Calculating tuition at Grand Valley State University begins the same way every year. School officials estimate staff costs and utilities. They have a good idea how many students they’ll enroll. But the rest of the equation is dependent upon a variable beyond the university’s control or analysis: appropriations decisions made by state legislators. Last year, […]
Ron French
Ron reports on a variety of subjects across the state. Ron came to Bridge in 2011 from The Detroit News, where he was a project reporter. Born and raised in Indiana, Ron graduated from Purdue University. He reported for newspapers across Indiana before moving to Michigan in 1995. Ron lives in Okemos, and like the true Michigander he’s become, he now has a family cabin Up North. You can reach him at rfrench@bridgemi.com or 517-214-3636.
Posted inChildren & Families
Food stamps returning for some needy families
Thousands of Michigan families who were expected to lose food stamps will now keep the assistance or get it back next week. How many families? No one knows. Which families? No one knows that either. The Department of Human Services, which was very efficient at removing families from food stamps in October, is struggling to […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Tracking the consequences of Michigan's welfare experiment
More than 11,000 Michigan families were kicked off cash assistance last month in what amounted to a huge experiment in social welfare policy. No other state has removed so many families from welfare in such a short amount of time with so little notice. Bridge Magazine is collaborating with Michigan Radio in a year-long project […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Does education reform begin with teachers or parents?
Everyone wants to fix our schools. There’s only one problem: No one knows what works. A compilation of education research by the Education Writers Association comes to the conclusion that there really aren’t any solid conclusions about education reform. Teacher quality has been the political flavor this year in Michigan, with legislation aimed at weeding […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Michigan zigs, the nation zags
Michigan is clamping down on food stamp recipients while many other states are easing requirements. A report produced by the Michigan League for Human Services circulating among Lansing policymakers reveals that a number of states have dropped asset tests for food stamp recipients in the wake of a tough economy. According to the report (no […]
Posted inSuccess
Small schools dominate championships
With 171 students, Northport Public Schools has fewer kids in kindergarten through 12th grade than Okemos High School has in its marching band alone. Mackinaw City has 187 students; Alba, 174; Stanton Township, 138. All are tiny. All are poor — as judged by the percentage of students receiving federal free lunch assistance. And all […]
Posted inSuccess
Library investment pays off for Lakeshore
Lakeshore’s state academic championship for 8th grade reading began long before the MEAP tests were placed on rows of desks in the Stevensville school. For years, the district, along the Lake Michigan shore in Southwest Michigan, has resisted a statewide cost-cutting trend to eliminate librarians. When the winning eighth-graders were in seventh grade, Lakeshore created […]
Posted inSuccess
Southfield wins graduation 'game'
Football is full of statistics: rushing yards per game; total offense; turnovers; yards after catch; passing efficiency. In the end, though, the only numbers that matter are on the scoreboard. Did you win or did you lose? Southfield Public Schools doesn’t have the best 8th-grade or 4th-grade MEAP scores. And its juniors score below average […]
Posted inSuccess
Three cheers for academic success
It’s a crisp autumn Friday night in Michigan. Children jostle at a ticket booth, waiting impatiently for the chance to claim a spot in the bleachers. A father buys a hot dog, while a mother carries a stadium blanket and a camera. A high school marching band finishes its pre-game show and high-steps off the […]
Posted inSuccess
Walkerville's success is stuff of movies
If this were football, they’d make a movie. Then again, tiny Walkerville doesn’t have a football team. Pulling perhaps the biggest upset in Bridge Magazine’s Academic State Championships, Walkerville Public Schools, with 314 students and one of the highest rates of poverty among Michigan school districts, is the State Champion of 8th Grade Math. Not […]
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