Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the Senate on April 18, 2007

Click here to view bill details.

Where is the money for this additional funding coming from? Is your intent to take funding away from certain districts in order to give it to other districts?

Well, I see no way for them to get the fundings for this bill. I mean were only a little more then 950 million in debt. We can take some more out. Ha there isnt any. The way things are going and the way Governor Granholm is, there isn't going to be a bill passed to get rid of this debt. For people who dont know this when it comes down to it, and were still in debt, Can you say bye bye government. We have known that if were still in debt, the government of michigan will be shut down. So I believe that the funding question should be re asked when ither we are out of debt or we get a governor who can get us out.

if the state government "closes down". no more police stopping every car at two fifteen in the morning simply because they are on the road. no more "permission to purchase permits", gun registration, and "safety checks that don't check for safety". no more TAXES ON ANYTHING. gasoline will drop sixty to eighty five cents a gallon, alcohol will drop by a similar amount, and tobacco will become nearly FREE. the 'consumers of taxpayers money', A.K.A. THE CHEESE EATERS, will vacate immediately. we will all become responsible for our own safety, and we will all discover that an ARMED society is a POLITE society. you will be able to drive your car as FAST AS YOU WANT TO, but probably won't because there will be no one to blame but yourself if you die horribly in a crash, and no court to sue in. business will line up at the border to get in. we will quickly become the richest state in the union, as we will not have to pay taxes to the "i can spend faster than you" crowd. there MAY be some anarchy, AT FIRST, until the citizenry grows a set of nads, but it will settle down quickly. and the best part is, those that "just can't live without michigan government" will leave, pure and simple. i think we'll re-name this state NIRVANA.

Good post. It is definitely a plan.

I'd be willing to give it a try. Can't be any worse than the tax and spend paradise we live in now.

be possible if government were out of the way. we would see what "priorities" the liberals really have. we would see if they buy ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY CARS, or BIG S.U.V.'S to drive around. we would see if they stay where the "SMALLER GOVERNMENT AND LESS TAXES ARE" or leave for someplace that taxes more and governs more. we would see if they TRUELY BELIEVE IN GUN CONTROL, or if they would buy one and become RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY. we would see if they TRUELY OPPOSE THE DEATH PENALTY by REFRAINING FROM POPPING A CAP in the first person who tried to rob them. smaller government, personal responsibility, taxes that ONLY PAID FOR ESSENTIAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES, not ANYTHING A POLITICIAN CAN COME UP WITH. we might have to expand our borders.

Look at the the back of your state tax return booklet. It's revealed there that HALF OF THE STATE'S BUDGET gets dumped on our compulsory government socialist indoctrination compounds (some know them as "schools.") And no one needs reminding of the quality of the compounds' product. The state looks like a parasite with one objective: ensuring that the bloated government schools remain fat and happily engorged with our cash. Let's get off this handbasket to hell. Abolish all government schools tomorrow. Sell all buildings / property at auction and refund the taxpayer. Trash all legislation and regulation pertaining to education. Then watch as fully-private, innovative and efficient community-centered schools (*our* schools) swoop in to fulfill our demand for real education. "But the poor..." Please. Look it up: even in poorest Kenya, mothers manage to scrape together the tuition to send children to small private, often one-room, neighborhood schools, rather than abandon their kids to the abysmal, free, government-run schools. Free and empowered people find a way. It's all been said more eloquently by others. Have a look at what New York City Teacher of the Year John Taylor Gatto has to say, among others. If nothing else, reflect on the fact that we once had damn near 100% literacy, with dirt-poor farmers' kids fluent in Shakespeare by eighth grade, during the 18th century, years before socialism comandeered schooling as factories for banging out docile drones to do our rulers' bidding. Time to flush that toilet (grab a plunger!)

Our legislature is in session! Pretty scary huh?

"The state looks like a parasite" The state is a parasite. They make nothing, improve nothing, sell nothing. The only money they have is what they can steal from workers/taxpayers. "Then watch as fully-private, innovative and efficient community-centered schools (*our* schools) swoop in to fulfill our demand for real education.' Excellent idea. The teachers unions will go nuts. The politicians will go nuts. What will we do with all these folks on the welfare rolls? Maybe they can be janitors at the private schools.

"Then watch as fully-private, innovative and efficient community-centered schools (*our schools) swoop in to fufill our demand for real education." The real show will be to watch as your wonderful "fully-private" schools deny access to the children who are cognitively impaired, learning disabled, language minority, behaviorally/emotionally challenged, below grade level, poor, neglected or in any other way not the "ideal student". Oh wait, they can and do already do that. I am so sick of people like you who claim that private schools are so wonderful and fail to admit that these schools cherry pick the students and families that they want to deal with. Make them take anyone who shows up at the door and then you will see that private schools, like every school, run the gamut of quality -- some great, some good, some fair and some poor.

"What will we do with all these folks on the welfare rolls? Maybe they can be janitors at the private schools." I doubt it. Building custodians do useful work that requires some sweat and attention to detail. I would *love* to watch a bumbling pack of these state-funded cheese-eaters attempt to strip and wax a hundred feet of corridor, or keep a fleet of highschool lavatories in spit-shine five days a week every week. No, I don't think I want those tards in *my* schools. Maybe Massachusetts would take em if we paid for the bus ride.

"The real show will be to watch as your wonderful "fully-private" schools deny access to the children who are cognitively impaired, learning disabled, language minori[bellllllch]" You can count on the private sector to provide quality remedial services towards those ends. Just don't expect the "free" ride that you get today. You can also count on the boundless generosity of our society to provide further aid to these problem cases. But don't you use state guns to be generous with my money. "I am so sick of people like you" Hillarycare will fix that tummyache, at no cost to you. The line forms wayyyyyyyy back there. "Make them take anyone who shows up at the door" Excuse me sir, this is a socialism-free zone. Please refrain from blowing your second-hand socialism around in here. Healthy liberties are trying to breathe here. And anyway, high academic and behavioral standards are good. Schools *should* be for teaching and learning, not social work, gubbament dole, and babysitting.

"'The real show will be to watch as your wonderful "fully-private" schools deny access to the children who are cognitively impaired, learning disabled, language minori[bellllllch]' You can count on the private sector to provide quality remedial services towards those ends. " So, exactly when will your precious private schools be providing that "quality remedial service" you speak of? They certainly are not doing it now. The fact of the matter is that most private schools do not accept any student that is learning disabled, cognitively impaired, language minority, behaviorally challenged/emotionally impaired, etc. The public schools accept and educate all of them.

"So, exactly when will your precious private schools be providing that "quality remedial service" you speak of? They certainly are not doing it now." It took me 0.004 milliseconds (that's fast) to find this long list of private schools for the disabled: ILikeCheese://dmoz.org/Reference/Education/Special_Education/Schools/ [fascist board will not allow URLs without "moderator" approval, so replace ILikeCheese with h t t p] There would be more demand, and therefore more supply following, if potential customers weren't forced to pay double(that's why we need education funding vouchers, if we aren't going to eliminate state-funded schooling altogether.) Hidebound collectivists hate the fact that people are growing increasingly tired of socialists' looting of the rest of us to pay for "your precious" government cheese that's increasingly inedible and may actually be poison. Again, *half * the state's budget gets dumped on compulsion schools, and the figure has been increasing all last century. This in the face of continually declining literacy and numeracy of high-school graduates--likewise declining all century. If government schools worked effectively, without sucking down ever more titanic trainloads of confiscated wealth to further inflate teacher pensions and benefits and line the administrators' office walls with van goghs, while parents are asked to supply pencils and toilet paper, most people might continue to overlook the socialism inherent in gubmint-dole education. However, the state-run education establishment has gotten too greedy and too lazy and far too arrogant, and people are noticing. Time to flush the toilet.

There is a huge misconception among the general public that private schools are somehow, by their nature, automatically better than public schools. The truth of the matter is that private schools, like all schools, run the gamut of quality. Some private and public schools are excellent, some are average and some are poor. The same is true in any field. I am curious as to why the general public has this perception. I have a few theories: 1. People by nature seem to value that which they have to pay more for out of their own pocket. It seems that because the parents are writing a check for tuition rather than paying with their taxes they feel that the school has more value. 2. Private schools have better public relations than public schools. It seems like the media can't tell a negative story about public schools fast enough but they have to be coaxed into telling anything positive. Example: I was in charge of a family night at my school where we were going to have some really unique events. I couldn't even get the local newspaper to put it in the section about community events. 3. Private schools do not have to deal with even half of the red tape that the public schools do. 4. Private schools have the luxury of being extremely selective about who they allow into their school. Public schools do not. Private schools also can toss out students who are not performing or who are behavior problems. It is a major headache to expell a student from public school and the student has to do something very serious to be expelled. Therefore, you generally don't see the behaviorally or academically challenged student in the private schools, thereby giving these schools the illusion of superior quality. Make private schools operate on a level playing field with the children they service and that illusion will disappear.

"Some private and public schools are excellent, some are average and some are poor."

I'll give you an example right from my own family. My nephew was attending a Catholic school in Bay City. This is a very mathematically bright child (doing 2 digit addition and subtraction in his head as a 1st grader). When he left Bay City and came down to where he now attends the public school, he was behind grade level in math. I won't even mention how terrible their writing program was.

you spend your money to send your kid there? That's the great thing about private schools, if they suck, you fire them and find a good one. Sounds alot like capitalism to me.

I agree! Private schools get to pick and chose. They get to not provide transportation or lunch. They get to not have after school activites at the same level as public schools. They get to not have higly qualified teachers in the classroom. If they want the money then provide all the same activites and not have the ablitiy to choose. It is these schools and charters schools who do hot have to provide any contributions to any retirement fund, provide health care, and can set their own standards. Do you know anyone that came form a private school that is sperior to all public school students?

private schools, as a rule have BETTER teachers than the public schools, which is WHY parents shell out BIG BUCKS to send their kids there. private schools, as a rule have BETTER after school programs than public schools, because they offer the programs that the kids WANT TO DO. another reason why parents shell out the BIG BUCKS to send their kids there. private schools, as a rule even have better lunches, and a few will provide a bus to pick your kid up and drop him off, IF you are willing to pay for it. most parents that send their kids to private school don't feel the need for such things. the best part is, they are IN CONTROL of whether or not they have it. which is ANOTHER reason they shell out the BIG BUCKS to send their kids there. kids who attend private schools are FAR LESS LIKELY to do drugs,because the TEACHERS GET TO KNOW THE STUDENTS. the parents are treated as PARTNERS IN EDUCATION and as THE BOSS, because they pay the bills. teachers have to impress THE BOSS every day, in a lot of ways, or THE BOSS takes the money elsewhere. that's part of the FREEDOM offered by private schools. we have the FREEDOM to choose the best school.

students who came from private schools that are FAR SUPERIOR to public school students. my daughter got moved into a public school in the middle of her junior hear in high school. the school tested her for placement, and she GRADUATED. they said that she passed the test with a 98% score. they said that she had the intelligence and the information necessary to graduate high school ten weeks into her junior year. she started college the next semester, and is keeping a 3.8 gpa. she turns 18 in a couple of months, she is now a sophomore.

We would see if liberals truely knew how to spell truly.