Education

Michigan schools could face an even worse substitute teacher shortage because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The state released guidelines last month outlining students’ return to in-person learning in classrooms, which specifies face coverings and physical distancing requirements.

Michigan has joined four other states and Washington, D.C. to challenge how the U.S. Department of Education is allocating money for schools.

The funds come from the CARES Act to assist schools with their COVID-19 responses.

The state's much-anticipated pandemic road map for returning to in-person K-12 instruction was released Tuesday.

The plan includes requirements that all school districts must follow, along with recommendations.  Districts will be permitted to institute stricter measures if they wish.

The University of Michigan Regents approved a slight tuition increase Monday night.

The regents approved a budget, including a 1.9% tuition increase, on a five to two vote. The board deadlocked on a similar proposal last week.

The budget takes effect Wednesday. 

A federal judge ordered the University of Michigan on Wednesday to immediately stop communicating with alumni who could be potential plaintiffs in class action litigation against the school.

The order came after Judge Victoria Roberts learned that in April, U of M had contacted more than 300,000 former students in connection with its investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and sexual abuse by the late Dr. Robert Anderson. 

A note: In this episode we talk about school lockdown drills, which may not be appropriate for our younger listeners.

Gen Z is growing up in a world changed forever before they were even born by events like September 11 and Columbine.

They’ve also been hit with two defining events that will shape their lives in ways we can’t even anticipate: the looming threat of climate change, and the more immediate threat of COVID-19.

Michigan State University is cutting the salaries of non-unionized faculty and academic staff because of the budgetary impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

MSU President Dr. Samuel Stanley, Jr., announced in a letter Monday to all university employees that the pay cuts will start on September 1 and last at least one year.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer is expected to roll out her plans next week on re-opening schools in the fall. Tuesday, the Legislature’s Republican leaders outlined their proposed back-to-school plans.

Kindergarten-through-fifth graders would have to have some classroom time, while more resources would also be devoted to at-home learning. But it’s still a work in progress, especially when it comes to paying for back-to-school plans. Some of the money would come from the federal government.

The union representing non-tenure instructors at the University of Michigan is upset that dozens of lecturers are losing their jobs because of budget cuts.

The staff cuts are hitting particularly hard on U of M’s Flint and Dearborn campuses.

U of M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald says the main reasons for the layoffs are declining enrollment and a change in teaching approach. 

The COVID-19 pandemic is raising concerns among some University of Michigan students in Dearborn and Flint about whether they are getting the same financial help that students on the Ann Arbor campus receive.

Alysia Trevino is with the group One University.

Trevino says the pandemic is adding to the burden of students with fewer financial resources.

School districts are in the middle of a budget nightmare.

Balanced budgets are due to the state by June 30. But administrators don't know what the state's per pupil funding will be, because the state has postponed finalizing its budget until the fall.

They can't estimate how many pupils they will have, due to pandemic uncertainty.

And the state could also cut funding for the current fiscal year, because its own revenues are so uncertain.

Oakland County is bringing some new employees on board for when schools re-open this fall—nurses.

The Oakland Together School Nurse Initiative calls for hiring 68 nurses. Each nurse would be assigned a school district to work with through December.

Forty-six west Michigan school superintendents have warned state and federal officials that school funding cuts are not acceptable.

In a joint statement released on Wednesday, the superintendents from Muskegon, Kent and Ottawa counties called on the U.S. Congress to quickly take action to provide additional aid for public education. 

A federal appeals court has dismissed a motion seeking to undo a ruling in a literacy lawsuit from Detroit.

All 16 judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit agreed to deny the request to review a ruling by a three judge panel of the appeals court in “Gary B. v. Whitmer.”

The 2016 lawsuit was filed against the state of Michigan on behalf of students from several of Detroit’s worst performing schools.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District wants feedback on its recently released draft plan to re-open schools.

The University of Michigan’s President says he hopes the school soon can decide when to reopen the campus to faculty and students. Mark Schlissel says it will be a gradual return.

A federal appeals court has thrown out a groundbreaking decision that said Detroit students had a constitutional right to education and literacy. The move comes just days after Michigan's governor settled the case by agreeing to seek millions from the Legislature to improve education programs.

The state of Michigan has announced a settlement in a lawsuit over poor reading skills that was filed on behalf of Detroit schoolchildren, weeks after a federal appeals court issued a groundbreaking decision recognizing a constitutional right to education and literacy.

Michigan State University has announced a new round of cost-saving measures arising from the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.