Connected in more ways then one (Congratulations to Nadine Stallworth-Tibbs)

Their competition done and trophies awaiting presentation, some FIRSTers relax with a line dance

Posted: Sunday, 22 March 2009 12:13PM

Ypsi, Detroit, Warren Win FIRST District Event

A coalition of Willow Run High School, Detroit Osborn University High School and the Warren Consolidated Schools took first place Satuday at the Detroit District tournament of the FIRST Robotics competition.

Two days of 80 seeding matches among 40 teams led to best-of-three-match quarterfinals involving eight three-team coalitions. The survivng four coalitions moved on to best-of-three-match semifinals. Winners there moved on to the best-of-three-match final.

The competing teams packed Wayne State University's Matthaei Center 2,000-seat gymnasium for the competiton and used its practice gyms for the pit area.

The winning coalition bested a three-team group from Madison Heights Bishop Foley High School, the Redford Township-based Michigan Technical Academy and Southgate Anderson High School.

The team from Willow Run also won the top non-competition award, the Regional Chairman's Award. This award is generally considered the most prestigious in FIRST and deals mainly with spreading passion about science and technology to the winner's community and school. The Regional Engineering Inspiration Award went to Team 440, the Cody High School team.

The national FIRST organization is experimenting this year with a new competition structure in Michigan, featuring a larger number of district competitions that are restricted to Michigan teams only, district competition that draw a relatively smaller number of competitors than FIRST's traditional regional competition that are open to teams from virtually anywhere. The idea is to cut travel expenses and give teams a chance to compete in more events closer to home. All of the teams competing Saturday hailed from within a half hour's drive of Wayne State.

The FIRST Michigan competition continues with district events Friday and Saturday in Troy and Grand Rapids, followed by the state championships April 2-4 at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti.

FIRST (For Inspriation and Recognition of Science and Technology) was established in the late 1980s by New Hampshire inventor Dean Kamen, creator of the Segway scooter. The competition involves teams of mentors (corporate employees, teachers, or college students) and high school students who collaborate to design and build a robot in six weeks. This robot is designed to play a game, which is designed by a FIRST committee and changes from year to year. This game is announced at a nationally simulcast kickoff event in January.

This year's game involves robots towing trailers -- robots designed to pick up balls and place the balls in the trailer of a competitor's robot. Team members are also allowed to toss balls into competitors' trailers from designated spots around the competition field. The balls have different point values depending on their color and when in the competition they're placed in the competitor's trailer.

Yours truly had the privilege of serving as master of ceremonies for Saturday's event.

Also, I wanted to mention that you FIRST Robotics fans can now vote for FIRST Teacher of the Year at www.wwj.com/pages/1843943.php. The poll allows voting once per day, and voting ends at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25. We'll present the Teacher of the Year award in April.

Off topic: But Our Macomb, Math, Science and Technology Center Students are Winners!

I believe CONGRATULATIONS are in order in that Ms. Lyndsey Reich and Mr. Tamim Shaker have recently won the Detroit Science and Engineering Fair / Team Competition 2009. They will be traveling to Reno, Nevada in May to compete and extend their winning ways. Kudos!

*Can't remember who we know in Reno..........ten-point toss-up to anyone?

Excerpt: Serves to Enlighten our Journey!

Taking a page from his friend and fellow billionaire Warren Buffet, Bill Gates has begun writing an annual letter to discuss candidly the success and failure of his foundation’s grant-making efforts each year. Having spent more than $2 billion in nine years to transform urban education, he has arrived at some conclusions we would do well to take heed of. He writes:

Many of the small schools that we invested in did not improve students’ achievement in any significant way. These tended to be schools that did not take radical steps to change the culture, such as allowing the principal to pick the team of teachers or change the curriculum. We had less success trying to change an existing school than helping to create a new school.

He goes on to state:

But a few of the schools that we funded achieved something amazing. They replaced schools with low expectations and low results with ones that have high expectations and high results. Almost all of these schools are charter schools that have significantly longer school days than other schools. The hope and promise of our traditional school districts lies with their ability to replicate the strategies and results of the schools that have done “something amazing” in high poverty communities.

But these are just some pieces of the puzzle. And while gains are made in some areas, we fall short of the finish line in others. When new principals were brought on last year to lead three failing Detroit public high schools whose teaching staffs had been reconstituted in keeping with No Child Left Behind, they soon learned that they would only be able to hire teachers from the very same schools that had been reconstituted. So teachers were rotated from one school to another, with the expectation of different results.

Principals must be able to hire the very best teachers for kids who need them the most. Our school leaders and teachers can accomplish that within the context of their collective bargaining agreement in ways that are consistent with measurable improvements in student achievement. But if they are unable to change, as Bill Gates has learned, they may be soon be replaced by schools whose leaders are able to cross that hurdle in order to do something amazing.

Innovation Insights

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Editorial

Bobb has the muscle to fix Detroit schools

Robert Bobb brings some managerial muscle to the Detroit Public Schools, and he's signaling that he'll use it to fix not only the district's finances, but also improve its dismal academic performance. But he's no Samson. To succeed, he needs the broad support of a community that ought to be fed up with the failure of its school system.

That means parents, teachers, community leaders and school board members. Bobb knows what he's doing and can straighten out school district's miserable mess, if that's what Detroit decides it wants him to do. But if the community fights him, if it allows the parasites and special interests to wear him down, Detroit's children aren't likely to get another chance for a quality public school education.

Bobb's motto is "Children First," and it would be useful for everyone in Detroit to adopt it.

What he's doing is absolutely necessary. Bobb is talking about closing as many as 20 schools to deal with a one-year deficit that could reach $200 million.

He's smart enough to know that school closings can't be done mechanically -- they are part of the life of a neighborhood in a city. Yet the district can't sustain the operation of buildings designed for 1,100 students that are occupied by only 300 students.

Bobb has also moved quickly to install systems to allow employees to safely and anonymously report financial wrongdoing, and has quickly suspended one payroll official for possible misbehavior.

He plans to bring in experts to look at the various operations in the huge district, which has revenues of more than $1 billion. Clearly, the administration of these funds has been sloppy. Bobb noted that he discovered in recent days that the district has received a $700,000 grant to aid students in learning to read, but that the money has never been spent.

He has said all kinds of experiments with different learning environments are on the table, including having the district set up its own charter schools, which have more freedom to experiment within the state's curriculum guidelines and don't have more flexibility in staffing assignments.

In one dramatic reversal of current school district policy, Bobb said he would be open to allowing private or charter schools to buy or rent closed Detroit schools, as long as the buildings are properly maintained. The district has been hoarding its boarded-up schools to prevent possible competition from private or charter operators -- thus denying itself much-needed revenue and cheating children of education options.

And all of the operations of the district, Bobb said, would be focused on teaching kids. Labor contracts with private vendors and school employees will all contain requirements that the services provided or the work done will lead to improvements in student achievement.

This should not be an exceptional or controversial set of goals. There are 95,000 students in the system who deserve the best efforts of everyone in the district and the community. Yet the sad history of the Detroit Public Schools is that attempts at reform meet with delay and obstruction.

Parents shouldn't tolerate any move to derail Bobb's reform agenda, and other political players, including school board members, should stand solidly behind him.

REFORM tied to the DOLLARS! (MAKES CENTS)

Obama Says Public Schools Must Improve

By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 11, 2009; A01

President Obama sharply criticized the nation's public schools yesterday, calling for changes that would reward good teachers and replace bad ones, increase spending, and establish uniform academic achievement standards in American education.

In a speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Obama called on teachers unions, state officials and parents to end the "relative decline of American education," which he said "is untenable for our economy, unsustainable for our democracy and unacceptable for our children." The speech, delivered in a venue meant to underscore the changing demographics of the nation's public education system and its long-term priorities, sought to bring a bipartisan approach to education reform by spreading blame across party lines for recent failures.

"For decades, Washington has been trapped in the same stale debates that have paralyzed progress and perpetuated our educational decline," Obama said. "Too many supporters of my party have resisted the idea of rewarding excellence in teaching with extra pay, even though it can make a difference in the classroom. Too many in the Republican Party have opposed new investments in early education, despite compelling evidence of its importance."

Obama's speech, his first as president devoted to education, struck a tone of urgency at a time when public education is slated to receive about $100 billion in new federal money under the recently passed economic stimulus package. The money may give Obama and his education secretary, Arne Duncan, more influence in reshaping a public education system traditionally guided by state governments and local school districts.

"The resources come with a bow tied around them that says 'Reform,' " Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, said in a telephone interview. "Our basic premise is that the status quo and political constituencies can no longer determine how we proceed on public education reform in this country."

Although Obama proposed many of the ideas on the campaign trail, he used the speech to link those prescriptions to the future success of the ailing U.S. economy. He encouraged experimentation in the public school system, including proposals to extend the school day -- to bring the United States in line with some Asian countries whose students are scoring higher on tests -- and to eliminate limits on the number of charter schools.

"A number of these things are simply encouragements to the states on matters that the federal government has little authority over," said Jack Jennings, president of the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy. "But with this stimulus money comes the ability to talk more about these issues. And that is very powerful in itself."

The president signaled a willingness to take on influential Democratic constituencies, including teachers unions, which have been skeptical of merit-pay proposals. He said he intends to treat teachers "like the professionals they are while also holding them more accountable."

Good teachers will receive pay raises if students succeed, Obama said, and will "be asked to accept more responsibility for lifting up their schools." But, he said, states and school districts must be "taking steps to move bad teachers out of the classroom."

"If a teacher is given a chance but still does not improve, there is no excuse for that person to continue teaching," he said. "I reject a system that rewards failure and protects a person from its consequences."

Obama's support for ideas such as merit pay and toughened accountability for teachers is similar in tone to proposals placed on the table by D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee in contract negotiations with the Washington Teachers' Union.

Rhee, a Democrat, said last year that voting for Obama was "a very hard decision" because of the party's traditional reluctance to take on influential teachers unions. A spokeswoman said last night that Rhee had no immediate comment on the president's speech.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, a union with more than 1 million members, said in a statement that "as with any public policy, the devil is in the details. And it is important that teachers' voices are heard as we implement the president's vision."

Obama's call for states to adopt uniform academic achievement standards is likely to anger conservatives, who generally favor giving local school districts the authority to design curriculum and grading criteria. To make his point, the president said: "Today's system of 50 different sets of benchmarks for academic success means fourth-grade readers in Mississippi are scoring nearly 70 points lower than students in Wyoming -- and getting the same grade."

To encourage classroom innovation, Obama said, he wants the District and the 26 states that now limit the number of permitted charter schools to lift those caps. Such schools, founded by parents, teachers and civic groups, receive public money but are allowed to experiment broadly with curriculum. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools says 365,000 students are on waiting lists for charter schools.

Obama chose to deliver his remarks at the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, senior administration officials said, to emphasize the growing proportion of Latinos entering the public school system. He said a quarter of kindergartners in public schools are Latino, adding that they "are less likely to be enrolled in early education programs than anyone else." He said the stimulus plan includes $5 billion to expand the Early Head Start and Head Start programs.

The president also noted that Latino students are "dropping out faster than just about anyone else," a national problem that cuts across ethnic lines. He noted that "just 2,000 high schools in cities like Detroit, Los Angeles and Philadelphia produce over 50 percent of America's dropouts."

Regarding higher education, Obama said he plans to expand several federal grant programs, including increasing the maximum amount of a Pell grant and allowing it to rise with inflation, and ending "wasteful student loan subsidies." The goal, he said, is to make college "affordable for 7 million more students."

"So, yes, we need more money. Yes, we need more reform. Yes, we need to hold ourselves accountable for every dollar we spend," Obama said. "But there is one more ingredient I want to talk about. The bottom line is that no government policies will make any difference unless we also hold ourselves more accountable as parents."

Bottom UP!

Ending the ‘Race to the Bottom’

Published: March 11, 2009

There was an impressive breadth of knowledge and a welcome dose of candor in President Obama’s first big speech on education, in which he served up an informed analysis of the educational system from top to bottom. What really mattered was that Mr. Obama did not wring his hands or speak in abstract about states that have failed to raise their educational standards. Instead, he made it clear that he was not afraid to embarrass the laggards — by naming them — and that he would use a $100 billion education stimulus fund to create the changes the country so desperately needs.

"Testing is not the answer, as the most disadvantaged children are then penalized... as their teachers spend the entire year teaching to the test. "

Susan Josephs, Bethel, Conn.

Mr. Obama signaled that he would take the case for reform directly to the voters, instead of limiting the discussion to mandarins, lobbyists and specialists huddled in Washington. Unlike his predecessor, who promised to leave no child behind but did not deliver, this president is clearly ready to use his political clout on education.

Mr. Obama spoke in terms that everyone could understand when he noted that only a third of 13- and 14-year-olds read as well as they should and that this country’s curriculum for eighth graders is two full years behind other top-performing nations. Part of the problem, he said, is that this nation’s schools have recently been engaged in “a race to the bottom” — most states have adopted abysmally low standards and weak tests so that students who are performing poorly in objective terms can look like high achievers come test time.

The nation has a patchwork of standards that vary widely from state to state and a system under which he said “fourth-grade readers in Mississippi are scoring nearly 70 points lower than students in Wyoming — and they’re getting the same grade.” In addition, Mr. Obama said, several states have standards so low that students could end up on par with the bottom 40 percent of students around the globe.

This is a recipe for economic disaster. Mr. Obama and Arne Duncan, the education secretary, have rightly made clear that states that draw money from the stimulus fund will have to create sorely needed data collection systems that show how students are performing over time. They will also need to raise standards and replace weak, fill-in-the-bubble tests with sophisticated examinations that better measure problem-solving and critical thinking.

Mr. Obama understands that standards and tests alone won’t solve this problem. He also called for incentive pay for teachers who work in shortage areas like math and science and merit pay for teachers who are shown to produce the largest achievement gains over time. At the same time, the president called for removing underperforming teachers from the classroom.

In an effort to broaden innovation, the president called for lifting state and city caps on charter schools. This could be a good thing, but only if the new charter schools are run by groups with a proven record of excellence. Once charter schools have opened, it becomes politically difficult to close them, even in cases where they are bad or worse than their traditional counterparts.

The stimulus package can jump-start the reforms that Mr. Obama laid out in his speech. But Congress will need to broaden and sustain those reforms in the upcoming reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. Only Congress can fully replace the race to the bottom with a race to the top.

PONTIAC SCHOOLS has become part of the NATIONAL CONVERSATION!

BIG PICTURE! (Unfolding)

President Obama says the decline of education is "unacceptable for our children."

Obama wants to overhaul education system from 'cradle to career'

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama began to flesh out the details of one of his signature campaign promises Tuesday, outlining his plan for a major overhaul of the country's education system "from the cradle up through a career."

President Obama says the decline of education is "unacceptable for our children."

"We have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short and other nations outpace us," Obama said in an address to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "The time for finger-pointing is over. The time for holding ourselves accountable is here."

"The relative decline of American education is untenable for our economy, unsustainable for our democracy and unacceptable for our children, and we cannot afford to let it continue," he said.

The president outlined a five-tier reform plan, starting with increased investments in early childhood initiatives.

Obama noted that the recently passed $787 billion stimulus plan includes an additional $5 billion for Head Start, a program to help low-income families.

He highlighted a proposal to offer 55,000 first-time parents "regular visits from trained nurses to help make sure their children are healthy and prepare them for school and life."

He also pledged to boost federal support in the form of "Early Learning Challenge" grants to states that develop plans to strengthen early education programs.

Second, Obama called for an end to "what has become a race to the bottom in our schools" through lower testing standards. Echoing former President Bush's call to end "the soft bigotry of low expectations," Obama said states needed to stop "low-balling expectations" for students.

"The solution to low test scores is not lower standards; it's tougher, clearer standards," he argued.

At the same time, however, he urged states to develop standards "that don't simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble on a test but whether they possess 21st century skills like problem-solving and critical thinking, entrepreneurship and creativity."

To help promote this goal, Obama said he would push for funding in the No Child Left Behind law to be more effectively tied to results. The Education Department, he said, would "back up this commitment to higher standards with a fund to invest in innovation in our school districts."

Obama's third tier focused on teacher training and recruitment. He noted that federal dollars had been set aside in the stimulus plan to help prevent teacher layoffs. He also reiterated a promise to support merit pay, as well as extra pay for math and science teachers with the goal of ending a shortage in both of those subjects.

At the same time, however, the president warned that ineffective teachers should not be allowed to remain on the job.

"If a teacher is given a chance but still does not improve, there is no excuse for that person to continue teaching," he said. "I reject a system that rewards failure and protects a person from its consequences."

Teachers' unions have opposed merit-based pay, arguing that it is unfair because it leads to competition among teachers and because teachers face different challenges depending on where they are located.

Fourth, Obama called for the promotion of educational "innovation and excellence" by renewing his campaign pledge to support charter schools. He called on states to lift caps on the number of allowable charter schools.

He also urged a longer school calendar.

"I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas," Obama said. "But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom."

Obama's final reform initiative focused on higher education. Among other things, the president promised to boost college access by raising the maximum Pell Grant award to $5,550 a year and indexing it above inflation. He also promised to push for a $2,500 a year tuition tax credit for students from working families.

The American Federation of Teachers, a union with 1.4 million members, said Tuesday that it embraces Obama's goals to provide "all Americans with a comprehensive, competitive education that begins in early childhood and extends through their careers."

"We also fully support the president's call for shared responsibility for education -- among public officials, school administrators, parents, students and teachers," the group said in a statement.

"As with any public policy, the devil is in the details, and it is important that teachers' voices are heard as we implement the president's vision."

In promoting his program, the president called for an end to the "partisanship and petty bickering" that many observers believe has typically defined education policy debates in the past.

"We need to move beyond the worn fights of the 20th century if we are going to succeed in the 21st century," he said.

Obama also offered a rebuttal to critics who have accused him of diverting attention to issues such as education and energy at the expense of the deteriorating economy.

"I know there are some who believe we can only handle one challenge at a time," he said. But "we don't have the luxury of choosing between getting our economy moving now and rebuilding it over the long term."

Whew....

State payment allows DPS to make upcoming payroll

BY CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY • FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER • March 10, 2009

The Michigan Department of Education has approved an advance payment that will allow the financially troubled Detroit Public Schools to make payroll next week, according to a letter that DPS released today.

The advance – DPS’ third so far this school year – will be sent as a result of a request from the school district’s new state-appointed financial manager, Robert Bobb.

The state will pay DPS its monthly state aid payment of $69.8 million on March 16, one day before paychecks are distributed. An investigation by the Free Press showed that DPS faces budget shortfalls for half of the payroll periods for the rest of this school year. Without the advance payment, DPS would be short about $12 million needed to pay its 13,600 workers.

In recent months, as the deficit has mounted, DPS has paid its employees while putting off payments to vendors. DPS has a deficit of at least $150 million and is behind on payments to vendors by more than $45 million, Bobb said last week.

The STIMULATION Model: AIM to MODEL the PRACTICE!

VIDEO: Cradle-to-College Education

An organization targets children in a 24-block area of Harlem, assisting more than 7,400 children and 4,100 adults.

By Converge Staff

Geoffrey Canada is the man behind what The New York Times Magazine calls "one of the most ambitious social experiments of our time." He is the president and CEO of Harlem's Children Zone (HCZ), a project that targets children in Central Harlem and follows them from birth to college.

According to its Web site, HCZ operates pre-school programs, after-school programs and the Promise Academy high "to ensure that Harlem students are prepared to enter and excel in college."

WASHINGTON POST / Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

Fixing Our Schools

Having uniform standards and rejecting old excuses would help, the new education secretary believes.

Thursday, March 5, 2009; A18

COUNT US as among those who worried that the economic stimulus plan's huge infusion of new money for education would produce only more of the same failed programs. So it was heartening to hear Education Secretary Arne Duncan describe an unacceptable status quo of broken schools in this country. Not only does he aim to use stimulus dollars to drive reform, but Mr. Duncan envisions this moment as the start of a historic opportunity to dramatically improve the education of children.

"Our job, my job is to fight for kids," Mr. Duncan told Post editors and reporters yesterday as he sketched his plans for the more than $100 billion in new stimulus spending and his ambitions for U.S. education. He made clear that school systems in search of the new federal dollars must be willing to pursue his agenda for change and that his reforms will be built around programs with proven records of success. Refreshingly blunt in describing a "crisis" in education, Mr. Duncan lambasted the system of 50 different states setting 50 different standards for student achievement. He is right to call it a "race to the bottom" in which neither parents nor students know where they stand in relation to the rest of the country, much less the world. Mr. Duncan is not prepared yet to require national standards, but he made clear that a single set of standards, aligned for college readiness and benchmarked to international standards, is where the country needs to be headed.

Equally exciting is his push for improved student assessments as well as sophisticated data systems to track the effectiveness of teachers and the education schools that produce them. Mr. Duncan, former head of Chicago's public schools, has firsthand knowledge of the challenges faced by schools and of what works. For example, he knows that students need more time in schools -- and that "talent matters," so schools have to reward excellence, put the best teachers where they are most needed and get rid of bad teachers. He realizes that it's important to reward everyone who is involved in helping a school succeed. But he's learned that there are bigger differences in teacher performance within schools than between schools.

We admire the fact that Mr. Duncan has absolutely no use for those who would use the social ills of poor children as an excuse for not educating them. "They are part of the problem," he said with disdain, arguing that education is the best way to end poverty. No doubt there will be opposition to his ideas from those traditionalists accustomed to the status quo. But Mr. Duncan made clear that his only interest is in what works.

Our President
Geoffrey Canada and Steven Colbert
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The MONEY to STIMULATE!

Michigan schools set to win big in stimulus

Granholm, lawmakers still debating final choices; utilities, cities want help too

BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF • FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU CHIEF • March 6, 2009

LANSING — Detroit Public Schools stands to reap $530 million — $355 million with no strings attached — from the federal stimulus package that will hand Michigan nearly $7 billion over two or three years.

That appears to make the district, which has an estimated $150-million deficit and finances so tangled the state recently appointed a manager to take the financial reins, the biggest Michigan winner in the stimulus sweepstakes.

In all, the state and local school districts could have at least $2.5 billion to spend as they see fit, based on an analysis by the Senate Fiscal Agency.

How that money is doled out will test the political and fiscal convictions of the governor, state lawmakers, school officials and hundreds of communities and others with their hands out for a piece of the biggest federal giveaway.

Cities, townships, counties, schools, state government and electric utilities have given Gov. Jennifer Granholm their $50-billion wish list for stimulus money.

At most, there's two cents available for every dollar requested.

In addition, Michigan will get nearly $850 million for road and transportation projects to be decided by the state and regional agencies such as SEMCOG.

Liz Boyd, spokeswoman for Granholm, said no decisions have been made about the discretionary stimulus money. She said Granholm insists it be used to create jobs, improve education and promote “the new energy economy.”

Boyd acknowledged heavy demands for the money, given the state's 11.6% unemployment rate and growing need for government assistance, adding, “We are approaching this in a very prudent fashion.”

Lawmakers' ideas

Two key lawmakers represent different views of how the state should spend its stimulus money.

Rep. George Cushingberry, D-Detroit, is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, which oversees all state spending. Sen. Ron Jelinek, R-Three Oaks, chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Cushingberry said discretionary federal money should be used for public schools, expanded government-paid health care for uninsured people and an early retirement plan for state employees, although he offered no details.

In contrast, Jelinek said the money should be spent on projects that create jobs and save taxpayers money in the long run, such as roads, water lines and sewers, or repairs to schools.

“We want to jump-start the economy, put people to work or keep them at work,” Jelinek said. “Increasing someone's retirement doesn't do that.”

House freshman Rep. Bill Rogers, R-Brighton, suggests using $200 million from the stimulus money to cover the up-front costs of converting the pension program for teachers and other public school employees from a traditional, defined-benefit pension to a 401(k)-style savings plan.

Such a change would ignite a firestorm of opposition from teachers and their unions, which hold their traditional defined-benefit pension as untouchable.

Granholm wants to use $1 billion from Medicaid and education stimulus funds to help balance the state budget and to prevent cuts in state aid to public schools and universities.

That would leave $1.3 billion at the state's discretion to spend, and $1.2 billion for school districts and charter schools, according to the Senate Fiscal Agency — $2.5 billion total.

Help for low-income students

Schools also will get $888 million earmarked for special education and to help low-income students.

School districts with proportionately large numbers of low-income students will get more money.

The northern Michigan district Mio-Au Sable, with 770 students, is to receive $1.3 million because it has lots of students from low-income families. That's more than will go to the 3,000-student Riverview Community Schools in Wayne County.

For a complete list of what school districts are estimated to get, go to www.senate.michigan.gov/sfa/main/K12Grants.pdf.

Cushingberry advocates using stimulus money to reduce the gap between what the top-spending and the lowest-spending districts pay to educate each child.

He said money could be used to purchase technology to create virtual universities. He also said stimulus money should be used to provide more health insurance to laid-off workers and other uninsured people.

“As a Democratic leader, that's the most important issue to me, to make sure everybody that we can gets some kind of health coverage,” Cushingberry said.

Asked what happens to schools when the extra federal money runs out, Cushingberry said, “If this economy in Michigan doesn't turn around in the next year or two, there won't be anything we can do anyway.”

Possible trouble ahead

Jelinek said he favors more state budget cuts, not fewer, to prevent chronic budget problems in the future.

He said the potential state deficit — pegged in January at more than $1.5 billion in 2010 — is likely to grow larger as the economy continues to falter.

Gary Olson, director of the Senate Fiscal Agency, said although Michigan will receive large amounts of federal money, it could be eaten up by ordinary demands for state spending. The state spends nearly $22 billion between its general and school aid funds.

The stimulus money for schools is a blessing and a concern, said Donald Wotruba, deputy director of the Michigan Association of School Boards.

The money will help avoid some layoffs, he said. But it could give a false impression that schools are flush.

“The public will be shocked because some people will still be laid off,” he said. “That will be hard to explain.”

Contact CHRIS CHRISTOFF at 517-372-8660 or christoff@freepress.com.

Southeastern High School: Mr. Victor Williams (Video)

http://www.nike.com/jumpman23/features/fundamentals/past_grantees.html

The TITANIC TSUNAMI of YIN and YANG (Or merely the Quiet before the Storm?)

On a mission to save a sinking school district

March 2, 2009

Today Robert Bobb takes the helm of what could charitably be called public education's Titanic -- the Detroit Public Schools.

Bobb arrives as the new fiscal manager not by choice, but as the latest shameful consequence of a systemic pattern of inept management and broken fiscal processes. Add to those problems a $140-million deficit for fiscal year 2008 and a lingering breakdown in the delivery of services, encompassing everything from basics like toilet paper to essentials such as access to mandated tutoring services.

No doubt, Bobb's training through the Eli Broad Foundation's Urban Schools Superintendent Academy will serve him well in prioritizing DPS's fiscal challenges. He has studied the success of big-city turnarounds and knows what must be done. Bobb's national connections could also position DPS to go after a portion of President Barack Obama's Race to the Top Fund, $5 billion that will be divided among school districts employing innovative turnaround ideas. Bobb should also take quick advantage of incoming U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's growing interest in Detroit.

A teensy sign of progress surfaced last week with the news that DPS is selling 27 previously closed schools, properties that had been languishing on the district's books and adding to Detroit's abandoned eyesores.

If Bobb can apply urgency and transparency to other lingering wasteful practices, he'll be light years ahead of any DPS leader since David Adamany, the former Wayne State University president who ran the district for a year during Gov. John Engler's state-imposed takeover.

Like Adamany, Bobb will need a political hide thick as an elephant's and a focus as unrelenting as a laser's. Call it battle armor for the inevitable dueling he'll face with some members of DPS's elected board of education, even as their authority is diminished by his appointment.

The culture of low educational expectations and excuse-making runs too deep with DPS for anyone to assume the board will welcome Bobb's reign. Thankfully, Gov. Jennifer Granholm has given Bobb a broom big enough to sweep out the waste and to begin restructuring DPS as a district finally on course for wondrous change.
Calloway must back up allegations

March 2, 2009

How surprising that Connie Calloway, the usually calm and demure former Detroit Public Schools superintendent, is suddenly so loquacious about the waste and corruption she saw while at the helm of the state's largest school district.

During a hearing on her dismissal, Calloway lobbed some pretty explosive -- and potentially criminal -- accusations against her former employers, the Detroit Board of Education.

Calloway insinuated, among other charges, that members of the board held closed-door meetings to determine vendor contract awards and strategically moved money between funds in order to profit personally.

Board members predictably bristled at the accusations. And they certainly should without seeing proof. Funny, Calloway didn't offer any during her diatribe.

But if Calloway has any evidence to back up what she's saying, she has an obligation to produce it -- and, just as important, to explain why she waited so long to come forward. A spokeswoman for the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office told the Detroit Free Press it has not received documentation of any alleged criminal conduct.

During her short 18-month tenure, Calloway billed herself as a defender of accountability.

Now, she must be accountable for the questionable decision to open this sordid can of worms the way she did, and perhaps for sitting silent while others allegedly committed transgressions against the city's children.