Michigan_Man's Blog

The personal education account initiative is a State-wide ballot proposal that slightly alters how the State distributes education dollars but fundamentally changes the philosophy on how those dollars are spent. The current method of funding from the State which is done on a per pupil basis would be maintained, but made equal among all children in the State thus simplifying the whole process of sending the education dollars out (with exceptions for the handicapped of course). Instead of the schools being required to count students several times a year and send that number to the State where a State bureaucrat has to confirm the number and then send money to the schools for the children, the whole process is streamlined and the education funding is simply deposited into a personal education account, (PEA for short), for each child.
The PEA would be funded from year to year on a per pupil basis just like the current system only instead of the money being controlled by the school and the State, the PEA would be controlled by the parent(s) or legal guardian(s). The parent(s) or legal guardian(s) is then free to choose which school to send their child to and also free to choose what bank or credit union their PEA will be at. Now I imagine that you are thinking, “why would a parent care what bank or credit union the personal education account would be at?” The reason is that, unlike a voucher system, any and all dollars in the account not spent on education in a given year stay in the account for that child and roll over into the following year. By allowing the parent o

If you as a parent can find two schools with equal rates of performance but one charges less than the total amount of the PEA, then you know as a parent that every dollar you save on schooling now will benefit your child in the future.

The parent knows more about their child then any State bureaucrat would ever want to and cares more for their child than any State bureaucrat could ever hope to. This initiative is about tying education dollars to the student and tying power to the parents.

However this initiative doesn’t just benefit the students and the parents, this initiative very much benefits public schools AND public school teachers. In our current system public schools are dependent upon the State for funding or through a tax increase which must be voted on. By allowing less than the total amount of the PEA to be spent on schooling, schools will have another way to raise funding. If a public school is operating without the total amount of the PEA (and no public school can require more than the total amount of the annual per pupil funding) then the school can raise the amount of the PEA they require to get the money they need rather than depending exclusively on State aid or bond issues tax hikes.
Likewise public school teachers benefit from this initiative in multiple ways. Teachers will be responsible to their school and to their student which means they can focus on education and teaching rather than the one-size-fits-all State forced curriculum. Teachers with common teaching methods will be entirely free to open up schools that offer a unique me

This initiative is all about streamlining the system to make education more efficient, more free, more student oriented, more parental involvement and control, and providing a way for competition to produce the best teaching methods.
Now parents are not just thrown a complicated system of bank and credit union interest rates and the task of choosing the best school for their child blindly. This initiative would allow for the creation of a State agency to collect information on different schools and different banks and make that information available for parents in their choices. Not only would this agency work to provide information on schools, but if the parent or legal guardian decided that they wanted assistance then the agency would be authorized to help the parent make the choice of which school is best for their child and which bank or credit union is providing the best return on the personal education account. If the parent decided to go one step further, if the parent or legal guardian is working two jobs and doesn’t have the time to make these decisions, then they may ask this State agency to make the decisions for them which they could re-take control over at any time.
There is also a tragedy clause in the initiative. Unfortunately many children suffer car accidents, medical problems, and many children never reach adulthood. For those grieving families the balance of the fund is not deposited into the school aid fund if there is next of kin. If there is next of kin, then the balance of the account is transferred to the other child because that is the

their children are forced to be educated in a manner that may not be best for the child. This initiative would change that system. If a parent was upset with what their child was being taught, then they can take their child somewhere else. Why should everyone else at the school have to change because of one parent? Why should one parent be force to go along with everyone else? If the parent could choose the school they wanted for their child and if all schools were not forced to teach the same thing as they are now, then every parent could pick a school that is best for their child and the smarter their choice on tuition the more they save for their child’s future.

This initiative is about getting government bureaucrats out of the classroom and giving teachers freedom. This initiative is about giving parents choices and catering education to the student. This initiative is about ending government waste in education and having all the savings go where they should go, to the kids. This initiative is a way forward for Michigan using tried and true methods that have been working for our veterans for over half a century through the GI Bill. Veterans are not told to go to government schools and colleges with their education dollars; they are put in control of the money and in control of their own education. If it works for our veterans, it can work for our kids and ought to work for our kids. The PEA initiative is about freedom, equality, and is the best way forward for education because it focuses on students rather than schools.



References
1: The Detr

Proportional Senate Initiative:

Reynolds v. Sims (1964) changed how States could comprise their legislatures, but States have done little to nothing to re-differentiate and update their legislature. The result has been two houses of representatives with one called the House of Representatives and the other called the Senate, but in reality there is no difference other than the number of elected members. Both houses are drawn up as districts based on a census taken every ten years designed by not just incumbent politicians but incumbent politicians of the majority party on that particular year. Such a system while having certain benefits also brings certain downfalls, downfalls that this initiative is designed to take on by offering a restoration of the balance of powers by reforming the Senate from a district system into a proportional senate.

Since Reynolds v. Sims States can no longer have their State Senate based on geographical region, they can only base legislature representation on population. This change occurred and was a good decision, but the failure of the legislature to come up with a new and innovative way to maintain two separate houses designed to represent the people in two distinctly different ways that make up for the shortcomings of the other respective house has done this State a serious disservice. The current system is a redundant system and needs to be changed. A proportional system for the Senate will offset the problems we currently face with a district system but by maintaining a district system in the House the drawbacks of a proportional s

geographical districts and giving every person in the State an elected official to go to with non-political issues such as red tape, license issues, and general bureaucracy.

However our current system doesn't have that balance. Instead, we have two district systems in our State House and in our State Senate. This initiative would change our Senate to provide a proportional system to be voted on at large throughout the entire State while still providing a balance by preserving the district system in the House of Representatives. This reform is long overdue and will allow our system to become truly representative of the people and the issues that people want addressed will shine through.

This initiative allows people with certain ideas about how the State should be run to write a platform of ideas, for example a pro-life, pro-FairTax, pro-second amendment Democrat ticket or a pro-choice, pro-universal healthcare, pro-gun control Republican ticket. After writing such a platform various people who like the idea and would like to run for State Senate on those ideas can run for office in a primary election. The person who best represents those ideas and receives the most votes will rank first on a list of candidates, the second highest vote receiver would be second on the list, and so on and so forth. Then, the list of candidates who represent those ideas would run as a single ticket, as a list of candidates representing a common platform of ideas. The voters in the general election would then be able to pick the list of candidates and platform that best represents t

What do you guys & gals think?

School plan sounds good, but who has to negotiate with the unions and what defines the cost of the education?
Agree totally with the position of putting the money in the hands of parents and/or guardians. Question is what is done to prevent the use of that money for other purposes. Looking at the subprime mortgage mess that is a major question.
The Proportionsal Senate Initiative doesn't guarantee that any candidate will vote for the issues as they campaigned and were elected to do, even our Governor can't do that. Then there's the lobbyist factor. I'd like to see strict spending limitations for expenses, limited staffing with provisions on personal relations including elimination of the Governor's spouse's, elimination of lifetime healthcare and a part time legislature.

Know where the 'HEALTH CARE FOR MICHIGAN Initiative' can be found and read? Heard on National Public Radio that it would allow our State NonProfit, Blue Cross, to increase rates to the handicap, disabled and aged. Of course, there also is a provision that any future rate increases of Blue Cross cannot be challenged by consumers. This initiative is beginning to sound like a means of increasing the revenue for our Nonprofit and if it's to even the playing field for them why not eliminate their nonprofit status?