Michigan K-12 schools

Four more Michigan schools are changing their Native American nicknames using grant money from the state’s tribal-gaming compact.

After three school years of pandemic disruption, Bridge Michigan wants to know if finding teachers to staff schools has become even harder in your school district. Reach out to reporter Isabel Lohman if you have a story.

A coalition of business, school, philanthropy and labor groups came together in 2019 to try and solve decades of mediocrity in Michigan public education. But major school groups, including the department of education, have bailed, leaving the effort in question.

In approving the state’s education budget early Friday morning, the GOP legislature and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also added investment in school safety measures and the teacher pension system, thanks to unexpectedly high state revenues this year.

‘I don't think that we need to have a problem occur in the state of Michigan before we address it," one sponsor says.

Grand Valley State University leaders are taking ideas from a group of high school students to create programs that will help low-income and first-generation college students succeed when they arrive on campus.

Education law experts say Michigan public schools will have to comply with the ruling, which found that the Washington state football coach was discriminated against by being punished for praying at midfield after games.

The U.S. Supreme Court said Tuesday that states can’t give taxpayer funds to some private schools while excluding religious schools. Legal experts say it won’t immediately impact Michigan, but opens the door to broader school choice.

The lawsuit is the third against Oxford Community Schools since the Oxford High School shooting in November. Students are not seeking monetary damages but want the court will order the district to strengthen safety measures and receive a 'fully transparent' third-party review of the shooting.

I had a front row seat to this process: students and parents requesting changes, counselors and administrators trying their best to accommodate these requests, and everyone stuck in a rigid system.

The bill passed with bipartisan support and would allow students to satisfy a half-credit of math, world language or the arts.

Currently, most college students studying to become teachers must work for free while student teaching, a burden that creates one more obstacle to pursuing a teaching career. The bill would pay them $90 a day, and also pay their classroom mentors.

Our state has a phenomenal opportunity to help Michigan students succeed by helping them be prepared not only to earn a living, but also to manage the living they earn.

Oxford Community Schools will be able to use the new state funding for staffing to help traumatized students, as well as for repairs to the high school in the wake of the deadly shooting.

About a third of teachers hired last year in Michigan were initially certified in other states. That could increase under a bill now being considered in Lansing.

Rep. Julie Alexander’s bill would have given students up to $1,500 to spend on tutoring and other education expenses. Democrats call it a voucher program. Where does tutoring stand in Michigan now?

Our very lives and the lives of the students we serve depend on our relentless efforts, as educators and as citizens in our democracy.

The pandemic intensified a long-festering youth mental health crisis and left schools searching for answers. In Michigan, 600 schools have adopted a social-emotional learning curriculum known as TRAILS – Transforming Research into Action to Improve the lives of students. It is poised to grow further – if the Legislature approves $150 million in new funding.

Amid the national debate about “critical race theory,” Michigan lawmakers weigh a bill to prohibit teaching of “race or gender stereotyping.” Critics say it’s a distraction.

If Congress does nothing again, as I fear, brace yourselves for the next school shooting, coming to a community near you.