Wednesday, January 30, 2008

From the Governor's State of the State

"...And, we will create new high school opportunities, particularly small high schools, to help the tens of thousands of students who now leave high school without a diploma stay on a path that leads to success in college and beyond." What was she talking about? Here is an excerpt from mlive:
Granholm pushes for tougher schools
Posted by Peter Luke Gazette News Service January 28, 2008 08:35AM
LANSING -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm will propose Tuesday a $300 million state fund to provide planning and startup cash for the creation of as many as 100 small high schools in Michigan.
The schools, designed to replace dysfunctional, industrial-model high schools plagued by high dropout rates and low academic achievement, would be:
• Proposed by local school districts and limited to 400 students or less on a general admission basis.
• Governed on site by a principal with increased autonomy to set budgets, establish curriculum, hire teaching staff and establish work rules.
• Possibly partnered with universities, businesses, foundations and nonprofit institutions to establish specialized fields of study.
• Based on an emerging national reform model that stresses rigorous course work, academic relevance to the real world, personal relationships between staff and students and individualized study plans.
----
While I certainly applaud the innovative idea of creating new schools to compete with existing schools that are failing, I must ask, why doesn't the Governor support Charter Schools? Four years ago, a retired businessman offered to build 15 new specialized high schools in Detroit, with his own money. But they could not be built unless the legislature, with the Governor's support, lifted the cap on charter schools in Detroit. There was no support or leadership from the Governor on getting this done.

I will have more to say on this in a future e-newsletter. If you would like to receive my free weekly newsletter via e-mail, just drop me a note at jackhoogendyk@gmail.com.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr. Hoogendyk,
What will the Govener's plans do to help us homeschoolers? Anything? There are lots of us who don't finish high school for the same reasons that real schoolers do.

wolflady48884 said...

DUH DUH and DUH. The woman doesn't know whether she is afoot or horseback. And to answer the question concerning why she wouldn't go for the Charter Schools built with the funds of a private Citizen?

That's easy. She is just a liberal who thinks the government knows better than the citizens in the state she governs.

Translation:

She is a liberal politician who is an absolute government control freak. She wants to run every aspect of our lives and our children's lives because as parents we don't know chit from putty.

RightMichigan.com said...

That's one of the biggest questions I had watching this speech. Didn't Bob Thompson offer $200 MILLION in free money to do the exact same thing?

Well, that and why is she taking credit for Dick DeVos's SBT kill and one-stop-shop initiative?

--Nick
www.RightMichigan.com

RightMichigan.com said...

Oh, and hey, sorry you had to sit through the whole thing. ARE YOU WITH ME? AW, C'MON!!!!!

--Nick
www.RightMichigan.com

Anonymous said...

This wreaks of the mentality many so-called leaders have: If I didn't think of it, it is a terrible idea. Glad to know Mrs. Granholm is willing to work with others...as long as they give her the credit for the ideas.

CYbema said...

I thought the most interesting comment of the SOS was the comment about how many jobs we lose to New York and California--WHAT? I am pretty sure those are the only 2 states with a higher tax burden than MI, oops, I'm sorry, they provide greater levels of service. Anybody have figures on business out-migration.