On Friday, the financial experts in the legislative fiscal agencies and the Department of Treasury will meet to agree on a new snapshot of Michigan’s economic and fiscal situation — and the trend lines for the near future. Based on these early House and Senate releases, the news should be quite positive — if you […]
budget
Posted inPhil's Column
Behind good policy is good research
The other day, suitably fitted with required jacket and necktie, I made my way to the Detroit Athletic Club for the 95th annual meeting of the best-respected — and least-known — institutions in our state: the Citizens Research Council of Michigan. CRC is one of Michigan’s crown jewels. If you aren’t familiar with it, you […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Learning from prison cuts in other states
(Originally published Feb. 3, 2011) When Judge Steven Alm was appointed to a Honolulu felony court in 2004, it didn’t take long before the new jurist identified what he considered a major flaw in the system: Offenders on probation repeatedly flouted simple rules without sanction, until a-dozen-or-so accumulated violations sent them to state prison for […]
Posted inTalent & Education
School Daze II: How some districts keep 180 days a top priority
(Originally published Jan. 19, 2011) In the Milan School District, students spend more days in class than their peers in most other districts for a simple reason: district leaders have made it an important priority. In the 2008-2009 school year, Milan was one of a handful of districts that actually exceeded – by a single […]