The fundamental mission of schools is the nurturing of productive, responsible citizenship within a democratic society. That’s the true narrative of U.S. schools and their heroic educators who deserve much better.
Michigan’s 12 regional public universities offer a deep connection to their communities and an affordable option for students seeking a better life, particularly first-generation college students, nontraditional students and students of color.
Only 33 of 83 counties are served by a community college. This makes it more difficult and expensive for students from generally poorer and more rural counties to take advantage of the Michigan Reconnect program.
Michigan State is addressing the state’s critical workforce needs by accelerating its teaching program, expanding nursing enrollment and serving as a pipeline for in-state engineering jobs, particularly in the auto industry.
Our student success rate is now approaching 50 percent, but we recognize more is needed to ensure more students graduate or transfer to four-year schools. For that to happen, we need greater state investment in student support.
It makes sense for a single agency to coordinate policies in higher education. But Whitmer’s new department may violate the state Constitution and, as we’ve seen in Florida, there are perils when a state executive takes away power from independent institutions.
Michigan has failed children in foster care by sending them to classes in state facilities that did not provide credit toward graduation. The state must require better judicial oversight to help them fulfill their educational needs.
As a board, we’re accountable to our authorizer and the state. Most of all, we’re accountable to our students and their families. When we set academic goals, we put everything in place to ensure these goals are met.
Michigan’s state universities drive economic growth and produce a pool of talented graduates. To stay a viable, competitive state, we’ll need our state universities to help guide Michigan out of this demographic crisis.
Democrats must stop measuring how much they love public education by how much taxpayers’ money they spend. We need vertically aligned public schools that hold leaders accountable for students’ academic success.
Michigan lawmakers are considering a 20-percent budget cut for full-time virtual schools. This threatens countless students who won’t thrive in traditional schools due to bullying, crippling anxiety or behavioral challenges.
Research on Michigan’s Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP) shows that kids who have a high-quality preschool experience show significant positive developmental differences as compared to children who do not attend a high-quality preschool program. They also have a greater likelihood of success in many areas throughout life, research shows.
Michigan has among the nation’s worst resource gaps between wealthy and low-income school districts. The Legislature is proposing historic investments. Here’s how lawmakers can do even better.
There’s a cost to universal free school meals. But there’s a greater cost — to children and to the state — when students go through the school day hungry. A universal meal program raises student achievement and improves discipline.
Shortcomings in one’s formal education need not limit a person’s contributions to society. But some politicians seek to diminish the value of true experts because they don’t share their politics. This sabotages democracy.
Gretchen Whitmer’s Sixty by 30 plan emulates failed efforts by predecessors to raise the number of post-high-school degrees. But the plan only helps a few thousand. Holding colleges accountable to graduate more students would go farther.
State Superintendent Michael Rice urges the Michigan Legislature to quickly fund a full-time state preschool program, more tutors, free lunches and improve school buildings.
‘In a country that idolizes freedom, I need freedom. I need freedom to go to my dining hall without checking over my shoulder for a gunman. I need freedom to tell those close to me I love them without fear it’ll be the last time I say it. I need freedom to get a violence free education.’
What these shootings do when they target young people is also target possibility. The 50,000 different stories on campus last night converged into one shared, terrifying detour. And for them, what was going to be is no longer.
