CNS Budget – Feb. 16, 2018

Feb. 16, 2018 – Week 5
To: CNS Editors
From: Dave Poulson & Sheila Schimpf
http://news.jrn.msu.edu/capitalnewsservice/
For technical problems, contact CNS technical manager Tony Cepak at (517) 803-6841; cepak@msu.edu.
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Here’s your file:
TEACHERSALARIES: Average salaries for public school teachers in the state have dropped over the past five years, although the pattern varies by district. Some smaller districts have seen salary increases.  We learn about the Hillman, Burr Oak and DeTour districts, as well as hearing from the MEA and a Grand Valley State professor. By Maxwell Evans. FOR MONTMORENCY, SAULT STE. MARIE, MARQUETTE, STURGIS, THREE RIVERS, CHEBOYGAN, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, GREENVILLE AND ALL POINTS.
DEPOSITBILL: There’s another legislative push to add water, juice, sports drink and similar beverage bottles and cans to Michigan’s 10-cent deposit law. Milk products would be excluded. It coincides with the governor’s newly announced recycling initiatives that do not include expanding the deposit law. We talk to the lead sponsor, from Kalamazoo, the Michigan Retailers Association, Michigan United Conservation Clubs and Michigan Recycling Coalition. One cosponsor is from Ingham County. By Kaley Fech. FOR GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, LANSING CITY PULSE AND ALL POINTS.
TEACHERINCENTIVES: There’s a proposal in the Legislature to pay an annual bonus of $1,800 to STEM and special education teachers in low-income districts to make it easier for schools to recruit and retain them. Michigan has a higher-than-national average in teacher turnover. Sponsors are from Grand Rapids, Mason and Kalamazoo. We hear from the Michigan Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the MEA. By Bailey Laske. FOR GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, LANSING CITY PULSE, AND ALL POINTS.
PIPELINEVIDEOGAME: A new video game designed by an MSU professor features environmental fights over pipelines crossing Great Lakes landscapes, including the controversial Line 5 under the Straits of Mackinac. Oil and energy industry groups say it promotes ecoterrorism, an allegation the designer disputes. By Kate Habrel. FOR CHEBOYGAN, SAULT STE. MARIE, ST. IGNACE, TRAVERSE CITY, MARQUETTE, PETOSKEY AND ALL POINTS.
w/PIPELINEVIDEOGAMEPHOTO1: Players guide the thunderbird as it flies from right to left, striking objects and animals with lightning along the way. Image: Elizabeth LaPensée
CHARTERS: So far, unions haven’t caught on among teachers at Michigan’s 294 charter schools but the Michigan Education Association and the Michigan Alliance of Charter Teachers & Staff are trying to organize their staffs. We also talk to the Michigan Association of Public School Academies representing charters. By Crystal Chen. FOR GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, LANSING CITY PULSE AND ALL POINTS.
BIKESAFETY: At a time when bicycle-vehicle crashes are on the rise, a bill working its way through the Legislature would require driver ed programs to provide training about bicycle safety. The mandate is intended to reduce cyclists’ deaths and injuries. We hear from the sponsor from Hanover, the League of Michigan Bicyclists and the Michigan Driver & Traffic Safety Education Association. Other sponsors are from Battle Creek, Montague, Adrian, Chesterfield Township and Rochester Hills. By Agnes Bao. FOR PETOSKEY, HARBOR SPRINGS, LEELANAU, TRAVERSE CITY, CRAWFORD COUNTY, CADILLAC, MANISTEE, BENZIE, AND ALL POINTS.
CREDITREQUIREMENTS: When retired Clintondale Community Schools teacher Ken Austin started teaching in 1974, the vocational technical education department was largest department in the building. But credit requirements and funding cuts decimated the program there and across the state. Now employer and other groups seek to improve vocational education programs statewide by looking at such things as counting welding toward algebra requirements and computer programming as a foreign language. We talk to the MEA, Michigan Manufacturers Association. By Riley Murdock. FOR ALL POINTS.
VOTERRIGHTS: The League of Women Voters, ACLU and NAACP are pushing a petition to make it easier to register and vote though a constitutional amendment. But the Secretary of State says the current system works fine. By Gloria Nzeka. FOR LANSING CITY LIMITS, AND ALL POINTS.
INTERIMTEACHING: Lawmakers may make it easier for people with a bachelor’s degree to teach full-time while they work to become certified teachers. The intent is to get more teachers into the classroom by removing some requirements for a basic skills examination. We hear from legislators from St. Clair, Ann Arbor and Saginaw and the Michigan Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. By Casey Hull. FOR ALL POINTS.
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