.
How much do you want to bet that he wouldn't attempt entering these neighborhoods let alone these schools without security. >>
verdemont resident
This article is tucked away yet is profoundly correct. Parents are pseudo parenting little objects of consumption. Teens, professionals, working moms like the "idea" of a child but are not in for the long haul and everyone loses.

Schools are enabling parents to do precious little. The time parents spend with their children is the only thing that matters. Bussing needs to be cut, school breakfast, lunch, and afterschool care needs to be stopped. Parents will grow that bond by sacrificing the nails, hair, parties, drugs, quads, vacations, etc. and making a lunch for their child and arrangements to be home when the child is out of school. No one is that poor that they can't provide a boloney sandwich, a baggie of pretzels, an apple, 50 cents for a milk, and two cookies each day.

Please respond!

>>
JackI
Is it true that young ones today are losing interest on these subjects? Obviously, the White House is promoting programs that will help students on coping up with math and science subjects. But, The federal government thinks that the quality of math and science education can repair credit with the scientific community and improve US education with a few <a rev="vote for" title="U.S. Government Spends $250 Million on Science and Math" href="http://personalmoneystore.com/Payday-Loans/ ">payday loans</a> of sorts. In reality, it will take far longer to accomplish than they might think – US educators can't even get students to accept that "irregardless" isn't a word, and the difference between their, they're, and there – our students can't even learn their own language! It's a noble aim, to be sure, but throwing money at it may not work in the long run. >>
beggarsall
I am a teacher in the same county who is presently trying to quit the union. Like Caldwell, I strongly disagree with the MEA.

This article was timely.

Rob Olson
Pittsford Area Schools

>>
rickolson
I agree this is a change worth making. I describe some of the uneven effects of the idea on my blog at http://rickolson.blogspot.com/2009/08/statewide-health-insurance-plan-for.html which you may also wish to read.

The devil will be in the details, so this is one we will need to monitor closely.

Rick Olson from Saline, former school Business Manager >>
MichelleO

Nowadays, saving money is very crucial and properly investing the money can keep you and your family away from the effect of the financial crisis. The sad news is that a lot of the options for short term funding have been drying up. Short term funding is a necessary thing to have around, and going through traditional channels such as banks isn't an option for a lot of people anymore – basically it's only open to Ken Lewis. Installment loans are an option, but some people, including senior citizens, have been thinking about raiding their retirement fund. Getting into your pension retirement plan or 401(k) funds is the last thing you want to do if you don't qualify for any withdrawals yet. The penalties are substantial, and you'll end up needing installments loans to pay them if you use retirement funds for <a rev="vote for" title="Installment Loans Reliable Option As 401(k)s are Dwindling" href="http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/05/17/installment-loans-reliable-option-401ks-dwindling/">short term funding</a>.


>>
QUEEN_BEE_09
I AGREE >>