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MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST
August 7, 2007

Contents of this issue:
  • Granholm wants state to pay college costs for the unemployed
  • Petoskey schools contract for food services
  • MEA sues Harrison schools for contracting teachers' aides
  • Three Michigan universities probed for student loan misconduct
  • Comment and win book money
GRANHOLM WANTS STATE TO PAY COLLEGE COSTS FOR THE UNEMPLOYED
LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Jennifer Granholm has unveiled a plan that would provide two years of free education for 100,000 unemployed Michigan residents, according to WLNS News.

The plan will allow those who are unemployed, over 18 years of age and who have a family income of $40,000 or less to receive up to two years of free tuition at a community college or technical school. Twenty-eight community colleges have already signed up for the program, WLNS reported.

Granholm will use $37 million of federal funds for the program and is also looking to take another $40 million from the state's general fund. State officials say securing this money could be difficult, but Granholm believes the program could serve as a long-term solution for improving the economy.

"Making sure that our workforce is trained for the jobs that are available is a key to our economic recovery," Press Secretary Elizabeth Boyd said, according to WLNS.

SOURCE:
WLNS, "Governor Announces Free Education for Jobless Workers," Aug. 2, 2007
http://www.wlns.com/Global/story.asp?S=6875658

FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Michigan Can't Afford Tuition Grant Program," March 10, 2004
http://www.mackinac.org/6456

Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Private Scholarships: A New Beginning for Detroit's Kids," Aug. 25, 2005
http://www.mackinac.org/7322

PETOSKEY SCHOOLS CONTRACT FOR FOOD SERVICE
PETOSKEY, Mich. — The Petoskey board of education voted 5-0 to competitively contract for its food services and are expecting $250,000 in savings, according to the Petoskey News-Review.

Petoskey contracted with Chartwells for food service management last year, and is expanding the contract to include hourly employees. Last school year, the schools paid Chartwells an administrative fee of $110 per day and 3.5 cents per meal. If the district kept its hourly employees this year, the costs would increase to 4 cents per meal and include an administrative fee of $115, the News-Review reported.

Through Chartwells, the district will pay 4.5 cents per meal, an administrative fee of $130, and a refundable $65,000 for initial payroll costs. The company is still expecting to save the district $250,000. If Petoskey had kept its food service employees, it would see a loss of $52,000, according to the News-Review.

The company plans to hire locally, and is required by contract to interview any former district food service employee. Chartwells also offers single benefits for employees who work at least 28.75 hours a week, the News-Review reported.

"I hope when we get through all this, we're protecting education as best we can," board member Tom Rellinger said at the board meeting, according to the News-Review.

SOURCE:
Petoskey News-Review, "Privatizing Petoskey school food services will cost local jobs," Aug. 1, 2007
http://www.petoskeynews.com/articles/2007/08/01/news/news03.txt

FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "School Support Service Privatization: Getting it Right," Aug. 6, 2007
http://www.mackinac.org/8810

Michigan Education Report, "Profit has a role in public schools," Feb. 23, 2007
http://www.educationreport.org/8250

Michigan Education Report, "Map: School contracting continues to grow," Feb. 23, 2007
http://www.educationreport.org/archives/2007/mer2007-01maps.pdf

MEA SUES HARRISON SCHOOLS FOR CONTRACTING TEACHERS' AIDES
HARRISON, Mich. — The Harrison school district's plan to contract for teacher assistants was halted when a Clare County court granted a temporary restraining order while reviewing the Michigan Education Association and Harrison Educational Support Professionals Association's request for an injunction, according to the Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun.

Harrison is the first district to consider contracting for teachers' aides and the union believes it is illegal. Under state law, districts are not allowed to contract for teaching positions, but can contract for support services, the Morning Sun reported.

The Harrison board voted in favor of competitive contracting and would save $249,782 in 2007-2008 by doing so. Contracting for teachers' aides is one of the many ways the schools have attempted to cut costs over the past five years, according to the Morning Sun.

A hearing date for the injunction has not been set, the Morning Sun reported.

SOURCE:
Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun, "Teacher's aide change leads to suit," Aug. 2, 2007
http://www.themorningsun.com/stories/080207/loc_aide.shtml

FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "A School Privatization Primer," June 26, 2007
http://www.mackinac.org/8691

Michigan Education Digest, "Substitute teachers privatized in Grand Rapids," May 9, 2006
http://www.educationreport.org/7701

Michigan Education Digest, "Privatized subs can save schools money," April 11, 2006
http://www.educationreport.org/7677

THREE MICHIGAN UNIVERSITIES PROBED FOR STUDENT LOAN MISCONDUCT
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York's attorney general is conducting an investigation of 39 universities, including three from Michigan, over whether the schools' athletic departments promoted a certain student loan company in return for financial incentives, according to WXYZ News.

Central Michigan University, the University of Detroit Mercy and Wayne State University are the three Michigan schools under investigation by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. All of the schools being examined in Michigan have allegedly favored Student Financial Services Inc. because of its perks and incentives. Cuomo started this investigation after looking at the relationships between loan providers and school administrators, WXYZ reported.

In his first investigation he found that schools were more likely to promote a certain loan company if they offered administrators "revenue sharing" plans, trips or other perks, according to WXYZ.

"Students trust their university's athletic departments because so much of campus life at Division I schools centers around supporting the home team," Cuomo said, according to WXYZ. "To betray this trust by promoting loans in exchange for money is a serious issue, especially when Division I schools already generate tremendous revenue from their student athletes."

Central Michigan University spokesman Steve Smith said CMU has received the request for information and is studying it. Smith noted that there are some questions as to whether the case violates legal jurisdiction.

SOURCE:
WXYZ News, "Student Loan Probe Hits 3 Michigan Schools," Aug. 2, 2007
http://www.wxyz.com/news/state/story.aspx?content_id=6ab85c78-6d74-4864-a9a9-8b837ebe14d4

FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "House Republicans introduce plan to regulate lenders' profit on student loans," April 27, 2004
http://www.educationreport.org/6515

Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Student Loans and the High Cost of College," November 1997
http://www.mackinac.org/675

COMMENT AND WIN BOOK MONEY
MIDLAND, Mich. — Go to http://forum.educationreport.org and post a comment for a chance to win a $50 book gift certificate.

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
Informative post. In order to deal with today's troubled youth, it is helpful to take a professional guidance for better teen recovery programs. Choosing a specialized organization for troubled youth is one of the most important steps for better teen recovery. Boysville is one of the non profit organization dedicated to help troubled youth with years of successful results by helping <a href=http://www.troubledteensguide.com/>troubled youth</a> to responsible individuals. Hope this organization continue their priceless support to most of the needy troubled youth with various helpful services. >>
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 >>