Put Students Before Politics
Three critical education issues to watch in Michigan in 2015
As Governor Snyder outlines his priorities for 2015, Amber Arellano,executive director of The Education Trust-Midwest,highlights issues to watch in public education this year.
Put Students Before Politics
Politics are threatening Michigan’s new efforts to improve our public education system. As Congress considers changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), opponents to school accountability have mobilized against annual testing.
No one likes taking tests, and far too many local tests are of poor quality, don’t provide reliable data or are duplicative, and should be eliminated.
But as the Washington Post highlighted last week, without high-quality annual assessments that provide comparable data about our schools’ performance, our state and country would lack the information needed to make important decisions about public education.
For years, Michiganders were told that our public schools were doing well while in reality, our students’ academic performance was plummeting compared to other states’ students.
This year, Michigan is on track to make sure that never happens again, as it implements higher teaching standards and high-quality assessments that will provide reliable information about how our schools are really performing.
Michigan needs to stay on track for high standards and implementing high-quality assessments this year. We need all of our leaders — state and national — to support making that happen. Let’s stand together and demand honest information and school accountability for all of our students.
From Lansing
GOVERNOR SNYDER WILL GIVE HIS FIFTH STATE OF THE STATE TONIGHT AT 7PM. Watch the address live.
MICHIGAN’S 98TH LEGISLATURE WAS SWORN IN ON WEDNESDAY.New and returning members of the Michigan House of Representatives and Senate took the oath of office during a largely ceremonial session day.
PROJECTED SURPLUS FOR THE SCHOOL AID FUND. At the Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference on Friday, the House Fiscal Agency, Senate Fiscal Agency and Treasury Department announced a projected School Aid Fund revenues $35.8 million higher than prior estimates. This comes despite news of a budget shortfall of more than $532.1 million for the state’s general fund.
SENATE COMMITTEES HAVE BEEN NAMED.
Senate Committee on Education: Chair: Phil Pavlov (R), Vice Chair: Marty Knollenberg (R), Darwin L. Booher (R), Patrick Colbeck (R), Minority Vice Chair: David Knezek (D).
Senate K-12, School Aid and Education Appropriations Subcommittee: Chair: Goeff Hansen (R), Phil Pavlov (R), Hoon-Yung Hopgood (D).
Click here for a full list of Senate committees.
FAST FACT: The importance of a high-quality annual assessment
