From: Whipple, Deb (GOV)
Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 2009 3:47 PM
Subject: What the Governor is talking about today
What the Governor’s Talking about Today
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
 
    Local Governments’ Ability to Provide Essential Services Hurt by Revenue Sharing Cuts
    Governor Commends Bipartisanship Effort on Michigan Education Reforms
 
Local Governments’ Ability to Provide Essential Services Hurt by Revenue Sharing Cuts
 
To attract and retain residents and businesses, communities must be able to provide police and fire protection, good roads, water and sewer systems and other essential services.  Cuts in revenue sharing are making it difficult for many local governments to provide these services, and are pushing some toward insolvency.
 
The Michigan House has passed HB 5403 that would restore statutory revenue sharing for cities, villages and townships to the amount actually received in the 2009 fiscal year.  That bill is now pending before the Michigan Senate.
 
Key messages:
 
•  We are working to diversify Michigan’s economy and create jobs.  For Michigan communities to be attractive for economic development, local governments must be able to provide essential services.
•  According to the Michigan Municipal League, revenue sharing to local governments has been cut by more than $3 billion in the last eight years, not including the most recent $111 million in cuts.  As a result, more than 1,800 police officers and 2,400 fire fighters have been laid off in Michigan.
•  The governor wants to restore funding for revenue sharing so we can keep police officers and fire fighters on the job protecting our communities.
 
Governor Commends Bipartisanship Effort on Michigan Education Reforms
 
The governor today sent a letter to Speaker of the House Andy Dillon and Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop saying December marks a crucial point in the effort to reform education in Michigan.
 
“President Obama and Secretary Duncan have challenged us to be bold when it comes to improving our schools, and we are more than ready to meet that challenge,” the governor said.  “I am encouraged and grateful for the bipartisan support the Race to the Top reforms have engendered in both the state House and state Senate, and I want to personally extend my appreciation to you for your commitment to pass education reforms during this critical three-week period.”
 
“The reforms you stand poised to pass and that I am prepared to sign into law will give us a stronger education system in Michigan — the kind of education system that the new economy demands,” the governor continued.  “In the process, these reforms will position Michigan to compete successfully in the Race to the Top.”
 
The education reforms would:
 
•  Require school principals to be certified
•  Create high-quality alternative routes to certification for both teachers and administrators to help bring more of our best and brightest into education
•  Give the State Superintendent of Public Instruction clear authority to intervene in low-performing schools
•  When failing schools are clustered in a few school districts, allow systemic changes needed to make individual school-turnaround possible
•  Increase the number of high-quality charter schools in Michigan
•  Require an annual evaluation of teachers, principals and other school leaders that uses student growth data along with other factors
 
In the Obama administration’s Race to the Top competition, all 50 states are racing to reform their education systems so American children can compete in a global economy.  Only a small number of states will be winners.  Each will receive as much as $500 million in federal Recovery Act funds to improve their schools.
 
Key messages:
 
•  Michigan can be one of the winning states in the Race to the Top competition, but we don’t have a lot of time.  Critical education reforms must be in place before Christmas.
•  While each of these reforms meets a clear Race to the Top goal, each in its own right will give us a stronger education system in Michigan.
•  We need to enact these reforms and then be one of the winning states in the Race to the Top competition.  This will allow us to build on those reforms an education system that will be the foundation of a new Michigan.
 
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