The Office of Retirement Services (ORS) recently received a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from: Steven Schupbach The request specifically asks for: “an electronic copy of any and all retired public school employees which are paid a monthly pension annuity broken down by employee and year, in electronic format and emailed for the year 2018. This data should include the following data items: first name, middle initial, last name, last employer zip code, and employee zip code of residence, and monthly annuity amount.” Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act (Act 442 of 1976), which is intended to ensure that citizens have access to information about their government, requires ORS to comply with this request and others that may be submitted. Please note that employee zip codes beyond the first two digits are being withheld from disclosure under FOIA, meaning only the first two digits of your zip code were released. If you have any questions about why the information was requested or how it may be used, please contact Steven Schupbach. ORS will never release sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, dates of birth, contact information, beneficiary information, or medical records. If you’d like more information about Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act, you can review the act on the Michigan Legislature website or check out Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act publication prepared by the Office of the Attorney General. Sincerely, Office of Retirement Services State of Michigan | Department of Technology, Management & Budget | Office of Retirement Services |
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Politicians Forget that Cut Scores on Standardized Tests Are Not Grounded in Science
Last week the NY Times‘ Dana Goldstein and Manny Fernandez reported on a political fight in Texas over the scoring of the STAAR—the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness—the state’s version of the achievement test each state must still administer every year in grades 3-8 and once in high school. The federal Every Student Succeeds Act, passed in 2015 to replace No Child Left Behind, still mandates annual testing, although Congress no longer imposes its own high states punishments for failure.
However, Congress still does require the states to submit plans to the U.S. Department of Education declaring what will be the consequences for low-scoring schools. Goldstein and Fernandez explain that Texas, like many other states, still imposes punishments for the low scorers instead of offering help: “The test, the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, can have profound consequences not just for students but…
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OPENSECRETS NEWS: Chinese-owned company that gave illegal $1.3 million to Jeb Bush super PAC also gave to pro-Clinton groups
The initial payment to Right to Rise may have been American Pacific International Capital’s first foray in federal politics, but it wasn’t its last. In addition to donations to the pro-Bush group, APIC gave to various state-level candidates and federal political committees supporting Democrats during the 2016 election cycle.
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Argosy University Collapse Exemplifies Lax Protection of Students—and Taxpayers—Under DeVos
Argosy University, a for-profit college serving 8,800 students at 22 sites across the country, shut down suddenly last Friday. Actually the collapse has been happening since 2017, but somehow across Argosy’s many campuses most people didn’t quite connect the dots.
And the U.S. Department of Education didn’t intervene until it became clear that the Argosy University had used $13 million in student financial aid for another purpose: paying off the debts of the collapsing institution. Finally when fraud was documented, the Department was forced to step in and deny further financial support in the form of student loans and grants. The university was so completely dependent on federal financial aid for its operations that, when the money stopped arriving, it closed mid-semester. It seems that Argosy was known for its graduate programs in psychology, and its closure leaves its students—some in the midst of writing their dissertations—in the lurch.
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Mister Journalism: "Reading, Sharing, Discussing, Learning" 