This is Michigan's way of putting small businesses out of business. Not sure how they plan to create jobs for those who will be on the losing end. For starters, part-time and student employees have NEVER had health benefits and they know this going in. Raising the minimum wage for restaurant owners is going to make it difficult enough. Even the part-timers and students benefit from this. Full-time employees didn't get health benefits for a long time in the restaurant business. Michigan will just drive more people out of the state.
On the issue of eliminating the Department of Education, if it gets politics out of education I'm all for it. If we are going to level the playing field for students in education, let's do it right. End school taxes for everyone. Let the state or community decide how to raise the money for schools. Lotteries are not it. When the lottery came to Michigan it was intended to supplement the Education Fund. That fund came from property taxes for schools. But the idiots in the legislature decided to let the lottery fund the schools. They still charged a school tax, but that didn't mean it all went to schools now. Let's be honest they stole from it. They have been doing that since the lottery.
The Federal government has NEVER paid their share of education money. It paid all those who run the education department, but never paid the states what they should have recieved. Which I believe was 25% of their funding. (I'd need to go check my school funding information to be sure of the percentage.) I know for certain it was a 75%/25% funding. I thought the states had to raise the 75%. School funding from the Feds runs between 10% and 15%. Nowhere near the 25% it is supposed to fund.
Most of the Department of Education has never set foot in a classroom. They have no idea the costs or how to run a classroom. Teachers in the district I taught in had $50 to fund paper, pencils, art paper, crayons, scissors, paint, and anything else they needed to run smoothly. Anything more than that came out of their own pockets. Money for textbooks was a district thing. Everyone had to have the same textbooks. They would be used about 4 or 6 years and the next new fad would come in. They were on a rotation. If science books were ordered they looked at books that would start in first, second. or third grade and go through grade 12. The hope was they could get them for first grade. Same with Math, Social Studies, etc. Reading books were K-6 because by grade 7 the kids no longer had reading. They had subject matter. I want a member of Congress to tell his office staff they have $50 for supplies and the rest comes out of their own pocket. Let's see how many would end up with no staff. My bet is most of them. No business asks it's secretaries to buy their own supplies. My daughter chooses to as she has things she prefers when working. She buys her own desk calendar and pens. No one asked her to. She just does this. Besides if she drops a pen in her purse it's not theft, she's stealing from herself.
Unless they are going to put real teachers in the Department of Education it's just politics as usual.
This is Michigan's way of putting small businesses out of business. Not sure how they plan to create jobs for those who will be on the losing end. For starters, part-time and student employees have NEVER had health benefits and they know this going in. Raising the minimum wage for restaurant owners is going to make it difficult enough. Even the part-timers and students benefit from this. Full-time employees didn't get health benefits for a long time in the restaurant business. Michigan will just drive more people out of the state.
On the issue of eliminating the Department of Education, if it gets politics out of education I'm all for it. If we are going to level the playing field for students in education, let's do it right. End school taxes for everyone. Let the state or community decide how to raise the money for schools. Lotteries are not it. When the lottery came to Michigan it was intended to supplement the Education Fund. That fund came from property taxes for schools. But the idiots in the legislature decided to let the lottery fund the schools. They still charged a school tax, but that didn't mean it all went to schools now. Let's be honest they stole from it. They have been doing that since the lottery.
The Federal government has NEVER paid their share of education money. It paid all those who run the education department, but never paid the states what they should have recieved. Which I believe was 25% of their funding. (I'd need to go check my school funding information to be sure of the percentage.) I know for certain it was a 75%/25% funding. I thought the states had to raise the 75%. School funding from the Feds runs between 10% and 15%. Nowhere near the 25% it is supposed to fund.
Most of the Department of Education has never set foot in a classroom. They have no idea the costs or how to run a classroom. Teachers in the district I taught in had $50 to fund paper, pencils, art paper, crayons, scissors, paint, and anything else they needed to run smoothly. Anything more than that came out of their own pockets. Money for textbooks was a district thing. Everyone had to have the same textbooks. They would be used about 4 or 6 years and the next new fad would come in. They were on a rotation. If science books were ordered they looked at books that would start in first, second. or third grade and go through grade 12. The hope was they could get them for first grade. Same with Math, Social Studies, etc. Reading books were K-6 because by grade 7 the kids no longer had reading. They had subject matter. I want a member of Congress to tell his office staff they have $50 for supplies and the rest comes out of their own pocket. Let's see how many would end up with no staff. My bet is most of them. No business asks it's secretaries to buy their own supplies. My daughter chooses to as she has things she prefers when working. She buys her own desk calendar and pens. No one asked her to. She just does this. Besides if she drops a pen in her purse it's not theft, she's stealing from herself.
Unless they are going to put real teachers in the Department of Education it's just politics as usual.