Education

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, more commonly known as the FAFSA, is a critical form for anyone who wants help paying for higher education.

But Governor Gretchen Whitmer says Michigan’s FAFSA completion rate was only about 56% last year.

For Michiganders hoping to expand their vocabularies in 2020, Wayne State University has some suggestions.

The Oxford English Dictionary estimates there are about 170 thousand words in current use in the English language. But there are more than a million words in the language overall. 

Late last summer, Eastern Michigan University's Athletic Director Scott Wetherbee gave a tour of the new Student-Athlete Performance Center. It’s the first major construction project for EMU’s 400-plus student athletes in 20 years.

“I loved the conversation about naming the entry into the football suite after you,” Wetherbee wrote in a follow up email to EMU Regent Michael Hawks August 1st.

The state’s second-largest school district and its teachers’ union begin mediation Wednesday, in an attempt to move contract talks that have become stalled and acrimonious.

Utica Community Schools has been bargaining with the Utica Education Association since March. The union’s contract expired in June.

Flint voters will decide in March if they will support a millage that will help eliminate their school district’s deficit.

On Wednesday night, the school board voted to put the millage on the ballot.    

School board members had a choice of what to ask Flint voters. They could ask for either a renewal of the district’s current sinking fund millage, which pays for things like roof repairs, or ask voters to support a deficit reduction bond and a smaller sinking fund. Board members opted for the latter. 

“Doing two things: number one, helping us to make sure we reduce our deficit more quickly. And to actually also keep our buildings safe,” says Superintendent Derrick Lopez.

A federal program awarded $7.7 million to charter schools in Michigan that never opened. That's according to a report from the Network for Public Education.

A total of 257 charter schools in Michigan received money from the federal program. 72 of them never opened. No other state had that many unopened charter schools that received money from the Charter Schools Program.

Flint school district officials are putting off decisions on closing some district schools.

Flint Community Schools are facing a multi-million dollar deficit. Earlier this month, district officials floated a proposal to eliminate the debt, that included closing some schools in January.

Flint school officials are considering how to respond to a multi-million dollar structural deficit.

The Board of Education heard reports on Thursday night on the district’s financial position.  

There are a variety of factors contributing to the school district's financial woes, including legacy costs.  The district is also struggling to pay for the services required for students with special needs. The percentage of special needs students in Flint public schools is twice the state average.

The second largest teachers' union in the state has filed an unfair labor practice charge against Utica Community Schools this week. The Utica Education Association states that they have lost $65 million in wages since 2011.

"It seems like we're going to be able to count tonight as a win, for the district and for the district's children," campaign committee treasurer Steve Norton told a small crowd of about 20 Ann Arbor school administrators, board members, and supporters, who broke into applause at a downtown pizza place late Tuesday evening.

Michigan students rank roughly middle of the pack in reading on the nation's report card, inching up slightly in the latest two-year testing cycle.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress results were released Wednesday. They rank states based on a representative sample of students.

The Pontiac school district is "strongly discouraging" parents from sending their children to school with homemade baked snacks or commercially packaged snacks, especially with unfamiliar branding.

In a letter to district parents, Superintendent Kelley Williams explained that's because marijuana edibles often look like traditional homemade baked goods and packaged candy.

Williams said the purpose of the letter is to protect student safety, health and well-being.

Starting next year, high school graduates in Detroit can receive free college tuition if they choose to attend Wayne State University.

The “Heart of Detroit Tuition Pledge” covers scholarships for city residents who have applied for federal student aid. The university estimates more than 49,000 students enrolled in Detroit public schools are eligible for the program. Wayne State President M. Roy Wilson says the school has multiple funding sources for the pledge.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers say school busses need to be more secure.

A package of bills would make it a crime to enter a school bus without the permission of the driver. In some cases, it would be a felony.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced Tuesday that almost every school in Michigan has access to reliable, high-speed internet service.

She says there are still 10 school districts, mostly in rural areas, that don’t have high-speed internet in every classroom.

Benton Harbor’s school district voted to approve a community engagement and advisory committee.

This comes after the state had proposed closing down Benton Harbor High School in May to help the district, which is struggling financially.

The University of Michigan Board of Regents heard from students enrolled at the Flint and Dearborn campuses, who complain they are not being treated as equals to Ann Arbor students. 

The regents met in Flint Thursday.

Tyrice Denson is a recent U of M-Flint graduate. He says, from instructor pay and scholarships to health services, the Flint and Dearborn campuses don’t get the financial support the Ann Arbor campus does.

Ann Cardon is no longer the superintendent of Traverse City Area Public Schools.

She resigned Thursday night.

At a special meeting of the school board, school board member Stacey Hozak read Cardon’s resignation letter.

“Unfortunately things are not working out well and I believe that it is in the best interests for all concerned that I resign,” Hozak read from Cardon's letter.

The University of Michigan has released a draft umbrella policy to address the problem of sexual and gender-based misconduct. 

It expects to implement the policy in early 2020 after a comment period.

U of M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said a significant change from previous policies is that the definitions of prohibited conduct are consistent across the university community. 

"That way there's no confusion about what is considered inappropriate," said Fitzgerald.

University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel announced plans Thursday to launch two new interdisciplinary initiatives.

Schlissel said the goal of the firearm injury prevention research initiative is to develop new knowledge and data on firearm violence.

Schlissel said researchers will collaborate across fields like medicine, public health, social sciences, and engineering. 

"Our vision with this initiative is not to delve into Second Amendment politics," said Schlissel. "But rather we will address injuries and death as the public health crisis that this is."

The University of Michigan saw an increase in the number of sexual assaults reported on campus in 2018.

That's according to its Clery crime statistics report released this week.

The school reported 45 rapes in 2018 -- up from the 18 cases reported in 2017.

Heather Young is with the University's Division of Public Safety and Security.