Land O Links
(Bridge archive photo)*Not all charter schools in Michigan are alike. Some focus on quality; others focus on marketing to attract parental attention, reports Michigan Radio. This leaves some high-quality charters still struggling to enroll students.
*In Indiana, “lawmakers are considering forgiving $12 million in loans that ‘failing’ charter schools accepted from the state.
Isn’t this a textbook example of what economists call a perverse incentive?
*Bad news for Michigan if this thesis is true: Young people with jobs and cash are forgoing auto loans so they can service their student loans:
“Average debt among twenty-somethings is at its lowest since 1995, according to a recent Pew Research Center report. More than a fifth of young households in 2010 didn't have any debt at all -- the lowest in 30 years. What's really changed is what kind of debt they have. Young people have swapped student loans for mortgage and auto loans. They've traded cars for college and homes for homework.”
*The city of Detroit’s parks are getting a $14 million boost from the private sector (over the next five years). CFM founder Phil Power wrote last week on the efforts of private groups to fill the gaps in services created by Detroit’s (and Flint’s) governance problems.
* About 75,000 people in Michigan are feeling the impact of the federal sequestration in their wallets due to cuts in emergency federal aid to unemployment benefits, says a new analysis from the Michigan League for Public Policy.
In the first week of April, about $2.2 million in federal aid was lost – money that probably would have been immediately spent in local communities. MLPP created an interactive map showing which counties are taking the brunt of the blow in Michigan.
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