Candidate Forum in Canton on October 7GLEP, along with Students First-Michigan; MAPSA and MCCSA are hosting a candidate forum at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, October 7 at Canton Charter Academy in Canton. Candidates invited to participate include: Sen. Patrick Colbeck (R-Canton) and Rep. Dian Slavens (D-Canton), candidates in the 7
th State Senate seat; and Carol Ann Fausone (R-Canton) and Kristy Pagan (D-Canton), 21
st State House district. Light refreshments will be served. Click
here to register for this FREE event. Click
here for a media story about the event.
Bridge Magazine: Florida Passes Reforms with Results; Michigan Falls Farther Behind
As part of their “Smartest Kids” special report, this week Bridge Magazine
published a feature story this week on the reforms and results in Florida compared to M
ichigan. The story noted that Florida has implemented a number of innovative education policies that resulted in student academic growth, including tough, test-driven school accountability (A-F letter grading), clear academic standards and a monumental effort to increase early literacy. This graphic illustrates how Florida’s 4
th reading proficiency scores have skyrocketed while Michigan’s have gone down. We hope the Michigan legislature is paying attention to this, and that they’ll support the school accountability and early literacy reforms being pushed by GLEP and other stakeholders.
Governor Swings Back over Schauer “Lies”
Well, we weren’t sure he had it in him, but it was great to see Governor Snyder (finally) respond directly to the barrage of lies and distortions coming from Mark Schauer in the campaign. In this
Detroit News article, Snyder refers to Schauer’s assertion that the Governor cut K-12 spending by $1 billion as “hogwash” and a “lie”. The Detroit Free Press
also reported that Schauer is lying about Snyder’s record.
Michigan Ranks 3rd Strongest Charter Sector
In a recent report from National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and the Fordham Institute, analyzing the health of the public charter school movement, Michigan ranks #3 in state-by-state rankings that examine factors such as charter school quality, growth, and innovation. Click
here to access the full report and
here for a webcast of the panel event announcing the report.
House Democrat Bill Eliminates All Charter Schools by 2024
We’ve already reported that HB 5852 (Roberts) if passed, could force every charter school in the state to close once their current charter contract expires. Here’s the little Halloween graphic to show how
fast all of Michigan’s charter public schools will be closing under the bill.
MEA’s Favorite Senator Joins Charter Attack
Yesterday, Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood (D-Romulus), introduced
SB 1104, a bill which puts an immediate halt to the creation of ANY new charter public schools in the state. While the bill includes a number of onerous provisions to restrict charters, the real poison pill is the requirement that the State Board of Education would need to approve any new charter school, nullifying the 20 year history of allowing 40 authorizers to open charter schools. Given that 6 of the 8 members of the SBE current oppose charter schools, the chance they would approve new schools is roughly 0%. While chances of passage are slim, the mere introduction of this bill is further evidence of the orchestrated, partisan campaign year attack on parental choice by the Democratic Party. NOTE: Sen. Hopgood’s father was president of the Michigan Federation of Teacher.
UPDATE: Still No Superintendents Have Signed the “School Accountability Pledge”
MAPSA’s “School Accountability Pledge” is still available for signing by any traditional public school superintendent willing to operate under same accountability, transparency and oversight laws as Michigan’s charter public schools. We keep waiting for just one superintendent to sign it, and when they do we’ll let you know right away!
Education Reform News Clips
Next Week
Monday, October 6
Tuesday, October 7
- Education Town Hall Event, Canton
Wednesday, October 8
- House Education Committee
- Senate Education Committee
Thursday, October 9
Friday, October 10
Do you support what GLEP is doing to improve education in Michigan? Please consider making a donation to help us continue our efforts, and all contributions are very much appreciated!!
Respectfully,
Gary G. Naeyaert
Executive Director
517-281-2690
