Here is the absurd consequence of the terrible ideas that have dominated education policy in the US. for the past 20 or so years.
The governor and legislators in Michigan have stripped more than a billion dollars from the public schools even as they better test scores. Now, as they plan to cut public school budgets even more, they want to tie teachers’ salaries to test scores.
The fact that test-based incentive have failed and failed and failed does not have any bearing on the state’s policymakers. No doubt they can claim they are marching in step with Arne Duncan, who believes that test scores must be a significant part of teacher evaluation.
The formula of slash and burn is not good for children, not good for schools, and not good for the quality of education. The tests will rule every decision. I wonder how many of the legislators could pass the tests that will determine the reputations and lives of teachers.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Here are the things that the test does or supposedly will determine:
Student growth, teacher effectiveness, school quality, administrator quality, teacher pay, administrator pay, school closures, retention and layoffs.
That means that EVERYTHING suddenly is about the tests and nothing else. This is a corruption of education. It’s no longer about teaching and learning. It’s about test-taking ability and strategy which is not really education.
Everything is determined on those test days. Don’t teach creatively, don’t take risks with lesson plans, stick to the precious scripted lesson plans and figure out a way to beat the tests. It’s purely a game to get better scores taken to yet another new level.
Legislators are simpletons. The only answer for education, is, you guessed it, the test.
“Legislators are simpletons”. NO, they are bought and sold. As Upton Sinclair stated: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary [lobbyist’s gift] depends upon his not understanding it.”
Who are you going to get to teach the slow learner, special ed, students turned off, etc.
The deformers’ answer? Who the hell cares. We’ve already heard some of the deformers talking about throwing kids into the deep end. We are seriously entering a Darwinian period. If you have the skills (especially the gift of gab) and the right connections (especially the right parents), the world is your oyster. If not, well, you have no one to blame but yourself.
Which is exactly why charter schools don’t SOLVE anything, they merely SHIFT the problem into a for-profit model. Who is left at the bottom of the pool? Poor minorities.
According to Michael Petrilli, “Foremost Education Analyst, TM”, what’s wrong with sorting out kids who can’t meet his and the oligarchy’s standards? Inclusive schools have been “downright hostile” to the strivers.
http://www.edexcellence.net/commentary/education-gadfly-daily/flypaper/2013/the-charter-expulsion-flap-who-speaks-for-the-strivers.html
What goes around comes around. Michigan will be very surprised when they find they cannot recruit and retain good teachers. Louisiana already there.
This is a plan for liquidating the public education system in Michigan, same agenda that we see in every other State — and it’s well time to stop presuming innocence on the part of the Private-Politco-Pirates who are perpetrating this crime.against the People.
edit: … well past time …
I think that the takeaway here is that certain groups have decided that public education is just not a worthwhile use of money and these groups are committed to finding ways to not have to pay to educate other people’s children anymore. Hence, for- profit charters- they cost less than traditional public schools, and make a profit for someone. Why should these groups care if the education is lousy? Their children don’t go there.
All Skunk, No Works
That says it all!
I think governor’s and state legislators’ salaries should be tied to their state’s fiscal health, jobs,number of people on welfare,number of blighted cities etc….. great idea, no?
Yes, excellent idea.
Last year when I was researching Michigan teachers’ pay, they were in the top five and I believe they may have been the third highest-paid teachers in the nation. Once you factored in how much they were paid compared to what the average wage earner in the state made, I believe they were the number one paid teacher in the nation. Can someone please address this?
Believe me, I’m no fan of Gov. Snyder, but all the comments suggest there is not a problem with Michigan education and the economy. Mightn’t one of those problems be how much the teachers are getting paid and the fact that Michigan has had one of the worst economic downturns in its history, even worse than most other states?
That is OLD information. The NEA data from 2011 shows us as 11th.
Click to access NEA_Rankings_And_Estimates-2013_(2).pdf
It would appear that my data conflicts somewhat with the NEA file above, but this data shows that salaries remained the same, while other states saw an increase. This is the reason for slip in ranking.
But there seems to be some discrepancy somewhere as can be seen from the link below.
http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/18265
So, what you are basically saying is that we should cut teacher’s pay, because they are making more than many of the other state’s teachers are?
Dumb argument. Why don’t we make their pay the same as the teachers in Louisiana, Mississippi & other poor states. We can recruit all sorts of mediocre and underperforming teachers that way. Then, by tying their pay to test scores, we can justify cutting their pay even more, until they get paid the same as janitors.
Is this what you are talking about addressing? You appear to have NO CLUE as to the level of work that is expected of a teacher during the year. Preparing lesson plans, grading, attending useless administrative meetings, all on their own time, as well as having to continue their education in order to keep their skills current.
The way teachers in this state are being treated and villified, many of them are leaving for other states and jobs where they will recieve the type of respect that they deserve. This is what you want?
Michigan is the 11th largest state in the Union, and ranks 9th in population. Do you REALLY wish us to treat our teachers like some luxury that we can do without, or buy a cheaper model and sacrifice quality along the way?
If one were to follow the suggestion that you intimate, basing the quality of our teachers on whatever the weatherbell of the economy dictates, then we will be in trouble.
Bsides, you are really missing the point. Point being that the republican legislature is defunding and dismantling our education system in order to replace it with for-profit schools that WILL lower the level of education in this state and serve as NOTHING but a mechanism by which greedy capitalists can get their hands on public monies.
I am surprised that the “not with MY tax dollar” idiots aren’t screaming about this at the top of their lungs. Shows their level of ignorance of the situation.
Bear,
You are being purposely obtuse. I didn’t say we should cut teacher’s pay because they make more than other teachers in other states. I SAID that because they are making more than other teachers, it may explain part of the reason the State of Michigan is having a hard time continuing to pay them at that rate given what has happened economically in our state.
However, it is clear that this blog is read only by people who believe that there is no room for discussion. Teachers are victims, plain and simple. Parents and government are to blame, end of story.
It only seems that way, because as much as we hold true to our core beliefs, we feel constantly berated, blamed and deemed public enemy #1, for no explainable reason. Teachers are so generous of their time and love and unfailing optimism for the future. It is difficult to always be reconciling core beliefs about professional life when continuous false accusations of responsibility (for what really amounts to inaccurate and ridiculous spin by conservative fear mongering media and politicians ) are being fabricated, disseminated, and confused for reality. Kids are kids, and we teachers, like parents, are experts in optimizing development, but are being hobbled by requirements for incessant standardization in curriculum delivery and assessment. This is aforum to agree, disagree and try to make sense of the senseless state of affairs in education policy…..especially in Michigan.
Cindy 0803 is posting a link to support her statement to a biased right wing source from the mackinaw center here in Michigan, Capital Confidential. Same organization that Richard McClellan, Oxford Group and Skunk Works fame, is a founder and I understand a continued board member. Weigh the source and question it’s validity. In other words take it with a grain of salt.
School Counselor,
I provided a link to the NEA data AND the Macinac Center based article. Perhaps they both have an agenda. I do not. I want public schools to succeed. I think public schools are important, not only for individual children, but to our nation.
I’m trying to employ common sense to an emotionally charged situation.
I spent a whole helluva lot of time last year researching teacher salaries in Michigan because of more expected cuts to school budgets in our district. If it affected my daughter,I wanted to be better informed. I went to the source: The State of Michigan. I was able to get the salaries AND the benefit figures. They were substantial.
You don’t think you make enough. I don’t know what that means. I do know teachers make a decent salary and have good benefits in Michigan (I want to say very good salary and great benefits, but I don’t believe anyone here will acknowledge it). I have not advocated for you to have your salary cut; just saying that Michigan is low on money. In most homes, a decrease in revenue means cutbacks. Based on the NEA data, teacher salaries were not cut, though I gather they were asked to pay more toward their benefits.
These conversations here, and the responses to what I consider valid questions/ideas, have left me with a very bad taste in my mouth. I have tried to explain that my opinion is based upon my involvement in my daughter’s elementary school, but the responses would suggest that most of you think I am a wolf in sheep’s clothing (either a troll or a right-wing Snyder lover who wants to see public education dismantled) or I’m “dumb”. Heaven forbid someone make an observation that it might not be a conspiracy against teachers that budget cuts are being made in response to one of the worst economic downturns we have faced.
I can assure you that no one is trying to replace the public schools in my area with charter schools despite the budget cuts. High School football and marching band are just too darn important for citizens in my school district to ever allow that to happen. They would, I daresay, vote for President Obama a third term (not likely in this county) if the alternative was they lose their sports (which they would if all public schools closed and were replaced with charter schools). They don’t care very much what happens to elementary schools. But that is a story for another day.
Anyway, when I hear that the Snyder administration’s goal is to shut down all public schools and replace them with charter schools, I want to roll my eyes. Grand Rapids, which has excellent schools, is not going to lose their public schools. All of the wealthy communities outside of Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo are not going to lose their public schools to charter schools. Rural areas are not going to lose their public schools to charter schools. Schools in districts like mine are not going to lose their public schools to charter schools. Charter schools have primarily opened to provide an alternative for students (mainly minority students) and their families to failing public school systems like some in Detroit and Benton Harbor.
If individual schools are going to lose students, it will be through declining enrollment, schools of choice, overcrowding and homeschooling. Galien Township Schools closed last year due to declining enrollment fueled by schools of choice. Budget cuts and the elimination of a third grade class led me to homeschool my daughter this year. However, it was the final straw – it was NOT the only reason.
The schools, at least the elementary schools (i.e., teachers, principals, and administrators), do not listen. They are very nice about it, but hubris is a problem. Like here, assumptions are made that only teachers can know anything. Given the reactions in some of these comments, I presume that teachers are secretly labeling anyone who disagrees with them or makes an alternative suggestion as a right-wing conservative or stupid. This tactic, by the way, is what substitutes for discussions in the US today – just accuse someone of being a liberal, a feminist, a socialist, a right-wing conservative and/or ignorant.
As a parent, I am paying my taxes regardless of what teachers make. Cutting your salary does nothing to my pocketbook IF, however, the teachers in my district had lower salaries in the form of actual wages or benefits, that might have meant that a 3rd grade classroom was not eliminated from my daughter’s elementary school. The only other way to do that would be to get rid of Music in Motion, Art or Music. At the end of the day, it is the parents’ job to decide what is best for their children; not teachers and not politicians. The side who will win this battle, I suspect, will be the ones who start listening to the parents.
My goodness. I am astonished to find a voice of reason on this blog. I am accustomed to being pilloried verbally because I actually am a libertarian, constitutional conservative, a fox or a hedgehog, or a porcupine creeping in among the hens in the henhouse all asqwak and aflutter, paranoid that the economic downturn is a vicious plot against them, when the irony is that, like all paranoids, they are seeing their own reflection. Since they, in their clandestine communistic socialism really ARE planning to take over capitalism and eliminate it, they assume that the proponents of charters AND high stakes testing are trying to destroy their grip on education and indoctrination into communitarian ideas. Neither logic, nor facts, nor efforts to get them to listen to a revision of their philosophy divert them from their embattled ways. It is the FIGHT, always, that must be carried on, the ideological class struggle of the workers of the world against the oppressive capitalist bourgeoisie. It would be merely gruesomely comic if they weren’t winning nationally to change the culture from a culture of freedom and independence to a culture of equality and dependance. I used to be contemptuous of our ancestors who took the “red scare” seriously, who listened to McCarthy, but now I see that Americans of earlier generations had well-founded fears of intrusive European political movements. In our day, with the election, twice, of President Obama, I can’t help but conclude that identity politics has won, that truly rational debate is NOT what the liberals, Democrats, socialists, communists want. They merely want to win at all costs by sneering at those with whom they disagree, by picturing conservatives as antediluvian, neanderthal, reactionaries. Reluctantly I have come to accept as the only viable course of action to discredit their rhetoric and goals, what their paranoia projects on to us libertarians, namely, conversion of the public schools into charters and voucher supported schools. I see no other way to correct their utopian wasteful intransigence except by destroying their power base, government jobs in education. Let them try to hack it in the private sector and they’ll change their privileged tune soon enough, I hope. They have been the priests of an established religion. I’m for disestablishment. They are vociferous antidisestablishmentarians, who think only they can bring the true religion to the masses. Better creationism than communism. Pity though that that dilemma has been put before us.
There are too many mediocre, under performing teachers who make way too much money, who do not perform up to par, and they should be fired on the spot. Of course you will defend them to the very end cause you want to be overpaid little brats who continue to drive their beautiful Lexus’ and Benz’. I think this is a great idea on behalf of Michigan’s governor, it is actually holding teachers accountable. why dont you take your eyes and pick your butt up from behind the computer screen and actually teach the children! I remember back in my day there was 1 teacher per 50 kids, and that was in the 60’s now they need 1 teacher and 3 assistants! What is wrong with that picture?? Are you stating that the job has gotten harder, NO, it is that you have gotten lazier. Teachers should make way less, and the better performers should be rewarded!! Defund the thugs of the NEA and this country will be alot better and maybe on par with other countries. You know what you are doing is illegal, by taking tax dollars out of the public’s pockets and forcing teachers to pay “Union Dues”, NO WONDER they have the “Not with my tax dollar”, they know where their money is really going, and its not to the education of the students!
I’m not really sure that you consider all of the things that are taken out of our pay, including thousands of dollars each year for a. tuition to earn credits to renew our licensure every five years and b. making up for a significant shortfall in supply budgets for our classrooms so that they can run with a minimal degree of efficacy beyond pencils and paper. If you really and truly want to experience what I am talking about…please, take a day and come to my school to get a clearer view of the complexities of this. What I want to really say here is the following: four and five year old kids come to school every single day facing the following issues:
Malnutrition
Hygiene Issues
Domestic Violence (witness to and/or victim of)
Inadequate footware or clothing for the season (which I often will supply with my own $$)
Parental discord/family separation/severe emotional confusion of the child as a result
Parental stress due to a down economy and families being in “survival mode”
Unfunded or underfunded medical issues (no insurance)
Inability to speak clearly because of lack of proper early socialization and preschool
Inability of the child to engage in self care with toileting and feeding (I can only speculate about why, as I am not an advisor in the home prior to the child coming to school)
I understand that all children are in “process”, but the degree of change that has crossed my path in the last five years, since the beginning of the economic downturn is mind numbingly strange.
All of the rhetoric and policy wonks and their “reforms” won’t change any of the things in the above list…not in a TRILLION years. Lowering my salary won’t motivate me to do any more, in fact, it will make me mad because I already make significant contributions of personal funds and time to make a quality classroom life for the students that I have every year.
What exactly can I, or anyone else, do about all of this…after all, there are twenty seven of them and one of me? The first place for everyone to start here is to just get a grip on the nitty gritty of life in the teaching trenches. The tragedy of what some of these children have to endure…it invades my head and mind so much lately, that I’m thinking of leaving this profession, and all of the inaccuracies heaped upon us teachers by know-nothing conservatives….before it breaks my heart.
I spent three years at my daughter’s school on almost a daily basis. I understand the shortfalls, but at our school, the PTO picked up almost every single bit of it (economically). Parents were also there helping kids who couldn’t read, helping kids with math, helping the art teacher, restocking library shelves, working in the office, making copies, directing traffic, you name it. And then we had to go home and help our own kids with what we thought they were supposed to be taught in school.
My husband and I run our own small business. We do not have benefits except those that we provide for ourselves. Several times the cost of health insurance alone has almost forced us to seriously consider working for someone else. So, I do understand having to pay out-of-pocket for things, and at a very high cost.
When economic bad times hit Michigan, the teacher’s unions would not consider a pay cut for teachers; the alternative was layoffs. Layoffs mean fewer teachers and more kids per classroom. That is bad for kids, and it is bad for teachers.
I have always supported teachers, but I have to tell you that there seems to be a real disconnect between how teachers view themselves and the world and how hard it is for the rest of us. If that makes this progressive sound like a conservative, I can only say that my personal experience formed this opinion.
I feel for you that you have to contend with so many kids in one classroom and that so many of them are, apparently, not living in great homes. It breaks my heart when I see those things, too. But I fail to see how those things should negate the benefit or desire to have academic standards and to have standards for teachers. And if all those conditions make it impossible to do your job effectively, then those of us who want our children to have a good education deserve to know this and at least have options.
Are teachers to be the only profession out there where you cannot implement any method to analyze their effectiveness and the only profession where you cannot be let go if you do not do a good job? There has to be some way to cull the good teachers from the bad teachers, right?
I find it interesting that young teachers, especially, lose their patience with ineffective teachers (despite all those challenges mentioned above) when their own kids enter school.
Point by point from a 16 year teaching veteran in Michigan:
Congrats to your PTO. In my district, I’ve seen no such economic contribution except my own and I don’t teach in a high poverty area. Not affluent either. Very mixed socio-economic region.
I sympathize with your health insurance costs. But if you have that business in Michigan, you should love the governor. Small businesses here just keep getting tax breaks. The whole Snyder agenda is about what he can give businesses and take away from workers. (Add RTW legislation to the mix.)
My district has had some layoffs over the last decade. And I have seen my paycheck get smaller each year for the past five years. This is the result of lower funding and increased costs for health insurance and pensions. I’m down at least 15% since 2007. Maybe Michigan teacher salaries are better than other places but your implication of a free ride is highly misguided.
As for teachers self-view,I’ll offer the following anecdote. In the late 1990s, we took the long view. Economic times were good and we took small raises (1% in my district) in order to keep good benefits. My friends who had office jobs laughed their tuckuses off at our piddly raises. They were getting 5-7% raises and many were getting bonuses on top of that. NO ONE SAID GET IN LINE WITH THE PRIVATE SECTOR THEN. Nope, they thought we were saps. But now that times are leaner,well, get in line with the private sector.
Your argument about poverty and teachers wanting to avoid standards is a straw man. No teacher thinks they should have complete carte blanche. Every profession has standards of performance, so your claim to be progressive here is flawed.
There are ways to determine the best teacher, unfortunately, our legislature is not interested in them. They seek a reward / punish mentality. There are many good evaluation systems but they’re complex, because the job is complex. And every teacher I work with wants a good system that is meaningful and assists in improving practice. If administrators were more proactive, more teachers would have a harder time staying. But I can tell that the vast majority of the teachers in my building are competent at the very least.
As to your last comments, I find it funny. Young teachers often suffer from a martyr complex. They often think they know everything but then realize with experience that they are really not as great as they thought. Young teachers are the least reflective (including myself when I was early in my career) and therefore your final comment means little to me.
Steve,
In response:
“But if you have that business in Michigan, you should love the governor. Small businesses here just keep getting tax breaks.”
– Our business includes just my husband and me. We received no additional tax breaks when Snyder repealed the MBT and replaced it with the CIT. In fact, our personal taxes increased because of flow through income. I do not like Snyder. He has done nothing for me, personally, and has hurt many others.
– The money with which we pay for our health insurance is counted as income and is taxed (it is not a benefit). I do believe your insurance, which is a benefit, is not counted as income for tax purposes.
“I’m down at least 15% since 2007. Maybe Michigan teacher salaries are better than other places but your implication of a free ride is highly misguided.”
-My income is down by as much as yours – possibly more – and I have to pay higher expenses with it.
– I did not imply a “free ride”. I made the point (or at least I tried to) that in a state that was hemorrhaging, even a more liberal (or less conservative) legislature would have a hard time paying the relatively high salaries along with all their other bills. It would have been unreasonable to expect that everyone else was taking a hit, but teachers would be immune.
“Economic times were good and we took small raises (1% in my district) in order to keep good benefits. My friends who had office jobs laughed their tuckuses off at our piddly raises.”
– We don’t get raises in my profession (real estate appraising) unless we can do more appraisals in a year. The fees for appraisals have just not increased significantly (or at all). So, your friends in their office jobs get the same economics lesson from me when they start complaining about having to kick in for their benefits. In other words, “you’ve got it pretty good, even if you don’t realize it.”
But in all honesty, the trade-off is that I have flexibility. So, that is the reason I enjoy my profession (well, not so much in recent years). I’m sure that despite the negative aspects of teaching, there are still some positives that keep you in your job.
“Your argument about poverty and teachers wanting to avoid standards is a straw man. No teacher thinks they should have complete carte blanche.”
-I really didn’t think I was making a straw man argument. I have read over and over again about how the rest of us don’t understand what all teachers have to contend with on a daily basis that has nothing to do with academics or teaching. This argument always arises in response to the counter argument for some sort of teacher accountability. (side note: I have seen and heard teachers do and say things that truly suggest they actually do believe they have carte blanche to do just whatever they want.)
My point was that if the poverty issues (in an otherwise non-impoverished district) are so distracting and require so much extra classroom effort to address to the extent that they would make teaching to the best standard impossible, then that needs to be made clear. It is not fair to pretend that you can do your job effectively if you can’t. And if you CAN do your job effectively despite these issues, then it is just one of the crummy parts of your job. We all have them believe it or not.
I’m curious. How many teachers have you known (no names) that you as a teacher believed were not doing a good job and felt the kids would be better off with a different teacher? The fact that they were still teaching should suggest there really isn’t a “good” way to get rid of a bad teacher despite everyone saying they would approve of a good way. The straw man argument is that any teacher is willing to actually consider a “good” way.
I measure student progress regularly. I document interventions when they occur. I am held accountable for every single student’s growth. All of them typically make great gains in early literacy and math. My yearly evaluation is almost 25 pages long with 76 items related to teaching duties and responsibilities. I must monitor and excel at most of them to be highly proficient. All teachers in my school must collect evidence to prove their efficacy, usually in the form of data spread sheets that shows growth over time for each child. So, that should address the accountability piece in case you wanted more specifics.
I chose my profession to help kids grow and learn in healthy ways, using the best research about brain compatible strategies for young learners. I do not have a martyr complex, nor do my teaching colleagues. We just have to have these discussions to know that a down economy in a state with a manufacturing base as its lifeblood is presenting the public system with a lot of issues that are part and parcel of poverty. To ignore the effects that poverty has on the lives of parents, children and families, and to continue to heap blame for all of this on “OVERPAID” TEACHERS IS ABSURD. Families that are working two and three jobs have no time for the PTO…they barely have time to sleep. Bigger social issues are at work here, which no amount of rhetoric or debate will solve.
Another Michigan School District Is Ready To Lock Its Doors Due To Lack Of Money
And Another One Bites The Dust …
Thank you for your reply to this very misinformed lady. Very well put explanation. I am also a teacher and believe that the problem is truly a misinformed public. The taxpayers of Michigan must be made aware of what the Republican State Legislators are doing to Public Schools through their attacks on teachers and continued cutting of funding of our school. The selling of our public schools for corporate profit is wrong. We will look back on this as the crime of the century in Michigan. Their attacks have nothing to do with educating kids or improving public schools. It’s all about greed and profit for corporations. It is their plan!!!!! Cindy 0803 don’t buy into the legislators plan if you care at all about the kids of Michigan. Again, Steve K for informing the very uninformed.
Deb,
I do not buy into it. I think I’ve made it clear. If everyone refuses to listen, then they refuse to listen.
Under Prop A, Michigan schools are funded through the 6 mil property tax, the increase in the state sales tax (from 4% to 6%), and a cigarette tax. All of these things are tied to the economic stability of the state. Think about how much real estate values alone have declined since 2008. Even without the elimination of the MBT, revenues would have declined substantially. There is not enough money to do what we were doing.
With decreases in revenue, the budget has to decline. Where would you like to see the money taken from so you can keep your same salary and benefits? Please. This is not a rhetorical question.
As I’ve said, I put a lot of sweat equity into my daughter’s school. I fought for teachers with my vote, with my time, on the PTO, in the classroom. I recently voted yes for two millage increases that would have improved all of the schools in the district. Unfortunately, only the one aimed at the HS and MS passed.
But at the same time as I’ve been trying to help, I’ve seen absolutely no serious consideration for parents and their thoughts on education and its potential shortcomings being taken. So, in the long run, I am telling you (trying to warn you) that you are starting to alienate your strongest supporters. It’s not that we don’t know what is going on or that we are misinformed (or stupid); we are just tired of the rhetoric from both sides. You and the state can duke it out. I’ll make sure my daughter gets the education she deserves.
To Denise Widen, well said from a very articulate teacher. I couldn’t agree with you more.
More Common Clowns!!!!!!!!
Thank you for continuing to shine the light on the dismantling of public education in Michigan. Snyder and Duncan must go!
Diane, your readers should be made aware that the Education Dean at the University of Michigan, Deborah Ball, is heading up anti education Governor Snyder’s taskforce on “educator effectiveness”. This is not the first time she showed her opportunistic willingness to collaborate with the anti-education agenda. She also brought Teach for America to Michigan.
Our friendly local Tea Party Astro-Turfers really need to update their talking points. All those old dogmas about the the Bad Ole Teachers Unions bankrupting the public schools in times of Dire Austerity™, Economic Downturn™, and $hared $acrifice™ just don’t hunt anymore when Wall Street is hitting record highs and the Too Big To Jail Banksters are screaming for a third round of bailouts for their fleets of off-shore yachts.
Please look around for another beast to bash, will ya?
Michigan Paranoids, er, Parents for Schools is one of several good Facebook resources for keeping up with education news on the Michigan front.
Seriously, how can we be paranoid when the TEAGOP-Machiavellinac gang keeps assuring us that destroying public education is Not On Their Agenda?
Good backgrounder and cautionary tale on the Mess in Michigan —
Chris Savage • Some Michigan schools flourish while others lock their doors for lack of money — an end run to privatization