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    Who are the NERD fund donors Mr Snyder?

    Raise the curtain.

    It's Time to Declare an Emergency


    By arlanmeekhof, Section News
    Posted on Wed Aug 27, 2008 at 01:47:44 PM EST
    Tags: (all tags)

    (Welcome back to RightMichigan, Representative... and Amen!)

    The State of Michigan has had and continues to have significant financial problems.  This is why it is baffling to me why the Granholm administration continues to pretend everything is OK in the Detroit Public School system.

    Currently, DPS has a $400 million budget deficit.  This is due to severe financial mismanagement, corruption, and the fact that families are removing their children from the Public Schools because of their inability to provide effective education.  An attorney representing DPS has admitted that there is reason to believe there was some corruption, citing $46 million that was paid out by one department within the school district that was not apparently used to purchase goods or services.  The FBI is currently investigating this and other allegations of corruption.

    I think that it's about time that we declare an Education Emergency.  The purpose of declaring this emergency will have three goals.  First, we need to take drastic steps to make sure we are providing effective education to the children of Detroit.  Second, Governor Granholm needs to put DPS into State receivership.  This means that the State Department of Education would temporarily appoint a financial manager for DPS who would have the final say on all financial decisions.  Finally, we need to root out the corrupt and incompetent administration officials so that this tragedy does not again occur.

    In order to accomplish the first goal the legislature needs to enact immediately and remove all barriers to further charter school expansion.  Charter schools in Detroit have been widely successful while the Public Schools have largely been a failure.  Charter schools attain this success despite the fact that they receive significantly less funding than the public schools.  The conclusion is an obvious one.  We need to promote institutions that provide top notch education at a reduced price.  The fact that there is even a shed of opposition to this makes me question the motives of the opposition.  Who are they really concerned about?  Certainly not the students.

    In order to accomplish the second and third goals action is needed by Governor Granholm and Attorney General Mike Cox.  The Governor needs to force DPS into State receivership in order to prevent even more tax dollars from being doled out in the form of kickbacks.  Attorney General Cox needs to join the FBI in investigating the rampant corruption and arresting the perpetrators.

    The fact that the situation with Detroit Schools has received little media coverage on the West side of the state leads me to believe that many people see this as Detroit's problem.  It certainly is Detroit's problem, but more and more this is also becoming a West side problem.  Money wasted in Detroit means there is less available for Ottawa County schools.  Almost 10% of Michigan's population lives in the City of Detroit.  Michigan's economy is centered in Detroit.  A significant portion of the tax money paid by citizens from the West side of the State ends up in Detroit.  Never before has the saying "As goes Detroit, so goes Michigan" been so true.  How will this state recover a recession and prevent recurrences of recessions if we can't even educate the children of our most populous city?  How are we going to lower our record unemployment rates if almost half of the students in DPS drop out of high school?  The unfortunate answer is that we won't.  It's time to stop letting down the children of Detroit. It's time to declare and Education Emergency.  It's time for some real education reform.

    < Sept. 11, 2008 - What's the Future of Freedom? | Queen Graholm "Let them eat . . . Chicken" >


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    Not a bad sentiment, but... (none / 0) (#1)
    by KG One on Wed Aug 27, 2008 at 02:27:47 PM EST
    ...you need to look at the players.

    When Governor Engler took over the DPS several years ago, you could hear the screams and howls clear across Eight Mile about the loss of local control, that he's only doing this "because" he's a Republican and Detroit is predominantly Democrat, etc.

    Fast-forward to today.

    We have a Democratic governor who is known for not taking controversial stands on anything.

    We also have a presidential campaign underway.

    She's NOT going to do anything that would even give the appearance of antagonizing that base by even suggesting doing what needs to be done.

    We also have an issue with the teachers unions in Michigan.

    Teacher unions aren't the biggest supporters of charters and they're not afraid to tell you that.

    Add to that, they're working up the courage to go on strike in Grand Rapids and in the Wayne-Westland District, even knowing that such strikes have been illegal in Michigan since 1996.

    With that above-mentioned election in the offing, and the Democrats wary of ticking off another segment of their support base, I highly doubt that they'll allow the expansion of charters (even when they're needed) in Detroit.

    What She Won't Do (none / 0) (#2)
    by Shell on Wed Aug 27, 2008 at 03:11:40 PM EST
    ...Governor Granholm needs to...

    That phrase is the core of what's wrong with Michigan:  Grahnolm needs to do something.  ANYTHING.  Her inaction on issue after issue that might cause a slight itch to the unions has cost the state dearly and will continue to do so until she leaves office and (hopefully) takes her cronies with her.

    It took a major lawsuit by Children's Rights to get the state to admit there was a problem with welfare, and we've yet to see any results from the lawsuit settlement.  Maybe we're beyond the point of negotiating with corrupt officials and more lawsuits need to be filed, if only to get them to pay attention.

    Shell,
    The Conservatrarian

    standard operating procedure is that... (none / 0) (#3)
    by goppartyreptile on Wed Aug 27, 2008 at 04:26:13 PM EST
    we point out problems in Detroit, the Democrats accuse us of racism, classicism, and any other type of "ism" you can think of, and we lose.

    I guess the questions are, and everyone put on your thinking caps for this one:

    How do we use this to highlight the problems in Detroit and stay out of the old framework? That being, the GOP is attacking Detroit to gin up votes out-state.

    How do we actually get in there and try and fix these problems without being seen as nazis, etc?

    How do we connect emotionally with people, and not just throw around numbers?

    How do we establish credibility with voters down there, who would be much better off with our policies, when we've been trashed for so long?

    How can the GOP commit to reviving Detroit, using our principles?

    As Detroit goes, so goes this state.  I've lived everywhere around here, and all my family down south ask me how close to Detroit I am.  Be it Kalamazoo, or Ionia.

    We need to find a way to shed our image regarding Detroit, without caving in to Democratic policies.

    The Democrats aren't going to fix it.

    Any thoughts?

    Sadly, there isn't any solutions here. (none / 0) (#4)
    by KG One on Wed Aug 27, 2008 at 04:58:37 PM EST
    Based upon my experience, the majority of Detroit residents have been conditioned into believing that even though there are problems, that 1.) they aren't really that serious to take action, and 2.) any assistance from outside of Detroit be viewed with skepticism because there must be an ulterior motive for those helping out.


    There's a #3 (none / 0) (#5)
    by Shell on Wed Aug 27, 2008 at 07:47:32 PM EST
    May I add one?

    3)  Nothing they do in Detroit is their fault.  They're a victim of __XX__  and if they just had more money they could solve things on their own.

    Granholm and TPTB like to use "carrot and stick" taxation but never with Detroit.  They make the case for huge tax credits to the film industry, automotive OEMs, alternative energy development, etc. but it never occurrs to them they're overtaxing GOOD behavior, such as making a decent wage via hard work, staying married and raising good kids and personal responsibility.

    Detroit has consistently gotten more money from the state for poor behavior ::coughDetroitPublicSchoolscough:, so why should they change now?

    Shell,
    The Conservatrarian

    More misinformation? (none / 0) (#7)
    by NoviDemocrat on Wed Aug 27, 2008 at 11:30:12 PM EST
    "A significant portion of the tax money paid by citizens from the West side of the State ends up in Detroit."

    There's no truth to this claim. The majority of school aid funds come from three sources, sales tax, income tax, and the 6 mill education tax. Together, they represent almost 2/3rds of the total revenue for schools. All three revenue sources come predominately from those areas with the greatest population and development, southeast Michigan and cities like Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Lansing. While the areas around GR and Kalamazoo contribute significantly towards school aid funds, most areas of western Michigan get more back in school aid than they pay into the system. Look it up!

    • No by NoviDemocrat, 08/28/2008 07:59:01 PM EST (none / 0)
    And finish your story... (none / 0) (#8)
    by KG One on Thu Aug 28, 2008 at 10:12:40 AM EST
    ...and at the end, Detroiters were increasingly clamoring that they had turned things around, that they had the right people ready to take the reins, and that they had demonstrated progress since the state stepped in.

    Shall I continue?

    I've never understood... (none / 0) (#13)
    by KG One on Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 11:28:34 AM EST
    ...the fixation with Engler.

    It's almost a phobia, no scratch that, a psychosis, regarding attaching all blame regarding something gone wrong on someone who has been out of office for several years now.

    Where is the blame on the Detroit Board of Education who have been running things for several years now?

    Ex-Superintendent William Coleman?

    You know, the people who have been running the DPS since control was relinquished to them?

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