By Stephen Henderson/Detroit Free Press Editorial Page Editor When Michigan voters said “no way” to fixing Michigan’s awful and unfair school finance structure in 1993, no one I knew was more crushed than legendary Free Press Editorial Page Editor Joe Stroud. For months, he led a passionate campaign for reform, in the face of both […]
Detroit Free Press
Posted inBusiness Watch
Billions more lost, but property value drop slowing
In five years, total Michigan property values plunged by more than $260 billion, according to an analysis of state records by Bridge Magazine. But while the decline continued over the last year, it slowed considerably. Values dropped from $725.5 billion in 2011 to $698.6 billion in 2012. Adjusted for inflation, that amounts to a drop […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Snyder, Detroit journalist offer hope for city mired in woe
I’m old enough — 74 — to remember the days when Detroit was a thriving city and a magnet for folks throughout Michigan. When I was a little boy, my mother would put on her white gloves and hat and take me to the enormous J. L. Hudson store downtown. At that time, it was […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links K-12 edition
The Center for Michigan’s new report on public attitudes on school reform drew widespread coverage from Michigan’s media this week. * mlive.com: “A majority of Michigan residents give the state’s public K-12 schools a grade of “C” or lower, and they see the best ways to fix the system as expanding access to preschool and improving […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
* Michigan charter schools get praise from Stanford University: “A new report released today by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) found that the typical student in a Michigan charter school gains more learning in a year than his or her district school peer, amounting to about an additional two months of learning […]
Posted inSuccess
Filmmaker grows ‘antidote’ to ‘ruin porn’ craze
If Detroit were an actor walking a Hollywood red carpet, it would be having a hot year. Two feature-length documentary films, “Detropia” and “Burn,” have gathered national attention for their looks at the deteriorating – and recovering – metropolis, with critics marveling at Detroit’s eye-popping vistas of decay and tarnished grandeur. But to independent filmmaker […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“Data is not information, information is not knowledge, knowledge is not understanding, understanding is not wisdom” — Clifford Stoll, American author. * A study says the financial trends for public research universities – here that means U-M, MSU and Wayne State – are grim. ” Public research universities — particularly top-tier flagship institutions like the […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“The benefits of education and of useful knowledge, generally diffused through a community, are essential to the preservation of a free government” — Sam Houston, Texan revolutionary. A task force looking for ways to improve how the state selects its Supreme Court justices suggested the creation of an “open primary” to have voters select the […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest column: Traditional polling worthless in predicting ballot-proposal votes
By Mark Grebner/Practical Political Consulting Inc. Some polls prove to be right on the money, while a few miss by five or even 10 points. But some polls that aren’t worth anything at all: The ones that try to predict how a ballot proposal will fare with the voters. When the final pre-election poll published […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Join Twitter Chat on K-12 schools
February has an extra day this year; why not take your lunch hour (noon to 1 p.m.) on Feb. 29 to join other concerned Michigan residents to discuss student learning in Michigan schools? The Center for Michigan, Bridge’s parent organization, is joining forces with the Detroit Free Press to host an online conversation about ways to improve […]
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