By Jeff Salisbury
“All I know is what I read in the papers” – Will Rogers Sr.
Sadly, this is real news… not satire… because you just can’t make this stuff up…
Series of hearings on academic struggles in Michigan classrooms continues
Friday, December 04, 2015
LANSING, MI (
WHTC) – A third hearing on Michigan’s academically failing schools has been scheduled by state Senate Education Committee Chairman Phil Pavlov for next Wednesday morning (Dec. 9).
Wait for it… wait… wait… Veronica Conforme, chancellor of the Education Achievement Authority, and wait for it… wait… wait… Cindy Schumacher, executive director of the Governor John Engler Center for Charter Schools, will testify about their agencies’ work related to improving schools and districts that are struggling in the classroom. The St. Clair Republican began these hearings last month aiming to come up with solutions for these “persistent problems.”
“Oh, people don’t even know. If poor people knew how rich rich people are, there would be riots in the streets.” – Chris Rock
Economic inequality: It’s far worse than you think
(Posted on December 4, 2015)
The research shows that the average American believes this to be true:
That the richest 20% of citizens most likely own something like 60% of the wealth and that the bottom 40% most likely own about 10% of the wealth in this country.
The reality is strikingly different.
• The top 20% of US households own more than 84% of the wealth.
• The bottom 40% of US households combine for a paltry 0.3%.
One set of family members… the Walton family, for example, has more wealth than 42% of all American families combined.
Such striking income disparity creates all forms of other inequalities… educational inequality, social inequality, racial inequality, mental, physical and emotional health inequality and on and on.
I don’t think this is what the Founding Fathers envisioned for our destiny as a nation.
For more – if you ready for some cold hard truths…
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/economic-inequality-it-s-far-worse-than-you-think/
This final news story is so rich with irony it’s hard to know where to begin. But no comment is more ironical than statements by State Rep. Tim Kelly, who moved to Michigan 20 years ago from Indiana when Governor John Engler asked him to be his Education Policy Advisor from 1995-1999. Kelly also served as Governor Engler’s special envoy and representative to the State Board of Education, all this while the Governor and his advisor were “negotiating” with then-mayor of Detroit, Dennis Archer, to take over the Detroit Public Schools with the help of legislation requiring the duly-elected Detroit Board of Education members to resign. According to his biography on his web page, Rep. Kelly, who I am sure is totally unbiased, is now a Saginaw Catholic Diocese school board member
Deficit district number down for first time since 2003
(Posted on December 3, 2015)
Michigan has 41 school districts that ended the 2014-15 school year in a deficit, down from 56 the previous year.
The number of school districts in financial distress has declined for the first time since 2003, reversing a trend that saw the number grow annually as schools struggled with declining enrollment and increased costs.
But despite that progress, the Michigan Department of Treasury will begin preliminary reviews next year of 11 school districts that have dire financial struggles — a process that could lead the state to declare a financial emergency and could result in the appointment of an emergency manager, bankruptcy or a consent agreement with the state.
State Superintendent Brian Whiston said during a legislative committee hearing this morning that 41 school districts and charter schools ended the 2014-15 school year with a deficit, down from 56 the previous year. Twenty school districts eliminated their deficit, but five new districts joined the list.
Whiston called the news promising. But some lawmakers were focused on the 13 districts that saw an increase in their deficit.
Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Saginaw Township, questioned whether the Michigan Department of Education is doing enough to prevent districts already in deficit from getting worse.
It’s discouraging, Kelly said, “to see that schools under our watch are growing deficits.”
For the rest of this story, follow this link: Deficit district number down for first time since 2003
