Legislative news

Dear Friends,

Gap year or no, there will always be important issues we need to bring to your attention, and this is one. So we're delaying our usual state budget coverage (mildly good news - it's an election year, after all) to alert you to something very strange going on in Lansing that shapes what our children will be taught in school.

A planned refresh of the Michigan social studies content standards has apparently been hijacked by some folks with an extreme political agenda, and many of the changes they desired are in the current final draft. There's still time to take action to stop this nonsense, and we'll give you the info below.

Winter is ending, which means it's budget time in Lansing. It's also an election year, which means we're likely to see a mix of generosity, grandstanding, and horsetrading as lawmakers try to burnish their records before facing primary and general election voters. Here are some of the top recent developments:

• Snyder school aid budget gives bump to schools, cuts sketchy earmarks; fate in legislature is uncertain
  • January revenue estimation conference sees increase for School Aid Fund but less so for main state budget; charter schools forecast for first-ever fall in enrollment
  • The School Aid Fund will now pick up the entire community college budget and cover one third of all state spending on colleges and universities
• A-F grades for schools lurches back into spotlight; measure skips summative grade but creates new commission of political appointees
• In wake of Florida school shootings, House committee chair says that "guns in schools" bills not likely to see action anytime soon
• House committee passes bills allowing tax break on private school tuition for the well-heeled; measures also force districts to cost out all their services - for no apparent reason
• Snyder signs bill giving charters a cut of regional enhancement millages, after a notably close vote in the House

Better grab a cup of coffee!

Before we all become fully enmeshed in the holiday season, I wanted to bring you up to date on issues that concern parents like us as well as share some news.

In this issue:

•  "Guns in schools" bills, and "teen concealed carry" bill, held over until January
•  "Vouchers for the wealthy" bills also waiting until January
•  Taking a "gap year," and holding lawmakers accountable

As parents and children settle down for the new school year, our lawmakers in Lansing return from their summer break, refreshed and full of ideas. Watch out. This fall session, in between election years, is where a lot of the legislative work gets done - not all of it good. There are a number of new education-related proposals, some of which are moving very quickly. Here's an overview:

• Back door tax credit vouchers
• A-F rating of schools - the legislation that wouldn't die
• A piece of the action - charters could get a share of enhancement millages
• State takeover writ large - proposal to eliminate State Board of Education
• Guns in schools revisited

Hypocrisy alert: Vouchers for the well-to-do

Among the first pieces of legislation out of the gate after the Legislature's summer recess is a package of bills in the state Senate creating an "enhanced" Michigan Education Savings Plan. This proposal would allow parents to make tax deductible contributions to an account which could be used to pay for K-12 school expenses. (The plan would be an addition to the existing plan which covers post-secondary education.) The bills - SB 544 through SB 549 - were sponsored variously by Senators Patrick Colbeck (R-Canton Twp), Phil Pavlov (R-St Clair), Judy Emmons (R-Sheridan), and Mike Green (R-Mayville). The Senate Fiscal Agency summary of the bills as reported from committee can be found here.

Sounds OK, right? A little tax break for setting aside money for those athletic fees? Well, hold on to your wallet. The SFA estimates that the cost to set up the program could reach $100 million, with indeterminate costs after that - on top of tax revenue losses from the deduction. Families could deduct up to $5000 (single return) or $10,000 (joint return) of contributions per account.

Do they really expect parents to believe that they would spend $100 million of taxpayer money and offer deductions of up to $10,000 in contributions just so we could pay for sports fees and field trips?

Our state, like our nation, has something of a split personality on education standards. On the one hand, we all seem to like the idea of going farther, higher, more rigorous. On the other hand, we're suspicious of things "not invented here" and especially things that are not under our own control. Of course, it also depends on what we mean by "our own" control.

A bill now in the Legislature is being presented as banning the Common Core, something appealing to many folks concerned with education. But what's the real motive here?