Exclusive to Grand Rapids Pundit: GR Pundit has come in to possession of a letter being sent to teachers and substitute teachers, preparing them for an impending illegal strike against Grand Rapids Public Schools. View the GREA Strike Letter. The letter, signed by Grand Rapids Education Association president Paul Helder on August 5th, laments the fact that Grand...
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Tags: grand rapids public schools, kent county
Posted in Education, Grand Rapids Education Association, Grand Rapids Public Schools, MEA | 3 Comments »
There’s some good news in regards to charter schools to report for both Grand Rapids and Detroit. For some quick background – state laws define a “first class” school district, which only Detroit Public Schools qualifies for. This special status allows Detroit’s school system some privileges in terms of funding, but also the state...
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Posted in Charter Schools, Detroit Schools, Education, Grand Rapids Public Schools, Michigan Government | 1 Comment »
The Detroit News has a short article today on the dropout rate of Detroit Public Schools students. The article states that a report from Education Week, a weekly education newspaper, has done a study showing that Detroit’s dropout rate is 75%. You can view the report’s web page by clicking here. However, the bureaucrats...
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Tags: east grand rapids, grand rapids public schools, wyoming
Posted in Charter Schools, Detroit Schools, Education, Grand Rapids Public Schools | 10 Comments »
The stage is already being set for a possible state (and probably local) tax increase. Today’s Detroit News reports that state revenues for the just-completed fiscal year 2005-2006 are down by $170 million. That’s about 0.85% less than they anticipated, yet we are already hearing that the world is going to end for schools...
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Tags: city government, grand rapids public schools, tax increase
Posted in Education, Grand Rapids City Government, Grand Rapids City Taxes, Grand Rapids Public Schools, Michigan Government, Michigan Taxes | 2 Comments »
We did some reseach on who backed Proposal 5 and, to our complete and utter lack of surprise, the far majority of the money came from the National Education Association, aka, the teachers union. How much? $3.4 million. If you’re a teacher, I hope you rest well knowing that so much of your dues...
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Tags: michigan education association
Posted in Education, Election 2006, MEA, Proposal 06-5 | No Comments »
GR Pundit would like to express contentment with the outcome of the elections in Michigan this year. We have been in favor in a split government, that’s why we weren’t very big fans of a DeVos election. The re-election of Jennifer Granholm will ensure that continued split, with the addition of a Democrat-controlled State...
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Posted in BAMN, Dick DeVos, Education, Election 2006, Jennifer Granholm, MEA, Proposal 06-1, Proposal 06-2, Proposal 06-3, Proposal 06-4, Proposal 06-5 | 1 Comment »
Proposal five, which will be on Michigan’s ballot on Tuesday, is a union-sponsored and funded campaign to dramatically boost funding for teacher pensions. The proposal basically creates a madatory annual increase for school funding, based on the rate of inflation. However, what the proposal’s backers don’t tell you is that the majority of this...
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Tags: pensions
Posted in Education, Election 2006, MEA, Proposal 06-5 | 1 Comment »
Mayor George Heartwell starts his State of the City 2006 Speech by summarizing past state of the city speeches and reviewing accomplishments pertaining thereto. First, he starts with cooperation between the city schools and the city government. Nevermind that his 2004 state of the city touted cost savings as a primary goal of collaboration...
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Tags: city government, heartwell, Light Rail, michigan economy, tax increase, unemployment
Posted in Education, George Heartwell, Grand Rapids City Government, Grand Rapids City Taxes, The Rapid | No Comments »
Governor Granholm’s State of the State speech was a surprising call for expansion of government, even for our current governor. According to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the governor called for 20 expansions of state government and only one reduction in state government. Apparently our governor has yet to take Economics 101. Michigan...
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Tags: governor granholm, income tax
Posted in Charter Schools, Education, Jennifer Granholm, Mackinac Center, Michigan Business, Michigan Government, Michigan Taxes, Right to Work, Single Business Tax | No Comments »