MICHIGAN TRUTH SQUAD ANALYSIS: “Happy Birthday From Governor Snyder” Who: Joel Charles Featured Material: Web video Truth Squad Call: Foul To background sounds of the Beatles’ “Birthday,” Gov. Rick Snyder is portrayed in a clownish birthday hat, noisemaker in mouth and birthday cake in front of him. What follows is an attack on Snyder’s plan […]
Roger Kahn
Posted inPeter Luke: Eye on the Capitol
Analysis: Political reality may flatten Snyder's tires
Let’s just say that when Gov. Rick Snyder made his most robust case yet for boosting the annual budget for fixing Michigan’s highways last week, no one on the Senate or House Appropriations committees asked what might be the most appropriate question: “Why only $1.2 billion?” Actually, a plan that raises the gas tax and […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
What does an additional penny of gas tax buy?
For each penny of gas or diesel tax, Michigan gets about $45 million for transportation funding needs that include roads. There are lots of road cost variables, but that $45 million might buy, for example, 23 more lane miles of reconstructed roads or 75 additional lane miles of repaired roads. Or, it could enable the […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Snyder adviser, educator pull no punches before large audience at education summit
MAKING HIS CASE: Sen. Roger Kahn (far left) discusses the need to vastly increase funding for early childhood programs during a panel at the Center for Michigan’s “Future of Education” summit in Lansing Tuesday. “If the governor’s budget falls short, I’ll push for $140 million,” Kahn said. (Bridge photo/Lon Horwedel) Oakland Schools Superintendent Vickie Markavitch […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Online ed expansion, school choice plan murky in 2013
A proposal to revise the state’s School Aid Act to allow state funding to follow students to where they take individual classes will not be part of Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget proposal next month, but could make its way into legislative discussions over that budget. None around Lansing were willing to commit to any course […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Online ed expansion, school choice plan murky in 2013
A proposal to revise the state’s School Aid Act to allow state funding to follow students to where they take individual classes will not be part of Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget proposal next month, but could make its way into legislative discussions over that budget. None around Lansing were willing to commit to any course […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Bolger backs bigger dollars for early childhood
House Speaker Jase Bolger, freshly elected to a second term to head Michigan’s House of Representatives, added his voice Wednesday to a growing coalition of political leaders in favor of increased state spending on early childhood education. “We should expand early childhood education opportunities as investments to help kids succeed. Those investments also will provide […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Senate poised to tweak teacher retirement plan; major shift deferred in face of cost estimates
When the Legislature reconvenes tomorrow, the question of what to do about the Michigan Public School Employee Retirement System – or MPSERS – may get a clear answer from the Senate. After failing to approve a House of Representatives reform plan on repeated occasions, or coalesce around their own change, the Senate appears ready to […]
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 […]
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