MIPFS Newsbriefs

Friends,

There is still time to let your state Senator know that your support Michigan's public schools and oppose the changes embodied in Senate Bill 618. That bill, now on the Senate floor, would:

1. Remove any limits on the number of charter schools in Michigan;
2. Allow charter schools to operate a network of schools under one charter, setting up shadow school districts;
3. Permit school districts to contract-out instructional services (privatize teachers);
4. Remove any requirements that staff of district-authorized charters, or teachers employed under contract with an outside body, be covered by existing collective bargaining agreements;
5. Exempt charter school property from property taxes.

As you can see, this has less to do with improving the education of our children than it does with encouraging the growth of charter schools and the outsourcing of instruction.

Please take action now! Contact your state Senator about this bill!

> > Click here to read the full alert!

An interview in Education Week helps to highlight some of the issues that are crucial to education but don't get a lot of discussion.

Ed Week columnist Anthony Cody's interview with business consultant Steve Denning is worth a read for anyone interested in the content of our education.

One of our local papers here in Ann Arbor, where MIPFS is based, ran a rather nice story about us recently. We wanted to share this with our broader community so everyone could get a sense of what we're about. Feel free to share! http://heritage.com/articles/2011/06/07/ann_arbor_journal/news/doc4de6c9...

*Parent group continues push for school funding* Tuesday, June 07, 2011 By Donna Iadipaolo, Special Writer When they began in early 2007, Michigan Parents for Schools called themselves "Ann Arbor Parents for Schools." Though still based in Ann Arbor, one of the primary aspects of MIPF's work remains focused on public school funding. "We started with the aim of ensuring an adequate and stable source of funding for public schools in Michigan," said MIPFS Executive Director Steve Norton, "and that is still one of our primary action areas." Much of MIPFS's work is online. They prompted many of their activists, who number several thousand across the state, to contact the governor and state Legislature about the School Aid budget. Now their efforts will continue on education....

For the full article, please visit the Ann Arbor Journal site here: http://heritage.com/articles/2011/06/07/ann_arbor_journal/news/doc4de6c9...

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder presented his first budget proposals to the state legislature on 17 February. While it wasn't quite the "atomic bomb" Lt. Governor Brian Calley had promised, it produced shock waves nonetheless. By scrapping the Michigan Business Tax and replacing it with a much narrower corporate income tax, the proposed budget cuts business taxes by over $1 billion in 2011-12 and by $1.7 billion in the year after. To pay for this and still balance the budget, the governor wants to cut overall education spending by nearly $1.1 billion next year; his proposal also makes changes to the income tax that will increase revenues in large part by requiring retirees and low-income families to pay more in taxes. School districts may face overall reductions of $715 per pupil. Evidently, this is Gov. Snyder's vision for "reinventing Michigan."