The Future of Allegan County Education

March 30, 2010

How to bring 429 million into the state…or more

Filed under: Posts — mklosner @ 11:16 am

Because of the structural deficit of our tax system as well as the effects of the current, terrible recession on our economy, Michigan cannot generate enough revenue to sustain our schools, let alone create a top notch educational system that is absolutely necessary for the 21st Century. Reforms aside, schools need to both re-invest and re-structure themselves to meet the needs of a new, global economy and literate citizens who must sustain a democracy like ours.

If you have not already done so, you should take a half hour and listen/watch Professor Ballard’s tax presentation. (Link below.) He contends that there are enough resources to keep Michigan’s schools whole, but that it is necessary to re-structure our tax system to match the reality of our current economy. Simply put, the economy has changed from a goods based economy to a service based one. This indeed has happened all over the country. Wealth has not ‘disappeared’, but it certainly has shifted away from traditional sources. A realistic, fair tax system would reflect those changes.

However, given the heated nature of tax discussions –especially at the political level, it is very difficult to talk with any sense of objectivity about taxes. Despite the urgent need for new revenues many people simply oppose anything to do with taxes. This is a shame, because we are only as great as our wealth’s reflection in our institutions and citizens. We must start the discussion quickly.

Charles Ballard, Professor of Economics, Michigan State University illustrates very clearly where $429 million dollars could be generated from a sales tax on services. For example:

Repairs -$220 million

Entertainment -$95 million

Landscaping -$66 million

Dry Cleaning -$48 million

This makes sense and following this model 3 billion more dollars of revenue could be generated for this State without harm. All this may be seen at: http://mediasite.mivu.org/Mediasite/FileServer/Presentation/8559b26e94da4c8a8e6f5e64ce4f45a7/

In a few months schools must once again re-figure their budgets without knowing how much money they will have. They are not getting used to this method of “thinking behind”, rather than “thinking ahead”. Most have already made sacrificial cuts that would make the Aztecs look meek. Still, there is no doubt, they will be asked to make more. Ultimately there could be whole generations sacrificed, when in fact we could follow Mr. Ballard’s (and others) suggestions and refinance our and our children’s futures.

Let’s hope so. Write your congressman.

March 22, 2010

Good Citizens, Let us not let Time and Accountability Slip Away!

Filed under: Posts — mklosner @ 2:12 pm

Who’s accountable, if our schools are “failing”?

Who’s accountable if kids drop out of school?

Who’s accountable if public schools are under-funded?

Who’s accountable if schools no longer underwrite our democracy; if we no longer know the stories of our past?  The hopes of our future? What the color of blood was in Normandy? On the USS Cole?

Who’s accountable, if we no longer learn the skills for our future?

Who is accountable to hang the pictures, build the roads, make the cars, measure the forests, ply the oceans with great ships or till the land with great tractors? Who will look up at the pale disc of the moon and wonder about the stars beyond?

Who is accountable when the round, metal speaker says, “May I help you?”

Who is accountable when the child lives in a house without a book? Only channels on and on. Without parents?  Without breakfast, or words of love? Without someone to say, “That’s not true. There are no Werewolves. Go to bed.”

Or, hurry, there’s your bus!  Who is accountable for those without winter coats and the child aimless in the dark end of the hallway? Who is responsible when they are: Up to no good, no doubt?

Who is accountable for the angry look on the face of the hopeless? The young man with a weapon he might use and a computer he will not? Who is accountable for the wasted years tangled into whole lives? The dreams never dreamed, the cures never born, the smiles and laughter never given? The families never formed?

Maybe it is Mr. Jones who writes on the chalkboard and then sits down? Is it Miss Watson the ex typing teacher, now doing year book? Is it Mr. Strong yelling in the hall way? Or is it Mrs. Murphy who is comforting the crying girl with yellow balloons on her dark blue backpack?

Is it the school board president who can’t read without her glasses? Is it because there is no free lunch?

Is Mrs. Greene accountable with 4 kids under the age of 6 and her husband looking for a job? Can Mr. Korm who worked for GE for 35 years and owns the big house on the river, tell us who is accountable?

Or maybe the Governor who makes the choices? Or the Prison Guard counting his years while prisoners sneak quietly to the toilet after count?

Tell me who is accountable?

We should point a finger at someone. So much easier to point and say you, or you or people like you, with kids, or no kids or old, or young, or jobless or rich or poor. You must make sacrifices. You must send your kids here or there. There is no free lunch or basketball games for less than $5, except for senior citizens of course…

Who is accountable? Because as we wonder, as we say no and nod our heads, the life we will never have goes on and on waiting for an answer to some very important questions never asked.

February 19, 2010

The Nation at Risk 27 years later

Filed under: Uncategorized — wcraft @ 4:24 pm

By: William Craft

There are many times in the course of our lives when we come to a point where a decision needs to be made.  Such a time has been reached in the state of Michigan.  Public Education has reached a crisis.  For years people too often expressed the opinion that schools are wasteful.  I am not sure where this opinion comes from; one could assume that it comes from the same anti-authoritarian mind set that convinces most kids that they don’t like school.  But schools are running lean and mean.  The argument that have put schools in this position is not a complicated one, it’s a financial one; the familiar rallying cry of “no new taxes”.  No one wants to pay more taxes, but for something’s we realize that the investment warrants new expense.   We need to realize that we live in an orderly society and we need to make an investment in that society, this issue cannot be reduced to the argument of we all need to tighten our belts so education is expected to do the same.  The fact is education has been tightening its belt for many years and will continue to do so.  What will suffer is the student and that is the real bottom line.

I hear many of my friends site Ronald Reagan as their role model for tightening education budgets, but it was Reagan who recognized in 1983 that education was an issue that he hoped to champion and appointed a former high school teacher Terrell Howard Bell as secretary of education and then later appointed National Commission on Excellence in Education which produced  the Nation at Risk report that pointed out  “You must be a living example of what you expect your children to honor and to emulate. Moreover, you bear a responsibility to participate actively in your child’s education”

We need to honor public education and furthermore we need to invest in our children’s future.  The recent controversy surrounding Michigan’s broken promises to our youth to support college is embarrassing for our state.  If your child picks up your hostility towards education they in turn are hostile towards education.  If your child doesn’t think you value education they won’t value education and as they Nation at risk report pointed out, “fiscal support and stability required to bring about the reforms we propose.”  It has been 27 years since this report was published, and we still have not achieved the goals of this report.

We all recognize that we are under very difficult economic times, we must also recognize our duties as Americans for the future of our nation.  Schools are facing tough economic times as we all are and the discussion on what direction we are headed is an important one.  One thing however is obvious without a well education population just as in 1983 we are truly a Nation at Risk, at risk of losing that most American ideal, individuality.  It takes the intelligence and self esteem to build the courage that makes us strong

February 15, 2010

Taxes !@#$%& Taxes

Filed under: Posts — mklosner @ 3:31 pm

From our present perspective, despite of -or maybe because of,  2  wars,  a terrible Recession and a global economy replacing or crushing local economies, tax discussions have often become redoubts from which political battles are fiercely fought.  Fights over taxes have brought governments to a standstill and sometimes torn apart families, friends and communities. It is a subject we should all approach with the caution due a roadside bomb. Still you have to get down the road. The euphemisms of govt. revenue, progressive revenue or “pay as you go”, even revenue enhancements, bring little solace to this political battlefield.  But however you feel about taxes they have been the necessary fuel of our country’s history, if not greatness.  It began that way: “…we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” the Founding Fathers declared. Money has never been far separated from neither great deeds nor government.

Indeed there is an argument that the United States would not exist without taxes. Certainly from the perspective of the Greatest Generation this is true.” In 1943, America’s most affluent households faced a 93 percent tax rate on all their income over $200,000. The next year, 1944, the nation’s top tax rate would rise even higher, to 94 percent on income over $200,000—the highest rate in American history.” the historian John Witte, noted. There have been worse tax times than ours. Or to put it another way, greater sacrifices than ours.  Those were dangerous years, but in many parallels so is our own time.

As we’ve entered a global economy we don’t know the real cost of an “education”;  we know it has grown increasingly more expensive. In requirements alone the State Government has decreed students graduating next year will be required to have an on-line course/experience, i.e., internet, computer and technology access, a visual performing arts credit, 4 math credits (one in the senior year) and more social studies and English. We mandate more, expect more and decry cost.

Economist Dr. Charles Ballard of Michigan State University, in a presentation on Mich taxes, stated that our real problems are not so much “economic” as political. In other words we have not yet reached a consensus on how to pay for what we need in a different economy. He goes on to explain that the structural deficit of the present tax system and tax laws has created a perpetual deficit government. The tax structure does not fit the reality of our economy. There is enough wealth in Mich. to support our schools, roads, bridges and quality of life, but there is not a fair and flexible tax system to elicit those funds for our needs. And to rely on the present structure is never going to produce enough dollars to enable our survival.  It will only produce an eventual demise of our institutions and way of life.

An example of how the system is both antiquated and unfair is the internet. While someone purchasing a shirt online pays no sales tax to Mich. the merchant in the mall or down the road, must add sales tax to that very same shirt. Online shopping and merchandise have changed how we do business. Beer and wine are taxed at a rate imposed in 1966 and 1981 on units rather than percent of value. Services are another area that is given a pass in the tax structure. A hammer purchased at the local hardware, Dr. Ballard relates, is subject to a sales tax while dog grooming or season tickets to the Detroit Lions are not. (Well maybe Lion tickets should not be taxed at all. Charity?) Which brings us to the next point? Why are some things subject to taxes and not others?

The overall Mich. sales tax could be lowered –slightly- and adequate revenue generated if onl y the tax system were made more uniform. Dr. Ballard agrees with this figure.

Of course one would still have to get by the emotion charged nomenclature of “tax”.  No one has quite figured out how to do that. Given the emotional intensity of both our state and national election  politics, it doesn’t seem like a common-sense approach to a tax re-structure plan  will be given its due. (As of this writing, Governor Granholm’s proposed new budget –which contains much of Dr. Ballard’s ideas, has been roundly criticized.) But we can always passively hope, or as  a democracy, actively demand we get what we need, for our children and our future. The Future is always worth our lives, our fortunes and our honor.

See (http://mediasite.mivu.org/Mediasite/Viewer/?peid=8559b26e94da4c8a8e6f5e64ce4f45a7) for Dr. Ballards’s slideshow The Facts About Michigan’s Taxes.

(If you haven’t already, please take the tax survey on the home page.)

February 13, 2010

Where was early childhood in Michigan’s State of the State

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , — mkoops @ 8:10 am

Shame on Governor Granholm for failing to even mention school readiness programs in her final State of the State address. All her talk about better schools and a better prepared workforce is just smoke and mirrors unless we focus on actually ensuring school children reach their full potential.

That simply cannot happen unless they receive adequate supports before they begin school. Gone are the days when kids learn ABCs and 123s in kindergarten. They need to begin school with the foundation to learn and succeed from Day One.

Kindergarten teachers will tell you what Granholm neglected to – one out of three children isn’t adequately prepared to learn when they begin school.  Children who start out behind tend to fall behind, and never catch up. Many of them end up dropping out and becoming drains on society rather than contributing, tax-paying citizens.

The governor knows all this but didn’t say it. So I guess it’s up to us to say it to our lawmakers: If you want to fix Michigan, start at the beginning and help our youngest learners become productive adults.

February 5, 2010

February 5th update

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 9:10 am

Dear Friends of Allegan County Education,

Recently, both the Majority Leader of the Senate the Governor have separately put forth proposals to help balance the State School Aid Budget.  The Majority Leader’s proposal, as I understand it, has centerpieces which include requiring all public school employees to take a 5% pay cut over the next three years as well as requiring those same employees to pay 20% of their health insurance premiums.

The Governor’s proposal calls for both “carrots and sticks” to those who are of retirement age.  Those who can retire and choose to do so would receive a small increase in lifetime retirement benefits.  Those who don’t opt for retirement will contribute 3% more to the retirement system.  Additionally, they will have to pay for their own dental and vision benefits, when they do retire.

I would like to know what you think about either or both of these proposals.  I encourage you to post a reply.  Do you think that either proposal can be part of a viable long-term solution?  Remember, at FACE, we are striving to meet the short-term, immediate needs as well as a long-term funding and structural fix.

I encourage you to reply to this post.  Further, I highly suggest that you read both proposals in their entirety.  I have summarized only a couple of the key points of each proposal above for the sake of brevity.

Thank you for what you do to support education in Allegan County.  Feel free to encourage others to check out the FACE website.  We welcome divergent opinions .

Sincerely,

Mark R. Dobias, Superintendent

January 24, 2010

Re-Build Allegan County Schools…Start with Words

Filed under: Uncategorized — mklosner @ 6:58 pm

Polonius- What do you read, my lord?

Hamlet- Words, words, words.

Words are the start for most everything people do and the epitaph of just as many. Ideas often arise from the banging and jarring of their train like arrangement. People are aroused to anger, patriotism or other emotions, both good and bad, as the boxcar words bump together. Words are the very source of who we are as a nation. There is no founding father, whether it is the less known Roger Sherman (the man who “never said a foolish thing”!) or the immeasurable Thomas Jefferson, who were not wordsmiths, writers first and statesmen second. Words are the warp and weft of our nation. They weave us together and in our schools; they spill from history to literature to social studies, as they teach students who we are as a nation, a society and individuals.

Who is not stirred by the Declaration of Independence’s words: “We hold these truths to be self evident…” All the complaints of all the students cannot take away the gift and need of words to make our way through daily life. Employers call for the ability to write and communicate. And it is ironic that even the internet, in all its electronic, image filled, clicking  glory, turns to words, to blogs such as this one, as the ultimate expression of words, words, words.

But we must use them wisely. That is why this blog was formed to save our schools. The blog is still in its infancy, yet growing. If you look on the right side of the blog’s page you will see a series of links to recent posts and registration pages. The most important one, at this time, is the “Contact your representatives”, by Bill Craft. At the end of his article is a link to Project Vote Smart. That link will enable you to contact your representatives in Lansing and Washington, D.C. It will show you what they voted for or against. It will give a face (and words) to those whom we put into office. It is a direct avenue for you to voice your opinions and send your words. Remember Nike’s famous shoe slogan? “Just do it”? Now is perhaps the time, for the longer we wait the closer we come to the dismantling of our schools. Schools have been cut to the bone. Yes, you can still squeeze marrow out of them, maybe even lop off a limb, but what they are designed for will become an empty advertisement for what they once were. You simply cannot call for higher scores, or a more learned and employable, ‘thinking’ generation and at the same time cut funding. You cannot compete with a roster of foreign countries that places their driven children in schools designed to better American schools. They have no such illusions about “anyone can teach” and today’s classrooms are no different (less costly) than the ones our fathers sat in –or even the classroom we sat in a decade ago. The world moves too fast. -You get what you pay for. We don’t want, nor can we afford, to let our schools become as obsolete as the livery stable or the full service gas station. Let’s not let that happen in the name of taxes or political parties, or in our anger at the way things are or have become.

Public schools owe their existence, not only to our democratic form of government, but more pointedly to  a series of generations and communities, like this one, who held education, if not sacred, at least as an essential element of our democracy. If words are unread the past dims and the future remains dark and unlighted. The past and future are in direct proportion to each other. Join us and begin with the currency of words to rebuild our public schools.

January 22, 2010

Now is the time to stand

Filed under: Uncategorized — wcraft @ 10:41 am

By William Craft
I am working with a small group of writers in the area that have one common strand, they are a group that for the most part have given up on ‘traditional’ education.  My first concern, is why have these 8 or 9 kids given up on the system, or has the system given up on them.  I can remember from my own educational experience feeling that my core High School Curriculum was developed with the objective of passing kids through the system without the individual needs of that student being addressed.  This sentiment is echoed by these students 25 years later and some 700 miles away from my home in Maryland.  One of the core issues that need to be addressed is where is public education is headed, can we implement the strategies required to deliver to the student the level of instruction necessary to educate them and allow them to succeed in the 21st century.

Some think that the future means less personal attention for the student, but the technologies that allows for one to one instruction and more teacher/student interactions can give a level of personal service that will distinguish our public schools and allow us to prepare our students not just intellectually but emotionally as well.  Sometimes the bottom line is not the bottom line.  Education needs to work,  We need to inspire students to believe that they can achieve the impossible and the only way to get there is to allow our public schools to achieve great things.

I was told when I was child, that anything is possible, I still believe that sentiment.  We are danger of losing the most precious gift, the gift of belief in a better life. We need to let our representatives know that public education is something that is worth saving.  Now is the tine to stand and no cause is worth standing for more than public education.

January 15, 2010

You can’t win if you don’t play.

Filed under: Uncategorized — mklosner @ 5:06 pm

“What we resolve to do in school only makes sense when considered in the broader context of what the society intends to accomplish through its educational investment in the young.”

– Jerome S. Bruner, The Culture of Education

It’s no doubt an understatement to say we live in uncertain times. Mich.’s manufacturing jobs have, for the most part, been drastically reduced. Mich. was once an industrial powerhouse and whether we were part of manufacturing or not, we benefited from an economy fueled by the moribund manufacturing industry. Our schools prepared the work force that was needed to build and deliver goods. Manufacturing, businesses of all kinds have changed as we consigned to history a WWII manufacturing mentality. That mentality was made up of equal amounts of strong backs and minds. No longer. Technologies have replaced the strong backs and called for more cerebral skills.

Our economy now calls for a new, changing set of skills and once again public schools must provide citizens with those skills to meet the 21st Century’s challenges and needs.

What are these skills? Topping all are the basic skills, the famous three R’s, reading, writing and arithmetic. They are a given. We, as citizens hopefully know and stress this. Applied skills, the ability to do the job better are: teamwork, critical thinking, and communication. Employers hold these skills sacred and in some cases, feel they are more important than the basics. Where do we learn such skills? Certainly public schools are set to teach these very skills, if they are not already doing so. –Whether they do this well or not is part of an ongoing argument of reform.

But know this, without a doubt, if our schools do not exist, blink out like fuel less lamps, or don’t have the personnel and technologies to deliver such skills to our children, they will not, cannot succeed. Their existence is key to our economy and certainly an essential ingredient of our society’s welfare and happiness; possibly our existence as a republic.

Schools have to be adequately funded to succeed in teaching the 21st Century skills to the future workers, our businesses desperately need, to compete. School reform is a necessary part of the process, but to hold up everything in its name is insanity.

The present funding system is not working. Schools are foundering and if they fail so will our chance of success for both us and our children. I need not mention our future.

What to do? We must petition our representatives in Lansing to fund schools. Create new sources for funds. Re-design our old system so that it works. Do something! You cannot remove the bottom steps and think you will be able to climb to the top. Contact your representatives from this site.

January 14, 2010

Contact your representatives

Filed under: Posts — wcraft @ 12:30 am

One of the most important things that we all can do is to let our elected officials know how we feel about the issues that face education(no pun intended).  I write a lot of letters to elected officials and getting involved in the system is one of our best resources to ensure in the November election that candidates that supports education in more than just lip service get elected.  One of the most important tools for finding out where to write is project vote smart.  I have the link below, you just but in your zip and it gives you contact information for all of your elected representatives.

Project Vote Smart

Thanks,
Bill Craft

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