Michigan school districts are profiting from taxpayer-funded online academies that teach home-schoolers electives like ice skating and animal husbandry. The programs are legal, but the state is cracking down, alleging some districts are overcharging taxpayers.
Michigan K-12 schools
Posted inTalent & Education
Growth of nontraditional school programs costs Michigan $260M, study finds
As enrollment declines, Michigan districts are turning to two-year kindergarten programs, placing teachers in private schools and academies for home-schoolers.
Posted inTalent & Education
Frustrated by teacher shortages, Michigan educators offer their solutions
Want to solve Michigan’s teacher shortage? A new report skips policymakers and asks the state’s teachers what they would do. More class support and financial incentives to new teachers would help, they say.
Posted inTalent & Education
Preschoolers, older college students win in Whitmer education budget
Michigan’s governor proposes a big move toward universal pre-K and free training and college for adults in a budget that includes the biggest school aid increase in 20 years. State university funding? Meh.
Posted inTalent & Education
Michigan schools revolt: We won’t flunk struggling third-grade readers
In what amounts to a mutiny against Michigan’s “read-or-flunk” law, school districts around the state tell Bridge they don’t plan to make students repeat third grade because of poor reading scores.
Posted inTalent & Education
Gov. Whitmer launching effort to undercut Michigan’s third-grade reading law
An estimated 5,000 students could be flagged to repeat third grade because of low reading scores. In her State of the State address, Whitmer will unveil a plan designed to help parents get around the Republican-backed law.
Posted inTalent & Education
Michigan offers little help for child care. That may change in 2020
A critical mass of business, political and education leaders pushes for reforms to increase child care access and affordability for low- and middle-income Michiganders.
Posted inTalent & Education
Michigan residents say they oppose uncertified teachers leading classrooms
A strong majority of Michiganders say the state must reduce the number of schools relying on long-term substitutes and find ways to ensure trained teachers are educating students, Bridge Magazine polling shows.
Posted inTalent & Education
Michigan inches toward universal pre-K as leaders support 2-year kindergarten
With bipartisan support in Lansing and a push from parents, two-year kindergarten programs are growing across the state, effectively leading the state toward a form of universal preschool.
Posted inTalent & Education
A look back at our most impactful Michigan education coverage in 2019
A wedding planner teaching science. Flunking kindergarten to save on daycare. Protests to keep a high school. Our top 2019 education stories revealed how money and anxiety are quietly reshaping Michigan education.