Broad agreement has been reached on the last of the budget bills, and the Legislature will soon adjourn. The Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Mackinac Island policy conference has come and gone. Summer, in other words, is almost here, a blessed pause before the noisy chaos of the fall’s political campaigns. So this may be […]
Rick Snyder
Posted inMichigan Government
Tallying up the Snyder administration
Rick Snyder took office in January 2011 as Michigan faced yet another budget deficit and as plenty of citizens wondered whether state government could act with alacrity. Armed with large Republican majorities in both chambers of the Legislature, and aided by a good economic tailwind, Snyder rushed through the first six months of his term […]
Posted inPeter Luke: Eye on the Capitol
Gov. Rick Snyder misses big opportunities in 2011-12
Determined to measure their work against the bipartisan legislative train wrecks of past years, Republicans who run the Legislature are pretty close to their goal of closing up shop for the summer by the end of the week (June 1). That’s three weeks ahead of last year when they overhauled the business tax code and […]
Posted inMichigan Government
GOP leaders eye state contribution in tweak to MPSERS reform bill
Confronted with concerns that a bill to revamp the teacher retirement system would lead to a mass exodus of veteran teachers this year, Republicans who control the Legislature are tinkering with Senate Bill 1040 to reform the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System. Faced with $45 billion in unfunded liability and with contributions from school […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest column: Time to play 'Moneyball' with K-12 funding
By Brendan Walsh/Grosse Pointe School Board treasurer When he proposed Michigan’s largest-ever cut in public education spending last year, Gov. Rick Snyder cited a statistic that only 16 percent of the state’s high school graduates were college-ready. “Michigan’s education system is not giving our taxpayers, our teachers, or our students the return on investment we […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Ready for college? In Michigan, likely not.
If you live in Michigan, your high-schooler is probably less prepared for college than the average American student. Your teen has only an average chance of graduating from high school, and a below-average chance of enrolling in college. And if your son or daughter makes it to campus, he or she is less likely to […]
Posted inTalent & Education
A decade of slipping: Michigan's students fall behind
Michigan is falling behind other states in preparing its teenagers for college, a trend that could hobble the state’s efforts to revitalize its economy. The percentage of Michigan high school graduates going to college has been inching upward, from 57.5 percent in 1992 to 59.4 percent in 2008, according to the National Center for Higher […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Moroun family looks to state ballot tactic to protect its business
News item: The Detroit International Bridge Company, which owns the Ambassador Bridge, wants to put a state constitutional amendment on the ballot, one that would require a statewide vote for the New International Trade Crossing bridge to go forward. There’s little mystery as to what this is really all about. The bridge company is entirely […]
Posted inMichigan Government
GOP fix for MPSERS calls for bigger checks from teachers, retirees
The way state Rep. Rick Olson sees it, there are only three places to find a solution to financial problems in the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System. “Increased contribution by employees, reductions in benefits — or find a magical money tree somewhere,” the Saline Republican said. With no magic to call on, a group […]
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 […]