Back August I wrote about how the Snyder Administration had hired John Covington to run a new group called the Education Achievement Authority (EAA). The EAA was set up to help out failing schools in Michigan. This past week, John Covington was hired by the state of Michigan to oversee a collection of underperforming schools in the state. The new […]

Tonight, the school board of Muskegon Heights voted to ask the Snyder administration to assign an Emergency Manager to the district. Muskegon Heights school officials will ask the state to appoint an emergency financial manager to take over operations of the district after Superintendent Dana Bryant retires at the end of this month. The school board met Wednesday in a […]

With Detroit facing an imminent takeover by an Emergency Manager, I thought now might be a good time to remind everyone about a subtle but incredibly important change that occurred when Public Act 4 — the Emergency Manager Law — was passed. This was first published in June. Please share widely if you care about this issue. When Michigan Republicans […]

The Republican chosen to replace recalled Rep. Paul Scott as the chair of the state House Education Committee, Tom McMillin, is, apparently, a first class jerk. Check out this exchange during a recent Committee hearing on lifting the cap on charter schools from GONGWER: Several in the packed crowd bristled at Mr. McMillin’s way of questioning those testifying, and he […]

I’ve been a bit critical of my Senator Rebekah Warren lately but this I like. Warren is teaming up with Hoon-Yung Hopgood of Taylor to introduce legislation to ban for-profit schools in Michigan. Democratic Sens. Rebekah Warren of Ann Arbor and Hoon-Yung Hopgood of Taylor announced Tuesday they will introduce a constitutional amendment to ban for-profit schools in Michigan, saying […]

You have to hand it to the Republicans who are hell-bent on destroying the public school systems through what they dishonestly call the “schools of choice” initiative, they are nothing if not creative. This label is dishonest because the reality is that the “choice” they mention is only available to those with the resources to afford it. If you can […]

There’s no debate over whether or not there are problems with the Detroit Public School system. It’s a decades-old problem made worse by a dwindling city population, higher-than-ever poverty levels and, in some cases, malfeasance, corruption and outright criminal activity by some. Although they are improving with respect to school attendance, Detroit still has big problems in that regard, too. […]

While state officials mull over appointing an Emergency Manager for Benton Harbor schools, the state’s largest teachers union, the Michigan Education Association (MEA), has stepped up to help teachers there with much needed supplies. They put out a call to MEA teachers (flyer HERE (pdf)) to make donations and teachers across the state responded. When Republican lawmakers pushed through more […]

Republican sponsored legislation, Senate Bill 619 recently passed the Senate. This bill represents what could be the first steps toward eliminating large numbers of teachers from Michigan classrooms. A proposal in Lansing would remove most restrictions on the ability of students to attend school over the Internet, in their pajamas, without setting foot inside a classroom. The proposal would remove […]

Benton Harbor schools are a whisker away from getting a — you guessed it — an Emergency Manager. The State of Michigan will conduct a preliminary review of the “critical and alarming financial situation” at Benton Harbor Area Schools. This is the first step in a process that would determine if the school district needs a state-appointed emergency manager. It […]

THIS is obscene: City fire marshal investigators plan to inspect every Detroit Public Schools classroom after receiving complaints this week about overcrowded classes with more than 50 students. Detroit Fire Department representatives met Thursday with district officials to determine the maximum number of students for every classroom in the district, said Assistant Fire Marshal Osric Wilson. The fire marshal issued […]