Truancy rates vary dramatically from district to district. They are disproportionately high in urban areas with high poverty rates, where children and families cope with a wide range of issues including transportation, health care, and gaps in parenting skills that can create barriers to attendance. Enter the name of your school district below to view […]
Searchable database
Posted inTalent & Education
Your graduation rates may vary
It’s not a statistic highlighted in college pamphlets or admissions websites, but it’s a data point freshman should think about as they set up their dorm rooms this week: Not all of them have the same chance of graduating. White students are more likely to graduate than African-American students at almost all Michigan universities. And […]
Posted inTalent & Education
County-by-county searchable database on child abuse, neglect
Use Bridge’s searchable database to check the child abuse/neglect rate for your home county. (The rate reflects the number of reported cases per 1,000 residents age 0 to 17.) County Cases per thousand 2011 ALCONA 11.3 ALGER 6.1 ALLEGAN 17.7 ALPENA 25.9 ANTRIM 25.2 ARENAC 25.0 BARAGA 20.6 BARRY 19.0 BAY 13.0 BENZIE 18.8 BERRIEN […]
Posted inMichigan Government
See how your hometown’s checkbook is holding up
Nearly a decade ago, as Michigan struggled through a massive recession, the state Department of Treasury began to look at how the tough times were affecting the bottom lines in city and village halls across the state. These fiscal scores and Treasury’s “fiscal watch list” quickly became a source of controversy as local leaders contested […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
What's property worth in your hometown?
The total value of property in Michigan dropped about $36 billion, in inflation-adjusted terms, between 2011 and 2012. And that constitutes good news on the property front in the Great Lakes state in recent years. The $26 billion drop – a loss of 5.7 percent – is far less than the declines seen since the […]
Posted inMichigan Government
How did millages fare in your hometown?
The 80 percent of registered voters who declined to vote in the Aug. 7 primary likely missed out on at least one measure that affected their tax bills. A Bridge analysis of clerk office and media reports found hundreds of property tax millage questions on the Aug. 7 ballot. Nearly 90 percent of those requests […]
Posted inTalent & Education
See how your local schools do on college remediation
In more than 100 school districts across the state, more than half the graduates enrolling in public colleges take remedial courses — in essence repeating lessons that should have been learned in high school. Using the searchable database below of 515 public school districts with complete data, check out how your school district fares in remediation, […]
Posted inMichigan Government
See where personal property tax hits
Bills that would lead to the elimination of the personal property tax for almost all Michigan businesses are now before the Michigan Legislature. Business groups have expressed strong support for PPT repeal, arguing the levy on business equipment makes Michigan less competitive. A coalition of local government and school groups says the plan by the Snyder administration could strip hundreds of millions of dollars from local governments. The administration says most of those dollars will be replaced by state funds appropriated by the Legislature each year.
Posted inTalent & Education
The champs in charters
Twenty-three Michigan charter school campuses claimed at least a tie for a championship in one of eight academic categories in Bridge Magazine’s Academic Charter State Championships for the 2010-11 school year. Champion districts are listed in alphabetical order. Below the winners, you will find a searchable database of all charter school results in the eight […]
Posted inTalent & Education
See Detroit's champs and full district results
To determine Academic City Champions for the 2010-11 school year, Bridge Magazine collected and analyzed data for each campus in the Detroit Public Schools. All were judged by academic results relevant to their grade levels (testing at the fourth and eighth grades, ACT results and high school graduation rates for high-school grades). The results of […]