Let's set aside for a moment the universally-accepted fact that the choice to drop out of high school is a terrible decision that has a lifelong negative impact on a student.

If we can't dedicate ourselves to solving the dropout crisis for that reason alone, let’s look at the money.

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According to a Detroit News' database of Metro Detroit home foreclosures, 1,342 homes in the city of Southfield have been subject of foreclosure filings since January 2006.

Unfortunately, the Southfield Board of Education voted 5-2 Tuesday night to increase that number by as many as 350.

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March 2 would have been the 104th birthday of the legendary Dr. Seuss. In honor of that occasion, today we celebrate Read Across America Day, with thousands of National Education Association members working together to ensure our students embrace the excitement of reading.

But it’s not just about cats in hats or green eggs and ham. Ensuring our students experience the thrill and enjoyment of reading is essential for them to understand the importance reading plays in their life.

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In January’s issue of the NEA Today magazine, there’s a disturbing story about the rising debt levels of college graduates. The story states:

 

“Today, two-thirds of four-year college graduates leave with student loan debt, compared with less than a third just 10 years ago, according to the State Public Interest Research Group’s Higher Education Project. And they carry twice as much debt as they did 10 years ago, too.”

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The concept of "small schools" sounds like a key part of the public education debate for 2008, but it's clear from the governor's State of the State address that we need to do more than just shrink schools to help both our students and our economy.   Read More »

Many have endorsed the new primary date with the rational that "Michigan's issues" were on display in the national sphere, and that the media and candidates would have to start addressing the issues that are important to Michigan voters rather than just those important to New Hampshire and Iowa. The question is: did this really come to fruition? Did the candidates, Republican or Democrat, address real Michigan issues, or just give the same superficial stump speeches that would work in any state?
CNN, Fox News, and every other media outlet have been hammering Michigan for having the highest unemployment rate in the country, citing the legacy of the auto industry contractions of the past decade or so. And what happens after they mention the Big Three? Commercial break before the next story. The same goes for the candidates who campaigned here. John McCain and Mitt Romney got into a tussle over Romney's desire to bring auto jobs back and McCain's view that we need to create new jobs. Beyond that, silence. The rest of their speeches were simply modified stump speeches, the same things they said in South Carolina and New Hampshire.
Great Lakes protection? Urban sprawl? Education reform? Health care? Mortgage crisis? Where are these issues in the debates? Michigan, with its gorgeous environment threatened by urban expansion and falling lake levels, some of its schools among the worst in the nation, millions of uninsured, and thousands upon thousands who have already or are in danger of losing their homes, is more diverse than car company jobs. It will take a lot more than a snap primary to force candidates to address these controversial yet vital issues here.

-Tom Choske

Even setting aside the ridiculous increase in gas prices, everything is more expensive today than it was 10 years ago. What you would give up over that 10 year period if your salary decreased by $5,000?

That's the question the average Michigan teacher has been asking themselves for the past decade, according to an annual NEA report on teacher salary.

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