Now in its 16th year, Island City Academy was founded as an independent charter school in Eaton Rapids, a small town about 20 miles south of Lansing. Thomas Ackerson, its principal, said the school was born to institute a back-to-basics program that ran counter to the educational trends of the time. “The original idea was […]
Reading champs point to early prep
Posted inTalent & Education
The champs in charters
Twenty-three Michigan charter school campuses claimed at least a tie for a championship in one of eight academic categories in Bridge Magazine’s Academic Charter State Championships for the 2010-11 school year. Champion districts are listed in alphabetical order. Below the winners, you will find a searchable database of all charter school results in the eight […]
Posted inPeter Luke: Eye on the Capitol
Capitol conundrum: Fewer inmates, same high costs
Round numbers can provoke course corrections because they are easier to understand and, if large enough, shock the system. Here are a couple: 50,000 and $2 billion. The first is the inmate population barrier breached at the Michigan Department of Corrections in 2006. The department’s budget first exceeded the latter figure in fiscal year 2008. […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Poll: Voters back university funding pool
Michigan voters are supportive of state universities’ positive role in the Michigan economy. And they’re interested in looking at new ways to improve campus funding and accountability. Those are key conclusions from a new Business Leaders for Michigan poll released today. The poll of 600 statewide voters, conducted in January, found: * 92 percent support […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“Cleverness is not wisdom” — Euripides, playwright of ancient Greece. * Jack Lessenberry takes to the realm of Dome Magazine to explain why Michigan’s feeble campaign finance laws can’t put the interests of the few over the intentions of the many: http://domemagazine.com/lessenberry/jl020312 * In a column in the New York Times, Christina Romer, who formerly […]
Posted inChildren & Families
27 Mich. counties dodged welfare cuts
How big of an impact has welfare reform had on you and your neighbors? It depends on where you live. According to the Department of Human Services, 15,799 fewer families were receiving cash assistance at the end of 2011 than were receiving assistance in September, before the state imposed a lifetime limit on welfare. Here’s […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Guest post: How do we lure college grads to Michigan?
I was playing around with a variety of datasets the other day (I need a hobby) and came across a tabulation that I found quite interesting, in that it relates to the issue of attracting and retaining young people — particularly educated ones — in Michigan. Previous work that I had done showed that we […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Welfare reform leaves families without a net, and off the radar
Three months after the launch of an aggressive welfare reform, Michigan has kicked more people off the dole than expected and saved the state millions of dollars. How the approximately 15,000 families cut off from cash assistance are surviving, though, isn’t as clear. We may never know. The state isn’t monitoring the impact on those […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Michigan's surrounded — and it's a good thing
Business Leaders for Michigan, a group of some of the state’s most progressive, far-seeing corporate chiefs, has released a new 2012 Michigan Turnaround Plan – and it’s worth checking out. It lays out a far-reaching, long-term agenda that Michigan’s leading CEOs say would create nearly 500,000 jobs and increase per-capita incomes by $18,000 within 10 […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Daily life gets harder for three families
Nearly 16,000 Michigan families were banned from cash assistance last fall, in the biggest one-day reduction of welfare recipients in the state’s — and possibly the nation’s — history. Did those families blend into the work force? Did they lose their homes? Did they find help from charities, churches and nonprofits? Over 12 months, Bridge […]
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