Michigan Makes National News...
Washington Post: Michigan's Embarrassing School Reform Legislation - By Valerie Strauss
Michigan sometimes gets short shrift in school reform news, what with all of the publicity given this year to Wisconsin - where some Democratic legislators left the state to avoid a vote on Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to restrict collective bargaining rights of teachers - and to Ohio, where Gov. John Kasich just saw voters repeal his efforts to curb collective bargaining for public sector workers.
But it shouldn't. Michigan's legislature this year has been considered a host of Republican-sponsored bills that public school advocates see as attacks on schools and teachers.
The most controversial are a bill that lifts the cap on the number of charter schools in the state and another that does the same for virtual schools. The legislation, includes very little, if any, quality controls on charters and virtual schools. In other words, just about anything goes.
(To Read More - Click On Link)
Michigan sometimes gets short shrift in school reform news, what with all of the publicity given this year to Wisconsin - where some Democratic legislators left the state to avoid a vote on Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to restrict collective bargaining rights of teachers - and to Ohio, where Gov. John Kasich just saw voters repeal his efforts to curb collective bargaining for public sector workers.
But it shouldn't. Michigan's legislature this year has been considered a host of Republican-sponsored bills that public school advocates see as attacks on schools and teachers.
The most controversial are a bill that lifts the cap on the number of charter schools in the state and another that does the same for virtual schools. The legislation, includes very little, if any, quality controls on charters and virtual schools. In other words, just about anything goes.
(To Read More - Click On Link)
Michigan Charter And Cyber School Bills Lack Quality Controls
Huffingtonpost -
Among the bundle of Republican education bills snaking its way through Lansing is a pair of measures that, at first glance, appears to capitalize on national bipartisan trends in education reform: two bills that would dramatically expand both charter schools and cyber schools in Michigan. But the bills contain so few quality controls that even the education groups most likely to support them say they can't back them in their current forms.
Experts say that if passed unmodified, the bills could have dire consequences for Detroit, which is bound to explode with charters as the first major site for the expansion of the Education Achievement System. The EAS, a statewide special district for the worst performing schools, will pilot in the Motor City and perhaps elsewhere in Michigan next year.
Both bills passed the Senate and are awaiting approval by the House where conservative Rep. Tom McMillin (R) took over the education committee following Re. Paul Scott's (R) recall.
(To read the rest of the article - click on active link)
Among the bundle of Republican education bills snaking its way through Lansing is a pair of measures that, at first glance, appears to capitalize on national bipartisan trends in education reform: two bills that would dramatically expand both charter schools and cyber schools in Michigan. But the bills contain so few quality controls that even the education groups most likely to support them say they can't back them in their current forms.
Experts say that if passed unmodified, the bills could have dire consequences for Detroit, which is bound to explode with charters as the first major site for the expansion of the Education Achievement System. The EAS, a statewide special district for the worst performing schools, will pilot in the Motor City and perhaps elsewhere in Michigan next year.
Both bills passed the Senate and are awaiting approval by the House where conservative Rep. Tom McMillin (R) took over the education committee following Re. Paul Scott's (R) recall.
(To read the rest of the article - click on active link)
Keep an eye on education bills and keep in contact with legislators
The Legislature has only nine work days left in 2011 after it returns from break Nov. 29 to get key issues to the Governor for signature.
When it comes to education, the list of issues left to tackle include the collection of school employee union dues, so-called "education reform," and bullying.
While denying its payback for the recall of Paul Scott, the Republican-led Legislature has SB636 and HB 4588 on their agenda. Both bills prohibit public employers from collecting union dues via payroll deduction. MEA opposes the legislation. Contact your legislators and let them know that there must be an end to such partisan politics - - especially when it doesn't help kids or education and doesn't create any new jobs.
The Senate's so-called "education reform" package - - SB 618-623 - - is up for consideration in the House. The bills dismantle neighborhood schools by lifting the caps on charter and cyber schools and giving private and home-schooled students more access to public school funding. MEA opposes the legislation.
(To contact your legislator - click the active link)
When it comes to education, the list of issues left to tackle include the collection of school employee union dues, so-called "education reform," and bullying.
While denying its payback for the recall of Paul Scott, the Republican-led Legislature has SB636 and HB 4588 on their agenda. Both bills prohibit public employers from collecting union dues via payroll deduction. MEA opposes the legislation. Contact your legislators and let them know that there must be an end to such partisan politics - - especially when it doesn't help kids or education and doesn't create any new jobs.
The Senate's so-called "education reform" package - - SB 618-623 - - is up for consideration in the House. The bills dismantle neighborhood schools by lifting the caps on charter and cyber schools and giving private and home-schooled students more access to public school funding. MEA opposes the legislation.
(To contact your legislator - click the active link)
More Kids Cyberbaiting Teachers
- By Athima Chansanchai
A new report on kids' online habits reveals a "growing phenomenon" of "cyberbaiting," in which kids taunt teachers to yelling or breakdowns and then record their reactions using cellphone camcorders.
Interviews with 2,379 students of students aged 8-17 for the Norton Online Family Report showed that one in five of them (21 percent) surveyed had experienced "cyberbaiting," and dealt with the fallout of "further shame or trouble" afterward.
Perhaps some of this interaction comes from 34% of teachers who are "friends" with their students on social networks. But teachers are aware of the inherent potential for line crossing, with 67 percent of them who say those friendships exposes them to risks. Schools aren't helping them as much as teachers want, with only 51 percent of surveyed teachers saying their employers have a code of conduct on how teachers and students should interact on social networks.
(To read the entire article - click the active link)
A new report on kids' online habits reveals a "growing phenomenon" of "cyberbaiting," in which kids taunt teachers to yelling or breakdowns and then record their reactions using cellphone camcorders.
Interviews with 2,379 students of students aged 8-17 for the Norton Online Family Report showed that one in five of them (21 percent) surveyed had experienced "cyberbaiting," and dealt with the fallout of "further shame or trouble" afterward.
Perhaps some of this interaction comes from 34% of teachers who are "friends" with their students on social networks. But teachers are aware of the inherent potential for line crossing, with 67 percent of them who say those friendships exposes them to risks. Schools aren't helping them as much as teachers want, with only 51 percent of surveyed teachers saying their employers have a code of conduct on how teachers and students should interact on social networks.
(To read the entire article - click the active link)
Unions and the Public Interest
Is collective bargaining for teachers good for students?
By Richard D. Kahlenberg and Jay P. Greene
Three years after Barack Obama's election signaled a seeming resurgence for America's unions, the landscape looks very different. Republican governors in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio have limited the reach of collective bargaining for public employees. The moves, especially in Wisconsin, set off a national furor that has all but obscured the underlying debate as it relates to schooling: Should public-employee collective bargaining be reined in or expanded in education? Is the public interest served by public-sector collective bargaining? If so, how and in what ways? Arguing in this forum for more expansive collective bargaining for teachers is Richard D. Kahlenberg, senior fellow at The Century Foundation and author of Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles over Schools, Unions, Race and Democracy. Responding that public-employee collective bargaining is destructive to schooling and needs to be reined in is Jay P. Greene, chair of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas and author of Education Myths.
(To read the rest of the article click active link)
By Richard D. Kahlenberg and Jay P. Greene
Three years after Barack Obama's election signaled a seeming resurgence for America's unions, the landscape looks very different. Republican governors in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio have limited the reach of collective bargaining for public employees. The moves, especially in Wisconsin, set off a national furor that has all but obscured the underlying debate as it relates to schooling: Should public-employee collective bargaining be reined in or expanded in education? Is the public interest served by public-sector collective bargaining? If so, how and in what ways? Arguing in this forum for more expansive collective bargaining for teachers is Richard D. Kahlenberg, senior fellow at The Century Foundation and author of Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles over Schools, Unions, Race and Democracy. Responding that public-employee collective bargaining is destructive to schooling and needs to be reined in is Jay P. Greene, chair of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas and author of Education Myths.
(To read the rest of the article click active link)
OPPOSE MICHIGAN HOUSE BILL 5002
A bill that guts an exemplar workman's compensation program, that of Michigan's, has passed the State House of Representatives, House Bill 5002. There is an opportunity to stop the legislation in the Senate before this becomes law.
Testimony to date has not swayed the legislature, nor is there any economic justification for the cuts that will ensue.
Please sign the petition to The Michigan State Senate and Governor RIck Snyder, which says:
"Both on the national and state level cuts are being proposed and enacted that attack the 99% of US citizens who work for a living, the ones who create the real wealth that this nation has achieved. The most recent example of this attack is Michigan House Bill 5002, which, if enacted, will gut workman's comp. There is no economic rationale for this bill. It further benefits the wealthy at the expense of our hardest-working citizens.
House Bill 5002 harms injured working people by:
* Changing the review panel from independent career judges to political appointees,
* Denying injured workers the right to choose their own doctor for 45 comp days,
* Making the suffered "disability" harder to prove,
* Setting compensation to arbitrarily determined wages, then denying the worker compensation if those jobs are not available.
We oppose federal and state bills that further impoverish those who work and add real wealth to our nation. They undermine the means by which we can ensure economic security, and human dignity. We need jobs, not cuts. We oppose Michigan Bill 5002."
Will you sign this petition? Click here on this active link!
Testimony to date has not swayed the legislature, nor is there any economic justification for the cuts that will ensue.
Please sign the petition to The Michigan State Senate and Governor RIck Snyder, which says:
"Both on the national and state level cuts are being proposed and enacted that attack the 99% of US citizens who work for a living, the ones who create the real wealth that this nation has achieved. The most recent example of this attack is Michigan House Bill 5002, which, if enacted, will gut workman's comp. There is no economic rationale for this bill. It further benefits the wealthy at the expense of our hardest-working citizens.
House Bill 5002 harms injured working people by:
* Changing the review panel from independent career judges to political appointees,
* Denying injured workers the right to choose their own doctor for 45 comp days,
* Making the suffered "disability" harder to prove,
* Setting compensation to arbitrarily determined wages, then denying the worker compensation if those jobs are not available.
We oppose federal and state bills that further impoverish those who work and add real wealth to our nation. They undermine the means by which we can ensure economic security, and human dignity. We need jobs, not cuts. We oppose Michigan Bill 5002."
Will you sign this petition? Click here on this active link!