To the state budget? The House votes tomorrow; the Senate voted today. You'll find more information at mipfs.org. This rolls back funding to what it was in the 2005-2006 year.
To our Local Boy Makes Good story about Shael Polakow-Suransky? I got this note from my New York City activist parent friend this morning, and she writes, "Do you know anyone who can talk some sense into Shael?" She pointed me to this New York Times article: Tests for Pupils, but the Grades Go to Teachers. And she said to especially read the comments. Then, if you do know Shael, feel free to give him a call or an email...
To the WISD Superintendent Search? Scott Menzel has been chosen to be the district’s next superintendent. Menzel is in his fourth year as the superintendent of the Livingston Educational Service Agency (LESA)--yes, that's our sister program. By the way, I'm super annoyed that I couldn't find the information about the new superintendent on the WISD web site. It's really hard to find things. I had to go outside the web site and google it to get the press release!
In addition, I couldn't find any information about his compensation. The press release says it will be "brought back" after a subcommittee negotiates with him. Recent agendas have closed sessions for "Authorization." I think that this probably violates open meetings notice, I think you have to specify why you are closing the meeting. The last approved minutes published, are from mid-April, even though they've met several times since then. I am not impressed. This is a group that needs a watchdog!
To the Achievement Gap? It's still there. I liked this article, which reminds us how long it has been there! This Week in Ann Arbor History: 1967: Future mayor Albert Wheeler alleges racial discrimination in Ann Arbor schools, police department.
Steve Norton of mipfs.org posted this on a different thread but since it relates to today, I am re-posting it here.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this, Ruth! We're trying to alert parents and citizens as widely as we can.
However, the "compromise" school aid budget was reported from conference committee yesterday and has already passed the Senate. The House is scheduled to vote on it today, and everyone is confident they have the votes to pass it. (I put "compromise" in quotes because the "compromise" was worked out among the Governor and the leaders of the House and Senate - all Republicans. Opponents of the budget, mostly Democrats, were frozen out of the process.)
Readers can find our summaries of the original bills and the outcome of the conference committees here:
http://www.miparentsforschools.org/node/134
http://www.miparentsforschools.org/node/135
It looks like the next issues will be pension reform, the efforts to eliminate tenure, and public employee health care benefits. Unfortunately, none of the proposals in this area put much priority on the true quality of instruction, investing in human capital, or making teaching in Michigan schools a plausible profession for new graduates. All stick, no carrot.
May 26, 2011 9:55 AM