When Vickie Markavitch discusses the finances of traditional public schools vs. charter schools, she starts with a table of expenses, taking care to note the figures her analysis uses come from the state Senate Fiscal Agency, a reliable, nonpartisan source. Then the superintendent of the Oakland Intermediate School District starts her rundown. The per-pupil state […]
Do charters skim profit, or spend smarter?
Posted inPhil's Column
Battle lines being drawn in Michigan
I’m not sure how many people realize it yet, but … This year is clearly shaping up to be one of the most fiercely partisan in Michigan political history — and I’m not even talking about any of the races involving candidates. Completely apart from the personalities, it seems likely that there will be two […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Arizona offers balmy climes to charter schools
If charter schools are poised to grow in Michigan, they’ve already exploded in Arizona. Neighboring California leads the nation in sheer numbers of charter schools, but Arizona has everyone beat on percentages – a quarter of Arizona’s public schools are charters, growth that accelerated after the state lifted its charter cap in 1999. “We had […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“The old believe everything; the middle aged suspect everything, the young know everything” — Oscar Wilde. * It’s March Madness, so everyone’s trying to figure out how to use the temporary obsession with brackets to convey interesting or amusing information. WARNING: At this point, Michigan State University alumni and fans should stop reading. At the […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Back to school. And stay there.
My boss, Bridge editor Derek Melot, doesn’t have children. I get the idea if he did, they’d have run away to grandma’s by now, fleeing their father’s firmly held belief that what ails children is very simple: Not enough schoolin’. “If you want to get better at something, do you spend less time at it?” […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Charter schools: Different road, but still bumpy
Nearly 20 years into the experiment, public-school academies — charter schools, as they are more popularly known — would appear a rousing success. An enthusiastic Michigan Legislature, as part of a comprehensive reform package, lifted the state cap on charters late last year. The charter ranks, now at 255 schools, can start growing next year […]
Posted inTalent & Education
For parents, charters are about choice
Once upon a time in public education, when all schools were neighborhood schools and attendance was a matter of which side of the boundary lines you lived on, families like Marilyn Williams’ would have been rare indeed. The mother of two teenage daughters just two years apart, Williams’ daughters don’t just attend different classes, but […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Ex-priest loves trees, but not the woods
See that guy digging in the dirt, removing dead trees in the middle of Detroit? How did he end up there? His story starts with a middle-class upbringing in Dearborn. But as a youngster, Todd Mistor aspired to be a priest — a shepherd of flocks, not a steward of trees. And it’s a course […]
Posted inMichigan Government
A Wings fan in Wasilla?
If you’ve ever worked on a film set, you know that nothing happens by accident — at least in front of the camera. Every prop, from throw pillows on the sofa to the painting hanging on the wall behind the actors, is vetted, to use a word from contemporary politics. To not do so is […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Rick Snyder, Bill Clinton, discuss
Reading over Gov. Rick Snyder’s special message on public safety, I was struck by its rather Clintonian tone in a number of areas. I know those are fighting words to certain folks, but I make note of this not to spark a conflict, but to attract attention to the ongoing political ferment in Republican circles […]