Before you vote today----Five Easy Questions to Ask School Officials

If you don't vote, you are giving $42 MILLION to the schools.
What will you get back from that $42 MILLION?
Commentary: Five Easy Questions to Ask School Officials [Michigan Capitol Confidential]:
To help simplify what can often be an overly complex problem, here are five easy questions anyone can ask their school officials.
1.       Has your district’s overall spending increased over the past decade?
If the district claims to have “cut” by a certain amount, these “cuts” may be covered up by increased spending in other areas.

2.       How much money per pupil did the district receive 10 years ago?

3.       How much money per pupil does the district receive today?
For some districts, it may appear that spending has stagnated or even been cut. However, if a district has significantly fewer students today than in the past (see the example of Midland Public Schools above), overall funds may have decreased while per-pupil spending has risen.

4.       What are the district’s teachers paying toward their health care?

In 2009, public school teachers in 300 Michigan districts paid nothing to the costs of their own health insurance premiums. In fact, the average contribution for a teacher’s family plan is 4 percent, while the Michigan private-sector average is 21 percent, and the average for federal employees in Michigan is about 25 percent.

5.       What is the average salary of a teacher who has been employed by the district for 10 years or more?

Automatic step increases can bring significant pay raises very quickly. See:The Salary History of a Michigan Public School Employee.

Nearly all public school collective bargaining agreements have a “single salary schedule” (or “automatic step increases”) for teacher compensation. The schedule builds in automatic pay raises for employees based only on longevity of employment and the education degree-level achieved.According to Michael Van Beek, the director of education policy for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, “Essentially, this means that teachers would receive a pay increase for every year they remain employed by the district, regardless of their students' performance, the district's financial situation, or the conditions of the state's economy.”