Education

Trade schools offer positive option for students

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By STEPHANIE HERNANDEZ McGAVIN
Capital News Service
LANSING — Patrick Lamb is the son of a welder and a nurse. When he graduated high school in 1976, there were three definitive lines of work for him to enter: university, military or trade. He was only familiar with one line. Lamb is now the principal at the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District Career-Tech Center and is working with about 1,100 high school students to make sure they know all of their options. Trade schools and technical programs across the state are revamping their image and attracting students to a modern kind of skilled labor.

Education

Community colleges can diversify skill sets

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By STEPHANIE HERNANDEZ McGAVIN
Capital News Service
LANSING — Community colleges serve as educational stepping-stones to higher learning institutions and trade schools, creating a gateway for students who want to advance their education, enter the workforce or simply enrich their skills. The trade aspect of a job training program creates an opportunity for students to efficiently become part of the workforce, said Wayne Rodgers, a welding and fabrication professor in the job training program at Grand Rapids Community College. “Everything that we do out there in a manufacturing industry doesn’t take a four-year degree — it takes a specific skill,” said Rodgers. “To have a person take the additional humanities makes them well-rounded, but it keeps them out of the workforce.”

Rodgers estimated about 10 to 15 percent of the students in the non-credit job training program continue onto credit-bearing programs so they can obtain their associate’s degree. Other than that, Rodgers said the heart of community colleges is in technical work.

Agriculture

Land cap not a problem for DNR

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By STEPHANIE HERNANDEZ McGAVIN
Capital News Service
LANSING — The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reports no negative outcomes from the initial cap on its land ownership of 4.626 million acres statewide, which was implemented by state law in 2012. While some feared that the initial land caps would hurt the DNR’s ability to maintain its lands and achieve its environmental goals, Sen. Tom Casperson, an Escanaba Republican, said that the caps were never meant to harass or limit the department, but simply give it guidelines. “It has been irrelevant because we had put some grace that allowed the department to keep buying. The intent was to not cut them off but set up a parameter,” said Casperson. “Right now, there’s 20,000 acres still left and the cap hasn’t held anything up — it’s just more that it’s there.“

DNR public information officer Ed Golder said that although the initial land cap has yet to hurt the department, it continues to work with the Legislature to avoid being limited in future land management.

Business & Economy

More young entrepreneurs starting Michigan businesses

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By STEPHANIE HERNANDEZ McGAVIN
Capital News Service
LANSING — In a state that has a reputation as an economic sinkhole, revived cities, growing local economies and the idealistic attitude of students are starting to keep young entrepreneurs in Michigan. Small Business Association of Michigan Director of Government Relations Michael Marzano said that it is time for the state to relabel itself and its vibrant cities to attract businesses. He used the introduction of ArtPrize in Grand Rapids as an example of a new idea that stimulates the local economy and draws in young people. Marzano said, “Think about what ArtPrize does for the economy of a downtown area like that. It’s just built it up so much.

Education

Average teacher pay continues to shrink, study shows

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By STEPHANIE HERNANDEZ McGAVIN
Capital News Service
LANSING — The average salary of public school teachers in the state dropped by $360 in 2013-14 from the previous school year, which already was $84 less than in 2011-12, according to the Michigan Department of Education. Several factors, including declining school enrollment, account for the downward trend in average salaries, according to education experts. School districts having the most financial trouble are also those with the greatest decline in enrollment, said Jennifer Smith, the Michigan Association of School Boards director of government relations. “I bet if you lay them side-by-side, you’re going to find the ones that are having the most trouble are the ones that have the highest loss of students,” Smith said of funding problems. “Because we fund our schools per-pupil, that decline in enrollment is a huge problem for some districts.”
Jennifer Dirmeyer, an assistant professor of economics at Ferris State University, said the decrease in average salaries is also strongly driven by the age and experience of teachers. Dirmeyer said, “It doesn’t appear as though new teachers are making any less than new teachers have made in the past — it’s just that there are more new teachers now, as a percentage of total teachers, than there have been in the past.”
Dirmeyer said that while downward trends may continue, once recently hired teachers’ salaries increase annually with experience, average salaries will also rise.