Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is left out of negotiations as legislators boost budget for state $15.2 billion. The budget doubles the number of literacy coaches, but critics say the funding isn’t enough to improve test scores.
Talent & Education
To prosper, Michigan must be a more educated place. Bridge will explore the challenges in education and identify policies and initiatives that address them.
Posted inTalent & Education
As Detroit schools rebuild, a veteran and aviation academy show a way forward
Backers of Davis Aerospace Technical Academy refused to allow Detroit to shut one of the only high schools in the nation to train aviation mechanics. Their success suggests a disconnect between Detroiters and their schools is beginning to mend.
Posted inTalent & Education
As Michigan schools ban cellphones, reports surface of ‘talking,’ ‘eye contact’
Studies are increasingly drawing links between heavy student cellphone use and anxiety and lower achievement. In one suburban Grand Rapids district, a phone ban may be spawning something else … conversation.
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Michigan GOP proposes 0.9% funding boost for colleges and universities
Most universities and community colleges wouldn’t get enough of a funding hike to cover inflation under the latest budget plan in the Michigan Legislature. That’s frustrating for a state already ranked 44th in the nation in per-pupil funding of higher education.
Posted inTalent & Education
Michigan schools would get 2.4 percent hike in GOP budget plan
Michigan Gov Gretchen Whitmer, who campaigned on the promise to improve Michigan’s struggling public schools, didn’t get as much as she wanted in next year’s state education budget.
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Is Michigan school spending up or down? Pension problems muddy the answer
The rising cost of unfunded pension liabilities is a drag on Michigan schools, according to a new report.
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Report: Funding cuts, high tuition spawn a cost crisis at Michigan colleges
A “perfect storm” of falling wages, state disinvestment in higher education and stingy financial aid has made Michigan a tough place for low-income college students to succeed.
Posted inTalent & Education
As Lansing debates funding, schools struggle to pay teachers, fix roofs
Amid political disagreements about school funding, Michigan’s smallest district and its most geographically expansive face common problems: Not enough money to boost disadvantaged students. And roofs that need replacing.
Posted inTalent & Education
Michigan teachers: Flunking won’t help kids read. We have better ideas.
Bridge spoke with 29 Michigan teachers in a Facebook group about the read or flunk law that hits third-graders this year. They’re dubious the law will improve literacy but have plenty of other ideas.
Posted inTalent & Education
Detroit superintendent: Parents should demand end of long-term subs
Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, center, took to Twitter over the weekend to blast the use of long-term substitute teachers to lead Michigan classrooms. And he’s doing something about it. (Bridge file photo)