The Detroit News hectors the legislature to "liberate" schools and taxpayers from the teachers
Hobnailed "Liberation ideology" strikes again. Been here, done this. It's the "Engler Revolution" all over again.
The very queer nature of this effort to strip the teachers of their abilities to perform their duties and protect the professional education standards of the State of Michigan are being challenged in an even stranger alliance: Radical conservative tax-haters and the so-called "socialist" and "gangster politics" of Obama.
To see the sea change in the attitude of the Detroit News toward anything Obama, including the Obama Administration's Race to the Top's-latest and greatest attempt to grab the headlines and effect changes brought to U.S. education, is astonishing. R2T is another heavy-handed, top-down gimmick, another underfunded edict from the feds in DC impacting the local school district financially, and not much more.
This News and Obama collaboration is indeed a wild spectacle.
Arne Duncan is transposing his elements of his Chicago methodology and practice upon the national scene and using the promise-"bribe" of federal education dollars as the carrot to accomplish his goal. In light of the deep economic crisis in the country, Duncan may succeed. Especially if he can pull down Michigan's higher standards and force change by means of money offered in this time of extreme budget crisis. Pushing alternative certification to bring in outsider practitioners of certain math or physics skills sounds attractive, if there are no real certified teachers available (that may be universally true in low performing or anti-union states like Texas, but not Michigan), to place "non-educational methods trained outsiders" in the elementary schools is bizarre and serves no enhancing benefit for the students, in fact it is insulting to trained teachers and our state's premier teacher training programs.
Other concepts cut-back across the list of high accomplishments achieved by Michigan Schools and endanger our ability to serve under the strained conditions which now exist in the state.
Knowledgeable business people and informed citizens understand the externalities of culture, economy, family life (or the lack thereof) and a myriad of other factors which bear directly on the acculturation and development of children as determines or molds their educational achievement and moral development. Even liberals are near the end of theory as to the workable solutions for the very poor, the urban bound and the under-classes of Michigan.
The only reason that the Detroit News is toadying up to Arne Duncan's newest scheme is that it fits, hand in grove, with a more sinister and long-term goal of the Mackinac Center/Detroit News cabal's most pressing goal, defeat of the MEA as a power in the state. A quote from Thomas Bray, Detroit News, lays it all on the line: If the MEA can be broken here in Michigan then more of the conservative agenda for education can be pushed in the entire country. There it is. MEA is a major target as a political enemy, all discussions of reform or educational funding aside.
Sen. Wayne Kuipers told Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio, that the R2T changes being crammed through the Senate and the House are accomplishing the very personal goals that he has worked so long an hard to accomplish during his tenure. Kuipers serves a very right wing religious constituency and an ethnic religious minority that has long been at odds with public school financing going back decades. Kuiper's dream is now near reality, with the help of Lansing Democrats,, and even Gov. Jennifer Granholm-hamstrung because of economic necessity and unable to withstand the pressure from Washington.
The school employees and teachers have become the holders of the "OVERDRAFT ACCOUNT" once again for Michigan. It is with impunity that the legislature has turned to the state's education community to fund their problems in funding our children's' education. And they say education and educators are our top priority?
In the early 1980's is they took money from the school employees retirement fund to bail out Chrysler when it was near the brink, before Proposition A, in the early days of the so-called "Engler led Revolution", Engler found his budget in deep trouble. In 1996 following a heated court battle the Free Press reported, "In a decision hailed as a 'big win' for the Engler Administration, the Michigan Supreme Court said Monday that it would not require the state to repay more than $400 MILLION taken from a teacher's retirement health care fund in the early 1990's."
Gov. Granholm has adopted a "go-it-alone" style and has not been able to collaborate or work effectively with the ambitious Democratic Leader of the Michigan House and her stand offishness toward the MEA, which has been a good base of support for her, has not served her well, not in the 2007 state shutdown nor in the current impasse. Granholm is locked into the moves by the Obama Education Department-out of mandatory party loyalty.
The welfare of Michigan education suffers, and suffers badly without its erstwhile "friends." Why otherwise would she agree to "alternative" methods of allowing individuals with little or no instructional or psychological training and methods to simply waltz into the role of teacher-in a school full of highly qualified teachers who are required to complete many more hours of training beyond certification.
The thought in Michigan was higher standards.
Gov. Granholm pushed for much higher graduation standards in subjects akin to college prep, why would she retreat on full certification and endorsements for all classroom instruction? Again, the News, Thomas Bray asks, "...And is everybody cut out for a core curriculum that is clearly aimed at college enrollment?" The obvious answer is "no."
The issue of "wildfire" charters comes up again.
This revival of the southern segregation academy is still the nocturnal dream of the hard right and the Christian Coalition. What we have seen in Michigan is the FAILURE OF OVER 40 CHARTER SCHOOLS funded with tax-payer dollars, schools closed and their publicly funded buildings and facilities in foreclosure. Where are the legislative attempts to salvage the lost tax moneys?
Charters run openly claiming to hire "only Christians" to promote their "national heritage" ideologies, charters self-segregated with over 90 percent of students the same race, a least one charter teaching in Islamic language and culture, these are the "love children" of those hard rightists and others who are purposefully attempting to dismantle our historic public school tradition and rich heritage. This kind of anti-neighborhood "revolt" is dangerous and offensive to our history of community and good citizenship. Again that old Detroit News sage, Thomas Bray: "...everybody "knows" that the entire GOP strategy depends on using "code words" as part of a "Southern strategy" to win elections." And "parental choice" and "charters" sounds better and sells better than "parochiaid" and "vouchers."
So hold your noises Lansing.
What you are doing is not a reform, it is not moving in a pro-active direction.
The things that need changing are going unchallenged, and teachers are being summarily locked out of the dialogue (there is none!). This kind of political shenanigans is bitter chocolate icing on a bar of political Decon.
The old bitterness and reprisals hatched by Engler are back and you, our communities representatives, are the lackluster lackeys to carry out the deadly deed.
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