Transforming High Schools
Nationally there are few high performing, open enrollment, urban high schools. We clearly need a new approach. Michigan Future has been working on the issue for nearly a decade. Here is how we think about what matters in creating high quality high schools. Its at the core of our new accelerator strategy. Its drawn from our experience in helping create…
State Budget Part II
I had a chance a few weeks ago to lay out for the State Board of Education how I would deal with the state's long term structural budget deficit. Here is the agenda I presented: 1. Restructuring the Michigan tax system so that it produces adequate revenue now and, most importantly, grows with the Michigan economy long term. That means…
A Budget to Grow the Michigan Economy
Balancing the state's budget in an era of substantial, structural revenue decline is difficult. The bottom line, is getting poorer is hard. You have to give up a lot that we have enjoyed for years. But when you go from eighteenth in per capita income to thirty seventh (and going lower) in eight years, there is no option. Michigan in…
Duderstadt in Crain’s
Read this! Its Jim Duderstadt"s (the former U of M President) recent interview in Crain's Detroit Business. Its terrific. As always Jim is direct, no holding back. Boy do we need more of that here! His basic message: the knowledge-based economy is the only path back to economic success in Michigan. We need to give up on the notion that…
Foundations Leading
Nice feature in Dome Magazine on the role Michigan foundations are playing in k-12 reform. In a period of big cutbacks in public funding, philanthropy has become the most significant catalyst for innovation. Too many school districts and charter schools have responded to the pressures of less resources and higher student achievement standards by going back to the old ways…