As reported earlier this week, The Detroit News discovered in emails they obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of Gov. Snyder’s office that, contrary to what the Governor had insisted, the “skunk works” secret education “reform” group was hatched at the highest levels in his administration.

Well, it seems the News found more high-level fibbing  through additional FOIAs regarding a grant application the Education Achievement Authority filed last year with the U.S. Department of Education for $35.4 million to fund a five-year teacher merit pay program. Democracy Tree reported in January this year that the EAA’s unelected leader, Chancellor John Covington, was growing increasingly twitchy about the legislature codifying the district into state law — thereby gaining the level of authority he felt they needed to succeed. Democracy Tree also reported recently that they’ve been clandestinely receiving stop-gap loans from cash-strapped Detroit Public Schools to stay afloat — to the tune of $12 million this school year.

Documents now reveal that the grant application the EAA submitted overstated the legal authority of the nascent school district in order to gain approval. The application claimed that the EAA had already received its legislative stamp of approval even though at the time neither the Senate or House had passed the EEA bill, and it wasn’t until March of this year that the House passed their version, while in the Senate it remains stalled in Committee as of this date.

Chancellor Covington tried to explain the falsehood away thusly to The Detroit News:  “It was absolutely, totally presumptive. That was the only way we could write the grant.”
Apparently, the lying paid-off for Covington — the EAA was approved for an initial grant payment of $1.6 million — the amount requested for the first year to run the current 15 schools in the district.

This kind of misbehavior is to be expected when unelected officials replace school boards.

Amy Kerr Hardin

Now it seems the newly appointed Emergency Manager of Detroit, Kevyn Orr, has taken a clue from the heartless Flint Santa sale, and is considering whether the art held in trust by the Detroit Institute of Arts is a city-owned asset that he, or the courts, could choose to liquidate, particularly if the city opts for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

Annmarie Erickson, Executive Vice President of the Institute told the Detroit Free Press “We are standing by our contention and belief that we hold the collection in trust for the public. And although to some it may seem to be an asset, we do not.” However, Bill Nowling, spokesperson for Orr, believes that the art may indeed be a city-owned asset, and cautioning that they currently have no intention of liquidating the collection, went on to assert it may be within their authority to do so. He was quoted saying “We have to look at everything on the table. As much as it would pain us to do it, and it does, I’m a great lover of art and so is Kevyn, we’ve got a responsibility to rationalize all the assets of the city and find out what the worth is and what the city holds.”

That statement does not bode well for the DIA. Democracy Tree has written previously about conservativism and negative attitudes toward culture and the arts in general, finding conservatives often harbor a contempt for things in the art-world they don’t understand.

Detroit would bounce-back from a financial bankruptcy, but it may never recover from a cultural bankruptcy.

Amy Kerr Hardin

It’s been a busy news day for ballot initiatives in Michigan…throw in a little legislative hypocrisy, and we’ve got fun, fun, fun — if you are a Republican, that is…

First, the Wolf Hunt Referendum that gathered over 250,000 signatures to put the question to popular vote finally earned their spot on the 2014 ballot. However, the effort is now reduced to a hollow victory and the vote will be little more than a pro forma exercise after the recent legislative end-run that enabled wolf hunting to proceed against the wishes of most Michiganders. Bottom line: 43 wolves will die for sport in the Upper Peninsula this year.

Also today, the Board of State Canvassers approved the language of the ballot proposal that would require individuals and employers to purchase a special rider policy for abortions under the Affordable Care Act. The language of the petition specifies that even in the case of rape or incest the policy is required. Gov. Snyder recently vetoed a bill with similar language. The approval process has no political component — the Board of Canvassers merely looks for clarity and accuracy — a bureaucratic “spell check” if you will. Yet still, another bad day for women’s reproductive rights in Michigan.

Saving the best for last….

Democracy Tree is always on the look-out for hypocrisy in governance, and today did not disappoint! A couple of weeks ago, we reported that the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Public Act 53 of 2012 which prohibits the automatic deduction of union dues from teachers checks even if they agree to it. Well, today State Sen. Arlan Meekhof (R-30) was joined across the aisle by Sen. Rebekah Warren (D-18) in sponsoring SB 283 which makes it easier for employers to automatically deduct political contributions to PACs and 401(c)(4)s from payroll. The bill amends Public Act 388 of 1976 which required annual written confirmation from employees to allow the deduction.

Amy Kerr Hardin

While Democracy Tree isn’t questioning the need to shed a little congressional daylight on the issue, there are some less than subtle distinctions and caveats that must first be fully acknowledged:

First, for GOP pundits and lawmakers to play the wounded kitten, howling that this was all politics, citing their suspicions that the Obama Administration was the hidden hand in unfairly singling-out certain 501(c)(4)s for additional scrutiny based on potential and unsubstantiated illegal politcal activities, and then to demand (often in the same breath) that congress investigate their unsubstantiated claim that the Obama Administration orchestrated the whole thing for political reasons…well, it’s all a tad-bit disingenuous. While Hammurabi’s law may have supported the reciprocal arrangement, it appears we are stuck in a perpetual causality loop of political gamesmanship.

The glaring truth is, Michigan GOP lawmakers have actually shown their hand by putting their political motives in writing in the form of this resolution. They’re not even denying they are using their political office to conduct a witch hunt….an act they wholly condemn the IRS for. 

Next, there is an argument to made that this “scandal” is of GOP origins in the first place. Alec MacGillis, of The New Republic, put it this way:

The laws and regulations that the [IRS] Cincinnati crew so haplessly tried to enforce were not the result of a liberal dream agenda. They were the result of a triumphant conservative assault on a campaign finance system that has prevailed since the 1970s. 501(c)(4)s have emerged as the latest way to skirt limits and disclosure requirements for campaign contributions, an end-around that was given a big boost by recent court rulings, including Citizens United. If many big-government liberals had their way, there would be no office in Cincinnati vetting 501(c)(4)s at all because they would not exist in anything like their current form. How do we know this? Because there was a vote in Congress to force disclosure of major donors (those giving more than $10,000) to 501(c)(4)s, and most Democrats voted for it. Forcing donor disclosure would greatly reduce the appeal of that tax exemption, and would thereby reduce the need for civil servants to sift through filings and send out time-consuming, inane questions. But the Disclose Act was blocked by Republican opposition.

Another key point to consider is that, although the IRS may not be the best organization to conduct these kinds of investigations, particularly because they lack the capacity to do so, a congressional probe designed to discredit their clumsy policies will certainly give a free pass for further abuse of the 501(c)(4) secret money vacuum, and thus have a profoundly chilling effect on curbing future illegal campaign finance activities. A point not lost on the far right.

This scandal is a win-win-win for the GOP. Just take a look at the numbers out today from Pew Research. Republicans overwhelmingly believe that the president was involved in the IRS decision to target certain groups.

But then, we already knew they just can’t resist a good conspiracy theory.

Amy Kerr Hardin

As if “skunk works” wasn’t bad enough in and of itself, Snyder went full-on Nixonian and denied having any knowledge of its existence. But, oops…It’s now reported that a Freedom of Information Act request for copies of emails from senior advisors revealed that the secretive group was hatched at the highest levels of the Snyder Administration. The Detroit News put it this way:

Records show the group was born during a mid-September lunch meeting between state Chief Information Officer David Behen, Snyder adviser Rich Baird and Richard McLellan, a GOP attorney who was separately studying ways to rewrite school funding laws at Snyder’s behest.

So, Michigan has a governor’s office that not only doesn’t understand the basics of transparency (afterall, Sunshine Week lasts… only a week), but apparently they also readily dissemble about the facts as clumsily as fibbing second graders. And that’s just the spin generated over the controversial “work group” — what about the group itself?

The types of pseudo-reforms “studied” in skunk works were little more than corporate idealogue attempts at ersatz education of the worst variety. In the spirit of the new Star Trek release last week, a Borg reference would be most fitting. The notion that technology should replace classroom instruction is absurd, and serves only to further inform us as to the complete incompetency of Snyder’s education advisors. Sure, technology is great for replacing paper in the classroom, but not the teacher. Only an idiot would disregard the primacy of human contact in the education equation. Interactive technology lacks the finesse and acuity of a living, breathing, caring instructor. Even students enrolled in cyber schools typically have a stay-at-home parent working full-time with them on their lessons, and they still fare comparatively poorly without the benefit of a certified teacher.

The primary difference between a cyber school and the skunk works plan was a brick-and-mortar facility to house the students and their cyber “teachers” — which would be an obscene hybrid of for-profit charter and cyber schools — indeed, a veritable GOP wet-dream. That was their plan…

Not so fast boys — cuz, uh oh…we’ve got some more transparency issues here. Sorry!

The State Board of Education expressed alarm last week over abuses found in the for-profit motives that have been introduced into Michigan public education. Specifically, as reported in MLive, they were “concerned about charter school lease agreements that far exceed standard market value rates”. The board felt that charter school finances require more scrutiny.

Republican State Senator Phil Pavlov scoffed at their concern, calling it mere “minutiae”, and went on to claim the board’s supposed lack of oversight was the real reason both Pontiac and Buena Vista school districts found themselves in a fiscal pickle this month.

Seriously, what color is the sky in Pavlov’s world?

Amy Kerr Hardin

Enjoy…

The spirit of democracy in Michigan is embodied here in this video sent from Melodee Mabbitt from Flint:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evXwsiXA3zE

Amy Kerr Hardin

There is a very real threat that this petition drive will meet with success where lawmakers have failed. Here’s why:

In Michigan, an initiated law requires the gathering of signatures equal to 8 percent of the number of voters in the previous gubernatorial election —  258,088 in this case.  Of course, any successful petition drive would obtain many more, yet this will likely be very easily accomplished. How? Religious organizations and churches are legally permitted to advocate for a petition drive.  While they may not legally endorse specific candidates, nor directly contribute money to political causes, they enjoy First Amendment protection on expressing political views, including those on petitions.

Once the required number of signatures are gathered and certified, lawmakers have 40 days in which to enact the initiated law or the question will become a ballot proposal in the Nov. 2014 election. Michigan saw six ballot proposals in 2010, so it is certainly not an impossible feat. The governor has no veto power over an initiated law, whether enacted legislatively or through popular vote. However, lawmakers may amend the proposal by a two-thirds vote and place it on the ballot, or they may change or repeal the law by a three-quarters supermajority. Conservative Michigan lawmakers are in no mood to come to the rescue of women’s reproductive rights. They have demonstrated their contempt for women’s health over and over again.

What can we expect to see happen in Michigan? Lawmakers will have the choice to enact the law without a popular vote, an attractive option for the far right, because they know the proposal would be in jeopardy at the ballot box.

Other states have also been actively chiseling away at insurance coverage for abortion services. A Guttmacher Institute report found the following:

• 8 states have laws in effect restricting insurance coverage of abortion in all private insurance plans written in the state, including those that will be offered through the health insurance exchanges that will be established under the federal healthcare reform law. Among them, 7 states limit coverage to life endangerment, 1 state limits coverage to life, rape, incest, fetal impairment and “substantial and irreversible impairment of bodily function”, and 7 states permit additional abortion coverage through purchase of a seperate rider and payment of an additional premium.
• 20 states restrict abortion coverage only in plans that will be offered through insurance exchanges.
• 18 states restrict abortion coverage in insurance plans for public employees.

It’s clearly a retrograde trend for women’s reproductive rights in our country. Michigan, welcome back to the 1950s.

Amy Kerr Hardin

A couple of weeks prior to all this, Democracy Tree reported that the very conservatively run Traverse City Area Public School District announced that their projected budget has them on track for crisis in just a couple of years.

Today it is Albion Schools. Last night their board voted to shutter the high school altogether, with no plan in place on how and where to educate 9th through 12th grades. Dr. Al Pheley, the school board president told Michigan Public Radio:

“We’re watching that happen in other school districts where they are facing the same challenges. How do you provide the education that our students need on the amount of money and the declining population.”

Two years ago the list of seriously struggling schools in Michigan included only 48, but that calculation was made prior to the subsequent budget cuts and policy hurdles inflicted on them under Snyder and the state legislature. When teachers and schools cried “foul” back then, few listened, but now we finally see major media identifying the problem as one of poor policies, bad laws, and cruel budgets.

Michigan’s schools are falling like dominoes.

Amy Kerr Hardin

Flint resident Melodee Mabbitt, the city’s own little Cindy Lou, organized the effort and is quoted in the Flint Journal saying:

“This clearly isn’t just about Santa Claus. It’s about what it symbolizes to have an emergency manager auction Santa Claus off,…No elected official would auction Santa off online.”

“This is about the community standing up to an emergency manager.”

The citizens of Flint are among the most resilient and resourceful in the state. Hats off to them for continuing the fight against emergency management.

Amy Kerr Hardin

(and no, this is not a satirical article)

Contrast that opinion with that of Sue Smith, President of the Michigan League of Women Voters, former administrator at Central Michigan University and Mount Pleasant School Board member. Under her leadership, the LWV is closely tracking changes in Michigan education policy in the Snyder administration. Speaking at the Livonia Chapter of LWV last week, Smith had quite a few critical remarks to share on the state of public education in Michigan.

First, she hammered on the Education Achievement Authority, a scheme that is Emergency Manager Roberts’ brainchild project in which he spun-off the 15 lowest performing schools in DPS to get them off the student assessment records, and thereby make his leadership appear to improve the school district. The Observer & Eccentric reported Smith saying this about the EAA:

“For the most part, the state Board of Education is being left out of the plans for the EAA. I was at the hearing on the EAA bill and testifying against it on the basis that it took away the citizen control over schools.”

Smith went on to advise that the expansion of charter schools is not what lawmakers crack it up to be, and they are demonstrably not the educational panacea as claimed. Next, she questioned Snyder’s move to make per pupil funding transportable, a redux of the voucher push of a decade ago. Smith finds the governor’s plan simplistic, saying it does not take key factors, such as transportation costs into account, among other important concerns left completely unaddressed.

Michigan Republicans have demonstrated repeatedly their incompetence in understanding, let alone forming, education policy, and often flaunt their ignorance as a selling point. The House Committee on Education Chairperson, Lisa Posthumus-Lyons, attempted to sell her role as a parent as the only skill she needs to shape policy for students and schools across the state.

Michigan’s children deserve better than retired corporate execs and naive GOP neophytes running their schools into the ground.

Amy Kerr Hardin