Urgent from We Are the People Michigan

SB 619 up for a re-vote!

Friends:

Every parent knows the drill:  To raise healthy, active children, we need to limit the time our sons and daughters spend staring at computer, TV, and mobile device screens.

Incredibly, the Michigan legislature is moving in the opposite direction.  In a narrow 56-54 vote, our House of Representatives voted last week to place thousands of Michigan children into “cyber schools,” taking them out of real classrooms and draining as much as $210 million in desperately needed revenue from our public schools.

You can make a difference by contacting your state representative TODAY.

For-profit cyber schools have no accountability, no track record of success, and no plan to provide comprehensive academic services, transportation, art, music, athletics or special education.

What they do have is plan to milk the taxpayers:  Charge full price for each child enrolled in cyber school, drill them long-distance at a fraction of the cost of a real school… and pocket the difference.

Teachers, parents, student and school officials are united against this wrong-headed move.  So who’s for it -- besides the for-profit companies that will get top dollar for bottom-of-the-barrel services?

Good question – and YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO ASK YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE.

The Michigan House of Representatives will re-consider SB 619, the cyber schools bill, on Tuesday, May 1.  Because the original vote was so close, we’ve still got a chance to turn this around.  If just one legislator changes his or her vote, we can stop this taxpayer rip-off in its tracks.

Your state legislator could be the one who makes the difference.  Click here to find his or her phone and email, and please contact him or her right away.  

Urge your Representative to vote NO on SB 619.  Please make a call or send an email today -- this vote is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, April 31.

Thanks for all you do,

Todd, Roger and the WATP team 

P.S. If your Representative is already voting the right way thank them and reach out and urge Representative Zorn to change his vote on SB 619.  Zorn was the tie breaking vote last time and we need to let him know he has a second chance on Tuesday to do the right thing.

Cyber School Legislation and Center for Michigan Forum

From Your EGRPS PTA Legislative Committee:

Disappointing news from Lansing this week that the Cyber School Legislation has been passed by the slimmest of margins (2 votes).  We don't know all of the changes that were made to the cyber school bill once it left committee.  We will keep you informed of how this legislation diverts money away from our schools.

The good news in East Grand Rapids is that Center for Michigan is coming to town on Wednesday, May 9 at 6pm in the Community Center, 750 Lakeside Drive SE, EGR, MI 49506, to find out what we think about all of the legislative changes to education in Michigan during the last year.  Please check them out at http://www.thecenterformichigan.net/community-conversations/.  We have room for about 40 parents to give our opinions. Please rsvp to lucylafleur@sbcglobal.net if you can attend.  Thanks.

ALEC and its role in undermining public education

Controversial Policy Group Casts Long K-12 Shadow

April 20, 2012  by Andrew Ujifusa

The American Legislative Exchange Council—known as ALEC—has helped shape debate on issues such as vouchers and

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/04/20/29alec_ep.h31.html?tkn=SRZFIVbIARMP%2Byn0xs%2Bbta8YSvSaocmTjWLR&intc=es

Another Analysis of Cyber Schools Bill 619

Tina's Analysis of Cyber Schools bill 619

Lisa Lyons is the current representative for East Grand Rapids.  Next session, EGR will be represented by Peter MacGregor, assuming he gets reelected, so please consider contacting both of them.  Below are some talking points that you may wish to include in your letter or call.

Senate bill 619 would remove nearly all limits on the size of entirely online "cyber" charter schools in Michigan. Fully online K-12 charter schools have only been in operation here for a year and a half, and the jury is still out on their performance. The experience of other states, which have had online charters for longer, is not promising.

On top of that, these schools currently receive the same per-pupil funding as other, physical, public schools, even though their expenses are much lower. The major operators of these schools are private, for-profit, companies whose first priority is to their investors.  In fact, SB 619 is based on a model bill drafted by the lobbyist for K12, Inc., one of the major for-profit cyber school operators in the country and a current operator in Michigan.

Why should we turn our children into a business opportunity?

Current Michigan law calls for a progress report on the two experimental cyber schools at the end of this year. The report will analyze their performance and detail their true expenses. This approach is sensible and fiscally prudent. Why toss it all aside?

Proponents of the bill say that the bill has been modified by the House Education Committee to keep some limits on the number of online charter schools and how many students they can enroll. That is disingenuous.  The limit would eventually go up to 30 schools (from the current 2), and each one would be "limited" to about 33,000 students!

This is not a limit; it’s a $7 BILLION giveaway of taxpayer money to for-profit cyber “schools.”

Cyber school proponents argue that many families want access to these schools. Perhaps, but it can't be because of their track record, because they don't have one in Michigan and the stories from other states are hair-raising. How, precisely, do you do online kindergarten? How do you ensure kids are making progress? Since these cyber charters require "learning coaches" at home for students, who do most of the actual teaching, why does the online company pocket the entire state funding?

Sure, online learning is here to stay, and "blended" programs offered by our established local public schools can meet the needs of many students who would have difficulty taking traditional classes. Why pull resources away from our proven, and community-governed, local public schools just to pad the bottom line of the latest fad growth stock?

Kindergarten Start Date Legislation

Active Legislation Senate Bill 315 and House Bill 4513 —
Kindergarten Start Date 
The Michigan Legislature has introduced legislation that would change the eligibility age for starting kindergarten.  Currently a child in Michigan must be 5 years old by December 1^st in order to begin kindergarten in the fall of that year.
Senate Bill 315 would move the eligibility date from December 1^st to November 1^st beginning in the 2012-2013 school year, requiring a child to be 5 by November 1^st to start kindergarten.    Subsequently, in the 2013-2014 school year, a child would have to be 5 by October 1^st; and, in the 2014-2015 school year, a child would have to be 5 by September 1^st.  Senate Bill 316 addresses the appropriations side of the bill, adjusting the state funding to school districts to align with the new start date.
House Bill 4513 would move the eligibility date from December 1^st to September 1^st, requiring a child to be 5 years old by September 1^st in order to start kindergarten that school year.  This bill permits the parent or guardian of a child who will turn 5 between September 2^nd and December 1^st to request a waiver to allow the child to enroll in school prior to his or her birthday.
  While Michigan PTA supports ensuring that every child is ready to learn when starting kindergarten, there are consequences to this legislation that we would like addressed.  There will be a reduction in revenue to school districts for one to three years, depending on the final legislation, and school districts would face challenges aligning staff to the smaller class sizes.  What has not been discussed is how will the state use the savings that will result in fewer kindergarteners?
Michigan PTA advocates for inclusion of the following provisions to the proposed legislation:

• Phase-in over three years, as proposed in Senate Bill 315.  However, we would like to see the phase-in process begin in the 2013-2014 school year. 
• Waiver request opportunity, with individual school districts determining the requirements for a waiver.
• Apply the savings from implementation of this legislation to readiness programs for children impacted by the change in kindergarten start date.

Michigan PTA expects the legislature to consider the impact to our students when making changes to our public schools.  Michigan PTA supports improved educational outcomes for our students.  Having children prepared to learn when they start kindergarten enables students to meet rigorous educational standards.
For additional information, and to follow Michigan PTA activity on this and other legislation, visit http://www.michiganpta.org/advocacy.html .

Michigan Parent Teacher Association 
1390 Eisenhower Place, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108
Phone: 734-975-9500 - Fax: 734-677-2407
Web site: www.michiganpta.org

Reminder to contact legislators about HB 619

Reminder of the Legislative Alert that came out before Spring Break from Friends of Kent County Schools about HB 619, Cyber Schools


Please call your member of the Michigan House now and urge him/her to vote against this dangerous piece of legislation.  Even if you have already contacted them - please reach out one more time.  Click here for additional information about Senate Bill 619 and to be directed to talking points and contact information for your representative.

Surprise! Administrative Costs Higher for Charter Schools than Traditional Public Schools

Here is an analysis of charter schools spending up to $1000 more per child on administrative costs compared to public K-12 schools.  Public schools look like an efficient bargain.  Let's not bleed them dry before we learn to appreciate the resource we have!  Lucy

http://bridgemi.com/2012/04/report-charters-spend-less-in-classrooms/?utm_source=constant%2Bcontact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=report%2Bcharters%2Bspend%2Bless%2Bin%2Bclassrooms#.T43UUKvY98E