state

Michigan education officials will be scouring the state over the next few months to find new plans for reducing dropout rates in the state.
The Michigan Education Association is sponsoring 10 hearings between May and October to find suggestions on keeping children in school until they graduate.
"Too many students are leaving school before graduating," said MEA President Iris Salters. "We need to work together to understand the scope of the problem and to find sustainable solutions."

Michigan's major taxes netted nearly $1.2 billion in March, up by a whopping 22.3 percent over the same month a year ago, according to the figures released Thursday by the Senate Fiscal Agency.
For the 2007-08 fiscal year to date the state has collected $7.7 billion, up 5.9 percent from the same time a year ago.
The state saw major increases in income tax, sales tax and oil and gas severance tax collections, while dealing with declines in Single Business Tax, use tax and real estate transfer tax collections.

State Test Scores Show Increases
in Math for Third Straight Year
April 8, 2008
LANSING – For the third straight year, math scores have risen on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) tests for the state’s elementary and middle school students, the Michigan Department of Education reported today.
Mathematics scores improved at every grade tested (3rd through 8th) except fifth grade, which saw only a slight decline. Writing scores improved at the third, fifth, seventh, and eighth grade levels. Eighth grade science and reading scores also improved.

The State Board of Education is set to have its first look at proposed new teacher training standards at its meeting 4/9/2008.
The proposal would represent the first extensive review of the entry level standards since they were first adopted in August 1993, according to a memo to the board. The standards were updated in 1998 and 2002.
The new Professional Standards for Michigan Teachers, expected to be approved by the board in May, show substantial changes from the original standards, at least in that very few sections of the rules were left untouched in deleting and adding language.

This week's national report showing Detroit had the lowest graduation rate among major cities does raise some concerns about the performance of Michigan's largest city and other urban school districts, but it is also subject to the argument that it is not, currently, valid to compare dropout and graduation rates state to state.

The attached is a report from Achieve, Inc.

School officials this year will likely wake up to the reality Michigan homeowners are facing: declining property values mean the loss of real money — value upon sale for homeowners and tax dollars for school districts.

News is percolating through the capital that sinking property and home values around the state could force state lawmakers to readjust the state school aid budget, because the dollars they thought would be available may not materialize. That could hurt efforts to create smaller high schools and pump more state support into early childhood education.