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MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST
June 24, 2008

Contents of this issue:
  • Lawton administrators change insurance, share in savings
  • Petoskey to continue savings with food service privatization
  • DPS overspending pegged at $408 million for 2009
  • MESSA costs go up 17.5 percent for Swan Valley
LAWTON ADMINISTRATORS CHANGE INSURANCE, SHARE IN SAVINGS
LAWTON, Mich. — Administrators in the Lawton Community Schools will share in the savings after agreeing to switch to a less expensive insurance, according to the Paw-Paw Courier-Leader.

The administrators agreed to switch from MESSA SuperCare I to Choices II, saving the district about $18,000. Half of that will be returned to the administrators, either in cash or an annuity, the Courier-Leader reported. The Michigan Education Special Services Association is a third-party administrator affiliated with the Michigan Education Association school employees union. MESSA outsources insurance underwriting to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, and then resells the insurance to school districts.

Lawton administrators also will receive a 2 percent raise, according to the Courier-Leader.

SOURCE:
Lawton Courier Leader, "Lawton schools add full-day kindergarten," June 23, 2008
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19795322&BRD=2188&PAG=461& dept_id=414962&rfi=6

FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "MESSA targets Lawton schools for attaining claims data," April 29, 2008
http://www.educationreport.org/9424

PETOSKEY TO CONTINUE SAVINGS WITH FOOD SERVICE PRIVATIZATION
PETOSKEY, Mich. — Petoskey schools has extended its contract with Chartwells after saving $150,000 in its food service program, according to the Petoskey News-Review.

Chartwells, which had been overseeing the supervision of Petoskey's food service, took over operations last year as well, the News-Review reported.

SOURCE:
Petoskey News-Review, "Petoskey School Board votes to continue outsourcing food service," June 20, 2008
http://www.petoskeynews.com/articles/2008/06/20/news/doc485bb9006359e951733529.txt

FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "Petoskey schools contract for food service," Aug. 7, 2007
http://www.educationreport.org/8874

DPS OVERSPENDING PEGGED AT $408 MILLION FOR 2009
DETROIT — Detroit Public Schools could cut 1,400 staff members in an attempt to solve a $408 million overspending issue in the fiscal 2009 budget, according to The Detroit News.

DPS enrollment is expected to drop to about 98,300 students when classes resume in the fall, The News reported. That is down from 167,000 students in 1999-2000. The number of teachers during that time span has fallen from 8,600 to 6,300. About 800 teachers could be included in any staff reductions.

SOURCE:
The Detroit News, "Detroit schools' layoff target balloons to 1,400," June 21, 2008
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080619/SCHOOLS/ 806190352/1409/METRO

FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Report, "DPS loses 12,000 students, $90 million in revenue," April 22, 2008
http://www.educationreport.org/9418

MESSA COSTS GO UP 17.5 PERCENT FOR SWAN VALLEY
SHIELDS, Mich. — Swan Valley schools is facing a $33,000 budget hole, thanks in part to a 17.5 percent increase in union insurance costs, according to The Saginaw News.

Swan Valley will pay MESSA about $190,000 more next year, The News reported.

The Michigan Education Special Services Association is a third-party administrator affiliated with the Michigan Education Association school employees union. MESSA outsources insurance underwriting to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, and then resells the insurance to school districts.

"We were doing pretty good until we got hit with those skyrocketing health care costs, which threw our budget off $250,000," interim Superintendent Richard P. Dyer told the school board, according to The News.

SOURCE:
The Saginaw News, "Swan Valley schools face deficit of $33K+," June 21, 2008
http://www.mlive.com/news/saginawnews/index.ssf?/base/news-26/ 121402561298450.xml&coll=9

FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "School Boards Empowered to Save Insurance Dollars," Dec. 3, 2007
http://www.mackinac.org/9148

MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST is a service of Michigan Education Report (http://www.educationreport.org), an online 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

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Related Topics: Education
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Tue., August 31, 2010
"A 10-year-old Windsor boy who completed part of his education in Michigan is being denied entry to public high school in Windsor even though he's completed the eighth-grade curriculum." >>
Mon., August 30, 2010
"Principal John Hoving is using Facebook as a way to promote Bay City All Saints Central School as well as to head off possible cyber bullying." >>
Sun., August 29, 2010
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Sat., August 28, 2010
"Public schools in Michigan were offered an automatic "A" on part of their annual state report card this year, a one-time arrangement that may have spared some from being unaccredited." >>
Fri., August 27, 2010
"More than 1,000 teacher retirements will allow Detroit Public Schools to recall all teachers from layoff and hire up to 300 more to fill staffing gaps." >>
Thu., August 26, 2010
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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 >>