Community Conversation: Michigan’s Defining Moment
By, Crystal A. Proxmire
Orig. published Jan 15, 2010 ed.
All around the state people are coming together to hold community conversations about what the priorities are of residents, and to relay those needs as directives to our representatives in Lansing. The program, called Michigan’s Defining Moment, identifies several policy areas and gives participants the opportunity to vote electronically on what needs to be the focus of state leaders as they prepare the upcoming year’s budget.
The conversation came to Ferndale on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 to a group of diverse residents who met at the Ferndale Career Center. Kim Johnson of the Center for Michigan started the conversation with a game of Michigan trivia.
Some things Johnson pointed out that Michiganders may not know:
-Michigan lost 950,000 jobs in the past decade, but has gained 57,000 high tech “new economy” job in 2008-2009.
-Michigan spends more money incarcerating prisoners than on higher education.
-Michigan issued $1.2 billion in student loans in 2008 alone.
-Michigan has the highest number of golf courses, boat licenses, and the most per capital philanthropic donations.
The current state budget is $44 million, and the projected deficit in 2017 will be $10 billion if we don’t make changes to our spending and income structures, Johnson said.
Michigan’s Defining Moment is a think tank with two core beliefs. The first is that Lansing is broken, and the second is that we as citizens of the State of Michigan must be responsible for finding a way to fix it.
According to Johnson, “term limits have come to fruition. 110 seats are up for election and 44 will be turned out due to term limits. There are enormous unintended consequences of term limits. Where there is this churn, no one is around long enough to form good working relationships. It means that the lobbists and parties provide the most information to representatives, and they provide the most fundraising. Some of these guys have never even seen a state budget before.”
The 2010 census will also play a role in our state’s political changes, as we will loose voting districts and boundaries will need to be redrawn.
Two topics were high on the priority of those in attendance – those of accountability and of education. Pre K-16 education was the top priority with 36%, Accountability and bipartisan leadership received 27% of votes, Economic development and diversification was 18%, and Entrepreneurialism and Clear taxing and spending policy each received 9%.
Beverly J. Tinsley-Stanbrough, a dean at Oakland Community College said that 63% of students come to the school at an 8th grade reading level or lower, making it hard for them to understand the text books. A teenage participant named Christine added that “teachers end up teaching how to take standardized tests and it’s not really learning. We need a longer school year because we spend three months learning how to take the test.”
“I’m a single woman with no child, but I’m sold on the idea of better education,” said participant Kay Lemon, “but there are people on my street who don’t know what schools are all about and don’t want to pay for them.”
The point of the conversation is to record concerns such as these and present them to the House and Senate, but Johnson did suggest that participants could learn more about their government and the ways that the Michigan Department of Education sets policies for all public schools to follow. Knowing how government works is a step in the direction of accountability for all areas.
The Center for Michigan provides resources for how people can get involved, no matter what their political ideology may be. Check out their website at http://www.thecenterformichigan.net.