News of the Day

Collective Bargaining Works, Firefighters say Dillon Health Care Plan – Prescription for Disaster

Three people who testified Thursday before a House panel considering House Bill 5345, a proposed state-run health plan for all public employees, said that collective bargaining helps save millions in health care costs. They told lawmakers that public employees increasingly share the cost of health care – and they asked lawmakers to continue to allow health insurance decisions to be made at the local level.

“Leave it up to the locals to tailor a plan that best suits our needs,” said Bryan Epling, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local #421, Lansing.

Byrnes laughs off possible run with Dillon - Speculation brews about her future

The chair of the House panel studying HB 5345, Rep. Pam Byrnes (D-Lyndon Township), has been noticeably absent from the Senate race in her home district, a contest many expected the term-limited representative to dominate. This fueled speculation in the Ann Arbor Chronicle that Byrnes was planning to join House Speaker Andy Dillon as running mate in Dillon’s possible run for the governor’s seat. Byrnes told the paper she is amused by the rumor, saying “I think it’s funny. Andy has not said a thing to me. As far as I know, he hasn’t made up his mind about running.”

MSU says it will cover some Promise Grants - Students rally on many campuses to restore scholarships

Michigan State University officials announced that they will use federal stimulus money to help cover some of the Promise Grant cuts to about 8,100 MSU students. The neediest students would get the most money, and a university spokesman stressed this was a one-time aid offer for this year only. Ferris State University made a similar announcement earlier this week.

Meanwhile, Gov. Jennifer Granholm is making the rounds at rallies on college campuses, calling on student groups to urge their legislators to restore funding for Promise Grants in this year’s budget.

Tax roundtable debates solutions to Michigan’s fiscal crisis - MEA proposal gets wide support

The Center for Michigan brought together a diverse group of business, education and social service interests Tuesday to try to find answers to the state budget crisis. Audience members led the discussion by voting on what our priorities should be. Education was the overwhelming winner.

Perhaps surprisingly, there was room for consensus on the roundtable panel. The Michigan Chamber of Commerce and Business Leaders for Michigan agreed with MEA’s call for a complete evaluation of each tax incentive to make sure it’s producing jobs and helping our economy.

There were other areas of disagreement, including whether to expand the sales tax, institute a graduated income tax, and reduce public employee salaries and benefits, but, overall, panel members said they were optimistic that common ground could be found.

School Funding Video

The Washtenaw ISD has prepared a narrated PowerPoint presentation entitled, “Facing the Michigan School Funding Crisis." This 16-minute multi-media presentation does an outstanding job of providing an overview of Michigan’s current school funding crisis, and does it in ways that community members, staff, and even students can understand.

The Grand Ledge Public Schools showed it during a community board meeting to set the context as they announced a dramatic and painful restructuring plan that the district is considering for 2010-11. While it didn’t make the losses any easier to bear, it did help the community understand how few options school leaders have, and allowed stakeholders to turn their anger and frustration in the direction where it can do the most good: to the Legislature.

To watch the video click here!

PAC Meeting Cancelled

The December 9, KCEA PAC meeting has been cancelled.

News of the Day

Senate panel moves 20j override request

Yesterday, the Senate Appropriations Committee moved SR 88 to the Senate Floor for concurrence. SR 88 is a resolution sponsored by Senator John Pappageorge (R-Troy) that asks the Michigan House of Representatives to begin the process of overriding Governor Jennifer Granholm’s veto of Sec. 20j funds in the 2009-10 K-12 School Aid budget.

Testimony was provided by a number of superintendents representing 20j schools. They included the school districts of Livonia, Troy, Farmington, Birmingham and Royal Oak. Each pointed out the cuts they have made in their budgets and the additional cuts they must make if the legislature fails to restore funding. All testified that they are donor districts. (Their districts pay more in taxes than what they receive back from the state in school aid.)

Mike Shibler, Superintendent of the Rockford Public Schools, testified that the 20j funds cost the non 20j schools $35/student. He supports restoring the 20j funds but not at a cost to non 20j districts.

The message of all who testified was not only about restoring 20j funds. They emphasized the need to make funding of schools a priority and requested that the legislature establish a more stable and adequate tax base for funding schools.

The resolution passed on vote of 10-5. Republicans voting in favor were: Ron Jelinek, John Pappageorge, Cameron Brown, Allen Cropsey, Tom George, Roger Khan and Tony Stamas. Republicans voting no included: Bill Hardiman, Mark Jansen and Michelle McManus.

Democrats voting in favor included: Michael Switalski, Glenn Anderson and Liz Brater. No votes were cast by Deb Cherry and Irma Clark-Colman.

Valde Garcia and Jim Barcia were not in attendance.

THERE ARE NO 20j DISTRICTS IN THE KCEA

MEA supports House Bills 4245, 4284, 4997
House committee passes campaign finance bills

The House Ethics and Elections Committee approved three bills that would amend campaign finance law. Notably, the legislation would affect public employee payroll deductions for donations to union political action committees (PAC). Now, the measures go to the full House for consideration.

MEA supports the bills; please contact your state representatives to encourage them to vote yes on the following bills:

House Bill 4245 allows public employees to contribute to a union PAC by payroll deduction if the union fully compensates the public body for the use of any resources.

House Bill 4284 eliminates the requirement that labor organizations and others obtain annual consent for contributions from individuals who give on an automatic basis, such as through payroll deduction. Written consent would still be required, but not every year.

House Bill 4997 does the same thing as House Bills 4245 and 4284 but also affects communications to elect or defeat a candidate, including automated telephone calls. Automated calls and other electronic communications would have to clearly state the name and address or telephone number of the person paying for the communication. Further, telephone communications could not take place before 9 a.m. or after 8 p.m.

Dillon Health Care Plan – Prescription for Disaster
Hearing on 5345 Continues

A hearing is scheduled for Thursday, October 29, 2009, in Room 352 of the Capitol for 1:30 p.m. or after session, whichever is later.

Providing testimony will be the following:

Mike Duggan, CEO, Detroit Medical Center

Mike Shibler, Superintendent of Rockford Public Schools and
Lori Spotts, Tecumseh Education Association President, on behalf of MEA

Evan Falchuk, President and CEO, Best Doctors

News of the Day

Governor Holds Round Table Discussions on Budget

Governor Granholm visited West Michigan last Friday to meet with superintendents, school board members and school staff looking for solutions to the education funding crisis.

The Governor met with members of the school communities in the Muskegon and Kent ISDs encouraging them to support her ideas for a short-term fix and long-term changes to how schools are funded. As she sees it, tax reform is key to avoiding any further budget dramas like we’re seeing now.

After the Governor explained the state’s financial crisis and her reasons for cutting an additional $127 from state aid, on top of the $165 already cut, she heard the impact the cuts will have on education—in addition to the budget slashing schools have already endured.

She heard of the potential elimination of 600 jobs in Kent County and 225 teaching jobs in Ottawa County. Kent City has already eliminated guidance counselors and day custodians. In Whitehall, this new round of cuts could mean cutting programs in fine arts and eliminating athletics and extra-curricular. The message was clear—schools are no longer cutting the number of programs—they’re cutting education quality.

John Mierz, a Whitehall teacher and MEA member, was invited to participate in the discussion. He told the Governor that it’s impossible for districts and staff to do any long-term planning when there’s such funding uncertainty.

Arch Lewis, MEA Research Consultant and a participant in the discussion agreed. “We need a long-term systemic. It’s obvious Prop A isn’t working. We need to get money to schools that will be a permanent revenue source.”

For the short term, the Legislature has 30 days to implement immediate solutions like freezing schedule increases in personal tax exemptions, or having special interest groups pay a percentage of their tax exemptions as a way of closing tax loopholes.

The Governor ended both discussions with the same challenge. “We have to mobilize like we’ve never mobilized before and fix this problem. Contact your legislator and tell them to vote for the needs of public education. Kids only have this moment. The Legislature must be convinced. Are you willing to help me?”


Emergency meetings deal with school funding crisis

In an emergency meeting on Monday, the State Board of Education urged the Governor and the Legislature to immediately find money to reduce the cuts in school funding. Meanwhile, the governor held another round-table discussion in Rochester.

Local MEA leaders and staff attended the meeting. They supplied stories about the cuts in their local districts and its effect on the classroom and students. Oakland County superintendents spoke of cost cutting measures they have been making over the past several years.

Sen. Mike Bishop (R) Rochester, Rep. Tom McMillin (R) Rochester Hills, and Rep. Kim Meltzer (R) Clinton Township were in attendance at the meeting.

At the urging of the Governor, contact your legislator today. Phone, email, or text legislators and tell them we must save public education. Urge them to look for revenue by reforming our antiquated tax structure and fixing our broken school funding system. For our economic survival, education must be a priority.

Dillon Health Care Plan – Prescription for Disaster
Hearing on 5345 Continues

A hearing is scheduled for Thursday, October 29, 2009, in Room 351 of the Capitol for 2 p.m. or after session, whichever is later.

Testifying on behalf the MEA will be Lori Spotts, President of the Tecumseh EA and Superintendent Mike Shibler, Rockford Public Schools.

News of the Day

Additional cuts proposed by the Governor

Late Thursday afternoon, Gov. Granholm announced in a news conference a proration cut of $127 per-pupil for this year. The cut is based on revenue estimates for the School Aid Fund (SAF) by the Department of Treasury.

This cut is in addition to the $165 per-student reduction in the K-12 Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 budget that Granholm signed Monday.

Current law requires that the Treasurer notify the Governor if the actual revenue collections are less than the estimated revenue on which the budget is based. In that case, the Governor is required to notify the Legislature that payments to school districts will be reduced on a per pupil basis in 30 days unless the Legislature adopts a solution to the revenue shortfall.

The Governor’s action simply underscores the huge budget deficit faced by Michigan that results from the billions of dollars of permanent, special interest tax cuts enacted when the economy was booming. These cuts are now exacerbating the effects of the economic downturn. Unless the legislature comes up with a fix to this structural deficit, the Governor has no choice but to reduce funding to schools and other units of government.

Schools are feeling the effects of the economic squeeze. Sales tax revenue, which continues to come in below projections, are a major source of school funding. About 70% of funding for the state’s 552 school districts and 232 public school academies comes from the state in the form of sales and property tax collections with a smaller amount from the state’s general fund.

The minimum state grant to schools would drop from $7,316 per pupil last fiscal year to $7,144. Spending per pupil would range from $77,144 to $12,271. Such cuts are difficult for schools to address, as they are already one-third of the way through their fiscal year.

The Governor is holding school funding meetings around the state

Governor Granholm is going around the state setting up meetings with the school community to generate support/pressure on the legislature to come up with more revenue and funding for schools. MEA staff and members, along with school administrators, school board members and parents, have been invited to participate in the discussion with the Governor. The meetings are being followed by press conferences.

A meeting was held in Livingston County Thursday and meetings are scheduled in Muskegon and Kent Counties on Friday. Representatives from the KCEA will be attending the Kent County meeting.


Dillon Health Care Plan – Prescription for Disaster
Hearing on 5345 Continues

Cindy Nayer, President and CEO of the Center for Health Value Innovation, testified that access and affordability of care for chronic diseases, prevention wellness and mental health is the core for insurance design needed to provide a healthy workforce for Michigan.

Dr. Mark Frederick, Co-Director of the Center for Value Based Insurance Design with the University of Michigan, contends that the question the committee should respond to is “how to restore health to health care on limited resources?” He also stated that the cost going in such direction may not be less, but there would be a greater return on the investment of good health.

Keith Bruhnsen, Assistant Director of Benefits & Manager of the Prescription Drug Program at the University of Michigan, testified to the pooling of the prescription program at the University, which is a self-insured, self-administered program. As to savings, he stated that it depends on the plan design.

Dan Gilmartin, Executive Director & CEO, and Samantha Jones Harkins, Legislative Associate for the Michigan Municipal League, offered a neutral position on HB 55345. They questioned the cost savings within the bill without cutting benefits.

The next hearing is scheduled for Thursday, October 29, 2009. MEA is scheduled to provide testimony.

News of the Day

K-12 Budget yet to be signed by the Governor

Monday, it was reported that the Governor signed the School Aid budget. However, the press release failed to indicate that Governor Granholm had instead signed the Department of Education Budget.

The Governor is studying language in the bill that provides for consolidation of services, collection of data through CEPI and the requirement for transparency of local school districts.

Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.) and Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) continue to negotiate over possible revenues to fulfill obligations passed in the budgets.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Stimulus dollars aided education

Based on preliminary information obtained by The Associated Press from a handful of states, teachers appear to have benefited most from early spending. That's because the stimulus sent billions of dollars to help stabilize state budgets, sparing what officials said were tens of thousands of teacher layoffs.”

Examples cited in the article include California (where the stimulus was credited with saving or creating 62,000 jobs in public schools and state universities); Utah (reported saving about 2,600 teaching jobs); Missouri (reporting that more than 8,500 school jobs were saved); Minnesota (more than 5,900 education jobs saved); and Michigan (19,500 jobs have been saved or created, three out of four of which were in education).

As official data from the stimulus package is released later this month, more information is expected about the impact on education.

Dillon Health Care Plan – Prescription for Disaster

Public Hearings on HB 5345 scheduled through November

A hearing on HB 5345 is scheduled for Thursday, October 15, 2008, at 1:30 p.m. or after committees are given leave by the House, whichever time is later.

The agenda includes presentations by:
Adam Miller, Senior Benefits Consultant, Social Security Department, UAW

Keith Bruhnsen, Assistant Director of Benefits & Manager of Prescription Drug Program, University of Michigan

Bill Anderson, Legislative Liaison, Michigan Townships Association