News Story

Enrollment Down, Number Of Teachers Up In Rochester

Rochester Community Schools, like many districts in this state, has more teachers than four years ago but fewer students. Despite persistent media reports of a dire teacher shortage in Michigan, the Oakland County district has seen the number of its teachers increase from 873 in 2017-18 to 955 in 2021-22. That’s a 9.3% increase over that four-year span. On the other hand, its enrollment has decreased from 15,361 students in 2017-18 to 15,114 in 2020-21. Enrollment for the current school year has not been released by the state yet.

In late October, State Superintendent Michael Rice wrote an op-ed that appeared in Bridge Michigan, saying there was a statewide teacher shortage that top school officials had been warning about for years.

Rice’s op-ed was like many claims made in the media in that it lacked any data on the actual number of teachers in Michigan.

Michigan Capitol Confidential has tried to fill that gap by filing Freedom of Information Act requests with the larger school districts in Michigan to see how many teachers they have, an important data point that has been absent in the public discussion on teacher shortages.

The Center for Education Performance and Information is the official data source for the state of Michigan. CEPI’s data on teachers in not precise, however, because the state counts counselors, nurses, social workers and therapists as teachers.

So Michigan Capitol Confidential went to the school districts and asked for their data on teachers. Rochester schools reported having fewer teachers than CEPI reported. For example, in 2020-21, Rochester Community Schools reported having 924 teachers. The data provided by Rochester Community Schools had 1,003 teachers for the district.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.

News Bite

A Rarity: This Teacher Shortage Report Has Some Merit

Media loves making the claim, even when wrong; numbers really are down in this district, though

The Lansing School District has been mentioned in news reports about an alleged teacher shortage in Michigan.

Lansing is one of many districts said by media outlets to have fewer teachers than in previous years, but in this case, the numbers support the claim, at least for the current school year.

Lansing schools had 607 teachers in 2017-18 and 603 teachers in 2020-21. But enrollment has also been falling in the Ingham County district, from 10,800 students in 2017-18 to 10,031 in 2020-21, a 7% drop over the last three years. So until the start of the 2021-22 school year, the slightly lower number of teachers did not support a claim of a shortage.

But this year, the school district saw the number of teachers drop to 529. The state has not yet released enrollment data for 2021-22, so it is still not known if the number of teachers per student is higher or lower this year.

Michigan Capitol Confidential has approached Michigan’s larger school districts to ask them how many teachers they employ. Media reports of teacher shortages seldom reveal how many teachers are on a given school district’s payroll each year.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.

News Story

Benzie County Nonprofit Gets $5.2M In State Funds For Shoreline Project

Point Betsie Lighthouse in Benzie County received $5.2 million in what is known as an “enhancement grant” from the recently passed state budget.

Benzie County owns the lighthouse and related buildings. It has relied on a nonprofit, called the Friends of Point Betsie Lighthouse, to restore, preserve, and maintain the lighthouse and open the grounds to the public. The nonprofit runs a gift shop, conducts tours and offers overnight rentals, but taxpayer funds are a significant part of its income.

Total revenue for the nonprofit was $244,000 in 2017. The figure was $206,000 in 2019 and $1.3 million in 2019. In an email, the nonprofit states that the recent $5.2 million distribution from state taxpayers will be used for its shoreline protection project. Early estimates, it says, show that the project could cost between $6 million to $10 million.

The Friends of Point Betsie Lighthouse note “the scope of this project is outside the general expectation of what can be accomplished through a private donor base.”

The organization has made significant renovations to the lighthouse and its grounds since 2004. Funding sources include a “Save America’s Treasures” award from the federal government, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and private donors, according to the website.

Several lighthouses in the Midwest, including those located on the Great Lakes, have been purchased and renovated, with total costs ranging from $1.1 million to $1.9 million, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Point Betsie Lighthouse’s past major renovations include the exterior and two significant storage buildings, completed in 2006. New utility components were installed, the interior walls and floors have been restored and the tower and lantern renewed. The Victorian staircase has also been restored and new radiators were installed, funded with donations. Donors have contributed vintage furnishings, and the first-floor exhibition area is now accessible through an electric lift.

The interior and exterior of the tower structure had a major overhaul that involved sandblasting, power scraping, and painting. The fog signal building was completely renovated. A new boathouse was completed in 2014, which includes a gift shop, an exhibit room and indoor restrooms.

Point Betsie Lighthouse was built in 1858 as a beacon for a major shipping channel on Lake Michigan. The shipping lane is no longer used by commercial vessels, according to the state of Michigan. With GPS and modern technology, many lighthouses are no longer as crucial to the safety of ships as they once were.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.