My Review:

On April 10, 2012, the website Gawker.com unveiled its latest contributor with the headline “Announcing Our Newest Hire: A Current Fox News Channel Employee.” They called him “The Fox Mole” who promised to provide “dispatches from inside the organization.”

Two days later, “The O’Reilly Factor” production assistant Joe Muto was outed by Fox News I.T. security, told to clean out his desk, and hand in his company I.D. badge.

Muto, a self-described progressive and Obama supporter, had worked at Fox for eight years. Beginning as a production assistant grunt in the news operation, he had worked his way up to being part of the biggest profit center for Fox News: Bill O’Reilly’s mini-empire.

After years of cringing over the tactics, ethics and ethos of the nation’s most-watched cable news channel he finally broke. The straw that “broke this camel’s back,” Muto writes, was a post on the demonstrably irresponsible Fox Nation website, a let’s-pretend-we-are-a-legitimate-news-website that is more political propaganda than actual news reporting.

The site, which Muto suspected was the brainchild of O’Reilly’s resident ambush interviewer Jesse Watters, took a mundane story about President Obama’s 50th birthday party and turned it into a race-baiting screed with the headline “Obama’s Hip-Hop BBQ Didn’t Create Jobs.” Although the guest list included dozens of guests of the Caucasian persuasion, the story was illustrated only by pictures of Obama, Charles Barkley, Chris Rock and Jay Z.

“The post,” the Fox Mole wrote in his first Gawker post, “neatly summed up everything that had been troubling me about my employer: Non dequitur, ad hominem attacks on the president; gleeful race baiting; and so on.”
The post was accompanied by some before-the-broadcast banter between Fox News Star #2 Sean Hannity and presidential candidate Mitt Romney, chatting about the Romneys love of horseriding, especially the kind involving very expensive horses. (You can read the entire, short-lived Fox Mole archive at http://gawker.com/tag/fox-mole).

The second anonymous post came a day later. It included a photo of a cheaply installed bathroom stall at Fox HQ, and a description of the utilitarian (i.e. cheap) facilities at America’s most profitable cable news operation. The third (and last) anonymous post came later in the day, a terse one-paragraph report:
So Fox’s PR team has been telling people that they have “found” me and are “exploring legal options.” If Fox has smoked me out, it’s news to me. I’m still here. Back to work.

Hours later, Joe Muto was called into the office of the Fox News Vice President of Legal and Business Affairs, told he was suspected of being the mole, and put on paid leave. He was fired shortly thereafter. He was nailed because he was the only staffer who had accessed the two videos that had been posted on Gawker.

“I am a weasel, a traitor, a sell-out and every bad word you can throw at me… but as of today, I am free, and I am ready to tell my story, which I wasn’t able to fully do for the previous 36 hours,” he wrote after he was outed just a day-and-a-half after his first post.

Unemployed, he did what any self-respecting weasel would do: he wrote a tell-all book.

If you love to hate Fox News (and what regular reader of Blogging for Michigan doesn’t?), you will enjoy Muto’s funny-but-infuriating narrative of what he saw and heard in his eight years at Fox.

For the most part, his book merely confirms what we have assumed all along: Fox News is a third-rate news organization with first-rate ratings, and a penchant for all things Republican.

Muto’s description of the morning show “Fox and Friends” illustrates both his attitude and breezy writing style, saying the show featured “three grinning jackasses, sitting on a couch, bantering about the news. The format called for one of the anchors to introduce the story, often getting the basic facts wrong, then for the other two to join in and chat about it for a few minutes, making opinionated pronouncements that were as emphatic as they were ill-informed.” The show basically was a “verbal diarrhea of stupidity.”

His disdain for his co-workers was widespread, but Muto doesn’t condemn all of them. He clearly admires Shepard Smith, calling him “whip-smart, funny, and irreverent, and his presence made for a fast-paced, witty, and endlessly watchable newscast.”

He takes great delight in documenting Fox’s habit of hiring good-looking blonde anchors regardless of ability, saying the hiring criteria were (in order of importance)

* hotness
* ability to string two words together
* ability to summon outrage and berate a guest at length
* blondness
* conservative views (or the ability to convincingly fake them)
* journalistic credentials

He calls Megyn Kelly one of the exceptions to the rules, calling her a “hardworking, smart, dedicated” … “who just so happened to be hot.”

Muto spends much of his time chronicling his time working for Papa Bear: Bill O’Reilly. He shares Jon Stewart’s grudging admiration for O’Reilly, warts and all.

Along the way he shares some often laugh-inducing insights into the larger-than-life personalities that dot the Fox News Channel schedule: Ann Coulter (he implies that the on-air shrew we see is just an act designed to sell books), Sarah Palin (shrewd but intellectually lazy, uninformed and blissful in her ignorance), Glenn Beck (too crazy even for Fox) and Sean Hannity (describing at length an often bitter rivalry between Hannity and O’Reilly).

His take on O’Reilly is sincere. “I actually like Bill O’Reilly,” he writes.

“This book is critical of O’Reilly, and for good reason – he deserves criticism on a lot of things. But even Bill’s most harsh critics cannot completely discount his talent. Whether or not you agree with him, you have to acknowledge that he is a master of the medium…The truth is that the man has a great sense for what viewers want to see.”

Muto had assumed that, once fired by Fox, he’d be hired by Gawker. Didn’t happen. His last post on Gawker, this time with a byline, came two weeks after he was fired. It described O’Reilly’s interview with ALF. Yes, ALF, the sitcom alien from Melmac who landed on earth and loves to eat cats. The post wraps up with a totally inappropriate R-rated joke told by Dick Morris after the interview. Muto lovingly describes Morris as “the oily, often-wrong regular pundit.”

(While not hiring Muto, Gawker did pay his legal fees after Fox apparently pushed the Manhattan District Attorney into filing criminal charges.)

Muto agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of attempted unlawful duplication of computer materials, and attempted criminal possession of computer material. (Ironically, the charges were pushed by the same corporation that used its computers to hack cellphones across two continents.) He paid a $1,000 fine, forfeited the $5,000 he allegedly was paid by Gawker for his work, and sentenced to 200 hours of community service for a nonprofit. (Gawker urged Muto to serve his time with the liberal, Fox-baiting Media Matters for America, but instead he’s working for a literacy program in Brooklyn.)

Muto’s book is an easy read, with a breezy style and just enough meat to keep you reading well into the night.
There are no game-changing revelations, just confirmation that Fox News is really the right-wing equivalent of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report: entertainment that uses the news as its vehicle, rather than a news channel which is also entertaining.

Jon Stewart calls his show a “Fake News Show.” Muto’s narrative leads me to conclude that the same description can be applied to much of the Fox News broadcast day. The difference?

Jon Stewart wants to make you laugh. Fox News strives to make you angry and resentful.

An Atheist in the FOXhole: A Liberal’s Eight-Year Odyssey Inside the Heart of the Right-Wing Media is available at Amazon and local bookstores.

You can visit Joe Muto’s website here.

The most recent examples of the merit pay arguments have been offered up by Tom Gantert at Capital Confidential and Brittany Baldwin here at The Detroit News. In this iteration of the argument “Teacher of the year” recipient Gary Abud represents the anecdotal evidence that proves the need for merit pay.

The contention is that while Mr. Abud has been chosen as Michigan’s best teacher he is not compensated accordingly because of evil union contracts that use degrees and years of service to determine his pay.

But here is where the supporters of merit pay make the giant leap of faith. Even without monetary incentives, Gary Abud was motivated to become the best teacher in Michigan. Not only that, even when pushed on the topic Mr. Abud didn’t argue for merit pay. At this point the only people really arguing for merit pay are the corporatists, who, regardless of data, believe in their hearts that merit pay works. You know, the way all great business decisions are made: Completely void of data and analysis.

And while conservatives will argue that “innovation” and “creative solutions” are key in education, apparently that only applies to charter schools since these very same conservatives are trying to standardize everything in public education and are ironically pretending that all Americans are motivated by the same thing: money.

Would a pastor inspire more good deeds if he was incentivized to do so? Would a Doctors without Borders physician save more lives if there was a monetary reward for doing so? Would a fire fighter put out more fires if it increased his pay?

The reality is that teachers are motivated by their students – not by money. That doesn’t mean they don’t want to be compensated fairly but these people have many options and choose to teach knowing the pay going in. As a matter of fact Gary Abud was studying to be a physician before deciding his true calling was education. Any business will tell you that you can’t design an effective incentive program if you don’t understand what motives the employees and insisting that everyone values money in the same way is perhaps the biggest reason why merit pay consistently fails.

Continue reading at the Detroit News…

This episode came in at just over an hour long. The conversation with Amy is about half of the episode. It was one of the most fun conversations I’ve had in a long time and I didn’t bother to keep track of time. The rest of the time I spend on the NSA surveillance issue and why I don’t care that much about it even though I don’t think it’s “right.” Also a little bit on private defense contractors and how I was almost in charge of weapons systems in Iraq. Seriously.

Some of what we talk about:

• Kevyn Orr’s informational meeting
• The racial component of the emergency manager law
• Emergency managers must have sociopath – type personalities
• Legal challenges to the EM law
• The history of the EFM -> EM law
• The EM law was being written by Andy Dillon prior to Snyder
• Eric Scorsone‘s involvment in the EM law
• Emergency Managers are the centerpiece of Rick Snyder’s agenda
• Recently introduced legislation, including the school dissolution bill
• Michigan local governments – do we have too many?
• ….and a whole lot more…

Amy’s notes:

• Michigan’s New Emergency Manager Law — An Analysis
• Michigan’s Emergency Managers — The Evil New “Nanny State”

HISTORY
Emergency Managers started with the Emergency Financial Manager law, Public Act 72 of 1990, under Gov. James Blanchard. The original law gave very limited powers to the EFM – they were restricted to controlling only the finances of the public body.

In 2010, when Rick Snyder was still a candidate for governor, he was in communication with Andy Dillon about enhancing PA 72 to expand the powers of the appointed official. Dillon developed what became Public Act 4 of 2011, the Emergency Manager law. Under this new law, EMs were given sweeping powers to control every aspect and function of the public body they controlled. They could break contracts, write policy and curriculum, sell assets, override or disband publically elected boards, fire employees, and they could do all of this without full public disclosure. They were exempt from the Open Meetings Act and the Freedom of Information Act.
Snyder and Dillon’s reasoning was that these expanded powers were necessary in a financial crisis.

Stand Up for Democracy, a coalition of Michigan Forward, AFSCME, NAACP, Reject Emergency Managers, various unions, community leaders and faith-based organizations successfully petitioned to put the law to referendum. Various corporate interests attempted to prevent the question from being on the ballot in 2012, but ultimately the law was repealed by popular vote.

Within weeks, the legislature re-enacted a law nearly identical to the one repealed. Public Act 436 had only a few minor differences from its predecessor. The public body is now given a “choice” between emergency management, a consent agreement, a neutral evaluation process, or Chapter 9 bankruptcy. Of course, their choice must be approved by the governor, who enjoys the authority to override their decision altogether.

CURRENT SITUATION

Multiple public bodies are already in or bordering on fiscal crisis in the state – a problem made worse by cuts in per pupil funding and revenue sharing under Gov. Snyder.

Currently the following cities are under emergency management: Detroit, Flint, Benton Harbor, Pontiac, and Allen Park, and the following school districts: Detroit Public Schools, Muskegon Heights, and Highland Park.
Most recently, the city of Hamtramck and Pontiac Public Schools have been tagged for probable Ems.

PA 4 and PA 436 are frequently used as a cudgel to threaten public bodies into making drastic budgetary cuts and contract concessions.

Provisions of the law are also employed as a threat by the Ems. Most recently, Kevin Orr, the newly appointed Detroit EM, has come out saying that he may have to liquidate assets held by the Detroit Institute of Arts.

We don’t know how many units of government are teetering on the brink, but another 55 school districts are in the red, up from 48 when Snyder took office.

Many public bodies are too small to justify the cost of emergency management

There are three new proposed laws that intend to address that problem in public schools. In the wake of the crisis that shuttered Buena Vista Schools briefly, Reps. Rutledge (D) and Rogers (R) introduced legislation (HB 4797 and 4798 ultimately substituted with 4813 and 4815) that would force mergers and consolidation by state decree if a small district was failing.

HB 4813would give a 10 percent bonus to the “receiving” school district. That amounts to between $700 and $1200 per pupil. The salient question is: Why not just give that money to the struggling school?

All three bills are currently being considered in committee.

LITIGATION

There are numerous legal challenges to the law. Among them are:

Retirees from the cities of Flint and Pontiac are suing Snyder, Dillon, and two Ems using the supremacy clause claiming the EM law is in violation of federal bankruptcy and contract clauses in the US Constitution.

NAACP is suing invoking violations of the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. Approximately 52 percent of Michigan’s black population is under emergency management.

Sugar Law Center still has a pending class action suit on behalf of a couple dozen citizen plaintiffs.

Guest:

• Amy Kerr Hardin of Democracy Tree

Headlines & Links:

• Are emails between Gov. Snyder, Detroit EM Orr illegal?
• Coalition still campaigning against wolf hunt after state panel OKs season for this fall in UP
• Rochelle Riley Is Very Concerned About NSA Leaker Edward Snowden’s Academic Progress
• Governor confirms Hamtramck in financial emergency
• Tim Skubick: Idea of swabbing accused felons for DNA has ACLU on edge
• New Poll Says American Public is Fine With NSA Surveillance
• Michigan in running for center to supply F-35 aircraft components
• Tech hiring binge may pose security risks for government

Hannity hypocrisy on surveillance:

We talk about:

• Minimum wage efforts gotten attention of people all across country
• Occupy + attack on workers +++ has created a different plateau on which to stand
• The pushback on minimum wage
• The role that we all have in the fight to life wages and help others out of poverty
• Snyder’s secrecy regarding Orr is no surprise
• The people of Detroit will fight back against Snyder’s tactics
• Snyder’s private funding incentives are unethical
• Hamtramck is a manufactured fiscal emergency
• The Treasury’s indifference and sense of entitlement
• The story of our cities is organic; taking place at dinner tables and other family conversations
• We’re going to have an AWESOME LG!!
• We love Mark Schauer

Guest:

• Senator Bert Johnson

Headlines & Links:

• Detroit EM Kevyn Orr holds public informational meeting
• Detroit Emergency Manger Kevyn Orr plans to pursue Belle Isle lease, says bankruptcy odds are 50/50
• Even with Detroit’s huge debt, Orr tells residents: Safety is a priority
• Detroit to offer creditors pennies on the dollar in pitch to avoid bankruptcy
• Michigan Governor: Detroit’s art museum is an “asset”
• Kevyn Orr: I can cut somebody’s throat and leave them to bleed …

I knew he was going to be a bully when he took the job, stood up in front of everyone and said, “Don’t make me go to bankruptcy court. You won’t enjoy it.”

Who starts out that way? “Hello,” he threatened.

Well here’s what’s got me worked up this morning:

“Now look, I’m a trial attorney. I can cut somebody’s throat and leave them to bleed out in the gutter with the best of them. But I didn’t want to do that. That’s not my role in this job. My role in this job is sort of the zen of emergency management.”

A Genovese Captain or an agent of Rick Snyder? You can’t tell, can you?

We’ll be talking about this more on today’s Political Briefing

Links:

• Detroit EM Kevyn Orr holds public informational meeting
• Detroit Emergency Manger Kevyn Orr plans to pursue Belle Isle lease, says bankruptcy odds are 50/50
• Even with Detroit’s huge debt, Orr tells residents: Safety is a priority

You should check out Amy’s blog for some of the very best political blogging you’ll find in Michigan.

Here are Amy’s show notes. Her notes are longer than my summary would be but you might find these notes more useful:

MANUFACTURED FISCAL CRISES IN SCHOOLS
****Just this month****
Pontiac unable to meet payroll entered into a deficit reduction plan.
Albion shuttering its high school.
Buena Vista closing and re-opening after deficit reduction plan.
Flint laying-off 139 teachers and staff after announcing closure of several schools and entering into a deficit reduction plan.
Inkster entering into a deficit reduction plan.
Traverse City announcing that if things don’t change soon, they will need a deficit reduction plan.
Tiny Inland Lakes Schools anouncing huge lay-offs,
****State Education Budget****
Sen. Howard Walker, chair of the School Aid Committee, tried to tell school leaders in his local district that the Senate’s proposed budget would increase per pupil funding by $100, but cuts to other areas (technology, retirement funding, and “best practice” incentives) would exceed that amount leading to a net loss of $41/pupil.
The House proposed budget would result in a $51 cut, and the Governor’s budget is at a $30 loss.
The state has a self-imposed July 1st deadline for reconciling the budget, and the result will likely be about $40 lost per pupil.
Districts will be forced to pink slip large numbers of teachers now, and hope for the best and recall some of them in the Fall.
****Schools and Teachers under attack****
Small school districts will face closure without emergency management.
EMs are too costly for the state to justify for districts with small budgets.
The state has limited funds for maintaining the costly emergency management system.
Expansion of charter and cyber schools is the plan of many lawmakers to step-in as school districts fail.
Education Achievement Authority is being held-up in the Senate Education Committee for the time being, but that could break loose at any time – making a permanent state run “school district” of the 50 lowest performing schools with no democratic input from their communities. It already passed in the House in March.
Snyder is pushing for making per pupil funding “portable”, which is just a repeat of the maligned voucher program of a decade ago. It’s an attempt to enhance the allure of cyber schools.
Lisa Posthumus-Lyons, chair of the House Education Committee, introduced HB 4625, which would make student achievement assessment (standardized tests) the “primary” factor in teacher compensation. This would make the problem of “teaching to the test” a legal must.
Outgoing DPS Emergency Manager Roy Roberts actually said that competition in public education is a good thing.
**** Snyder Administration****
Lies about knowledge of skunk works, and the meaning of the program. FOIA request revelations about high-level involvement of senior advisors.
Opening of 32 new charter schools in Michigan, including charter-cyber hybrids.
Tying newly discovered budget surplus to “best practices” for school funding….again, a Sen Howard Walker idea.

Headlines & Links:

• Michigan’s homophobes can’t believe what’s happening with public opinion on marriage equality
• Tim Skubick: Gov. Snyder’s unwillingness to take a stand may not serve him well in campaign
• Neighbors, NAACP take note of Bay City home displaying Nazi, Confederate flags
• Blacks in Michigan 3.3 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites, ACLU study shows
• Wendell Anthony: People Who Support The EM But Protest His DIA Policy Are Hypocrites
• An Inconvenient Truth: It Was George W. Bush Who Bailed Out the Automakers
• Teach for America – Applicant Prerequisites

Firstly, the NRA estimates that 10 to 12 billion rounds of ammunition are produced and sold in the U.S. each year with billions more being imported. Conversely, the government request is for a mere 1.6 billion rounds over the next few years. This means, assuming the government was buying zero rounds previously, this new request only represents a 5 percent increase – unlikely to have much effect on the overall supply.

Second, the amount of money spent on ammunition by gun owners has nearly tripled since the turn of the 21st century. Given the massive amounts of rounds purchased by individuals, perhaps the perceived shortage that gun advocates are concerned about is really just a self-inflicted wound.

The idea that the government can choke the market is ironic given Republicans’ blind faith in free markets. The reality is the free market should naturally respond to an increased demand with higher prices (which is not happening) or expanded production (which is happening and creating jobs).

Continue reading on the Detroit News…

Here’s what we talk about:

• This move by the Treasury frees up funds from the Hardest Hit Fund for blight removal as part of foreclosure prevention
• This is a change in the interpretation of the Hardest Hit Fund administration
• The state of the Revitalize America Act
• The effort to eliminate blight stabilize markets
• Blight and abandonment creates more fires
• The effects of blight on community morale and the impression of children who grow up in these neighborhoods
• This is just a first step
• The funds will be used in Flint, Saginaw, Detroit, Pontiac, Grand Rapids
• Old industrial cities need a specific set of intervention strategies

More information:

Congressman Kildee’s release on the announcement by the Treasury Department:

Congressman Kildee: Federal Funding Coming to Michigan Will Help to Revitalize Cities, Clean Up Blight and Strengthen Neighborhoods

Working with Treasury Department and State Housing Agency, Kildee Helps to Secure Millions of Hardest Hit Fund Dollars to Revitalize Michigan Cities, including Flint and Saginaw

WASHINGTON – Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-05) today welcomed news that $100 million in federal funds will be freed up for five Michigan cities – including Flint and Saginaw – to clean up neighborhoods and remove blight. Since taking office, Congressman Kildee has worked tirelessly to secure the Hardest Hit Funds (HHF) for Michigan to address vacant and abandoned properties in communities, both working directly with the U.S. Department of Treasury and also introducing legislation in Congress.

“Today’s announcement that Michigan will receive $100 million in federal funds to clean up blight in communities across the state is welcomed news,” Congressman Dan Kildee (D-Flint) said. “Freeing up federal money to revitalize and invest in cities, including both Flint and Saginaw in my congressional district, will strengthen neighborhoods and unlock greater opportunity for all homeowners. Since being sworn into Congress, one of my top priorities has been to secure this money to ensure cities and towns have the resources necessary to remove and repurpose abandoned homes. I’m pleased that the partnership between my office, the State of Michigan and the Treasury Department has resulted in millions of dollars in much-needed funds.”

In March, Congressman Kildee sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, asking the Treasury Department to expand the use of HHF, as they did today, for the removal of vacant and abandoned property.

In the letter, Congressman Kildee said, “I urge you to speedily move to approve MSHDA’s proposal, the best course of action for Michigan and U.S. taxpayers.”

As the law was previously interpreted, it was unclear whether state housing authorities, including the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), could use portions of the federal HHF dollars for the demolition of residential properties. The HHF was created in 2010 to aid states most impacted by the recent economic crisis.

In April, following his letter, Congressman Kildee introduced H.R. 1550, the Revitalize America Act, which provided a legislative solution to reallocating the HHF dollars for Michigan and other hardest hit states. His bill sought to free up to 25 percent of the resources under the program to demolish and repurpose vacant units.

Last month, Congressman Kildee also hosted a meeting at the U.S. Capitol with U.S. Treasury Department officials, including Assistant Secretary Tim Massad, to discuss updates regarding funds for Michigan and other states.

According to 2010 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, it is estimated that there are 5,846 vacant residential units in Flint; 40,597 in Detroit; and 2,748 in Grand Rapids.

Previous studies have shown that removing blight and abandonment in cities like Detroit, Flint and Saginaw leads to greater economic opportunity for communities. According to a two-year study by the Land Policy Institute at Michigan State University, $3.5 million of demolition activity in Flint unlocked $112 million in improved property values for surrounding homeowners. Additionally, by removing abandoned properties in the community, crime and arson rates are reduced.

Congressman Kildee has an extensive background in housing policy and land use issues. In 2002, as Genesee County Treasurer, he founded the Genesee County Land Bank – Michigan’s first land bank – and served as its Chairman from 2002 until 2009. The Land Bank, which continues to help stabilize neighborhoods and redevelop abandoned properties in Michigan, is responsible for over $100 million in redevelopment in Flint. Congressman Kildee’s successful land bank model has helped to inspire nearly 100 other communities to start similar models to help create opportunity and foster development, including in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Syracuse, N.Y., and Fulton County, Ga.

###

In particular I take issue with this:

A look at the employment shows that the recovery has been substantial, better than average, and only partly caused by the resurgence of the auto industry.

… It cannot be understated that this is the first economic expansion that Michigan has experienced in a decade.

… Michigan’s manufacturing growth is more substantial outside of the autos.

I checked the numbers and couldn’t confirm that statement about the non-auto manufacturing. Here’s the data I was using.

I present my opinion in an audio blog because I wanted to experiment with this format, plus it’s just a better use of my time. Hope you like it & find it useful.

Links:

• Peters declares intent to keep Levin’s Senate seat for Democrats
• Jase Bolger: Jobs returning to state
• Michigan’s Job Growth Is More Than Just Auto-Related
• Michigan’s competitive advantage among nation’s best
• DTMB Labor Market Information
• Michigan Data Centers Fuel State IT Industry Job Growth
• Michigan ranks 3rd in national study of high-tech job growth
• Rick Haglund: Michigan’s job growth weakens Gov. Snyder’s claim that we’re ‘comeback state’
• State Rankings: Two Years Post-Recession – this is the document with the June 2009 – June 2001 growth broken down into categories.
• Michigan’s Hot 50 – the 50 most in demand jobs through 2018 (pdf)

Like many of their previous legislative priorities – corporate tax cuts, charter schools , right to work – Republicans seem more interested in placating their corporate sugar daddies than analyzing data. Because if Republicans took the time to review the many studies on the topic they would see that the type of merit pay they support doesn’t actually improve educational outcomes.

The best thing Michigan legislators could do is stop pretending to be experts in education, stop pretending to understand what motivates teachers to do their best, and stop pretending that every problem has a one-size-fits-all corporate strategy solution.

If they started talking to teachers – instead of talking at them – improvements in education would be much easier to come by.

Take Gov. Snyder’s statement: “Government doesn’t create jobs, we create an environment where jobs can flourish.” Putting that in terms of education, you can see that teachers don’t create good test scores, they create an environment where good test score can flourish.

Similarly, when talking about the number of jobs his new environment would create, the governor said “Can we quantify all the numbers? No. But we know it’s going to happen.” If the governor is averse to setting an expectation that needs to be met to claim success for his programs you can see how educators being required to meet a goal set by Lansing technocrats might seem like a double standard.

In fact if the governor and Republican legislators would use a little bit of the business acumen they claim to possess, they would realize that this incentive they support fails because it is the wrong incentive. The reality is that regardless of how dedicated or innovative a teacher is, if their students aren’t driven to succeed their test scores won’t reflect that teachers work. And unlike a corporation, teachers don’t have the luxury of firing the students that are dragging down their test scores. They are asked to accept all comers and get results.

Continue reading at the Detroit News…