Flint mayor: Water fix could cost as much as $1.5B – Governor: We’re taking this extremely seriously.

 

 

 

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Amazing how this fellow can maintain a straight face with some of the stuff that comes out of his mouth…

“We’re taking this extremely seriously?”

Seriously?

So are the citizens of Flint Mr. Snyder… so are the citizens of Flint. And so is the Justice Department.

You got some ‘splainin’ to do Ricky.

– JLS

Lansing — Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said Thursday replacing her city’s myriad of lead-leaching water pipes could cost as much as $1.5 billion by one estimate.

“We have not done a final assessment of that,” Weaver said Thursday after a closed-door meeting with Gov. Rick Snyder at his Lansing office. “We’ve heard from millions up to $1.5 billion. We’re doing assessments right now to see what it’s going to cost.”

Hoping to establish “a very close partnership,” Snyder met Thursday morning with Weaver to discuss the city’s on-going lead contaminated drinking water crisis two days after declaring a state of emergency in Genesee County.

The Republican governor said he and Weaver had a “thoughtful discussion” about addressing the city’s water crisis.

“We’re going to continue on the path of taking positive actions to deal with this difficult issue, to do the best we can going forward,” Snyder told reporters in a joint appearance before the media with the Flint mayor.

Source: Flint mayor: Water fix could cost as much as $1.5B

Elevating Teaching Profession Requires More Than Sound Bites

BOULDER, CO (January 7, 2016) – A recent report from the Center for American Progress outlines a vision for elevating and modernizing the teaching profession. It offers seemingly innocuous recommendations for improving the public perceptions and experiences of teachers. However, closer examination reveals several harmful policy reforms in the report.

Elizabeth J. Meyer, Associate Dean for Teacher Education and Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, reviewed Smart, Skilled, and Striving: Transforming and Elevating the Teaching Profession for the Think Twice Think Tank Review Project at the National Education Policy Center, housed at the University of Colorado Boulder’s School of Education.

Professor Meyer notes that while elements of the report’s 10 recommendations would likely be beneficial, they also include policy changes that would increase surveillance of teachers, reduce their job security, evaluate them by students’ test scores, and create merit pay systems that would likely have the opposite effect. In advocating for a policy agenda that in many ways could do further harm to the profession, the report relies too heavily on popular rhetoric, sound bites, opinion articles, and advocacy publications.

For example, one recommendation is to…

Source: Elevating Teaching Profession Requires More Than Sound Bites | National Education Policy Center

Citizens Research Council Report highlights fact that after parts of 3 decades, Detroit schools debt crisis exists because “Emergency manager regime has not worked”

Robert Bobb was the first of four DPS emergency managers. He was appointed by Gov. Granholm in 2009.

CREDIT SARAH HULETT / MICHIGAN RADIO

A new report lays out the stark reality of how the Detroit Public Schools is rapidly sinking under its debt burden.

The report from the Citizens Research Council of Michigan also details how the district accumulated its $3.5 billion debt load by mid-2015.

Almost $1.9 billion of that is “operational” debt – meaning it’s paid off by money that could otherwise be used in the classroom and for other day-to-day district expenses. The remainder is capital debt, such as bonds, largely paid for by local millages and other dedicated local taxes.

Craig Thiel, a CRC senior researcher and one of the report’s authors, says much of the operational debt stems from pension and other retiree costs, which come due over many years.

For the rest of the story:

Report highlights DPS debt burden: “Emergency manager regime has not worked” | Michigan Radio

For access to the CRC Memorandum:  http://crcmich.org/PUBLICAT/2010s/2016/Detroit_schools_legacy_costs_indebtedness_2016.pdf